The story so far
from Wikipedia & the U.S. CensusBig Water is a town in Kane County, Utah, United States. The population was 449 at the 2020 census, down from 475 at the 2010 census. It is located 17 miles (27 km) northwest of Page, Arizona, on US-89 near Lake Powell and the Glen Canyon Dam. It was originally called Glen Canyon City and housed workers who built the dam in the 1950s. Big Water made news in the 1980s as a polygamous colony of the Joseph clan. It also made news in 1986, when the mayor Alex Joseph and the city council left the Republican Party to join the Libertarian Party. This made Joseph the first Libertarian city mayor in the history of the U.S. Subsequently, Willy Marshall, also a Libertarian, was elected as the state's …
Big Water was established in 1983. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 475 to 449 (-5%). Half of its homes were built before 1989.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Big Water yet — the old photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Intro from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Population and housing: U.S. Census Bureau.
Start Big Water’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Big Water’s history is told.
0 of 10 decades since 1900 have photos 📦Share a family photoSign in to add one+10Famous people close to Big Water
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Big Water, decade by decade
2000
CommonsBig Water Slot Canyon - DyeClan.com - panoramio (5)2012
CommonsBig Water Slot Canyon - DyeClan.com - panoramio (4)2012
CommonsBig Water Slot Canyon - DyeClan.com - panoramio (3)2012
CommonsBig Water Slot Canyon - DyeClan.com - panoramio (2)2012
CommonsBig Water Slot Canyon - DyeClan.com - panoramio (1)2012
CommonsBigwater-lowres2006Nothing in Big Water is on the National Register yet
That’s true of most small towns. It doesn’t mean Big Water has no history, only that no one has written up a nomination. The closest listed place is Lee's Ferry and Lonely Dell Ranch in Page, 14.3 miles away.
Big Water and the nearest listed places
How a place gets listed
Then & now
When neighbors add old photos, retakes from the same spot appear here side by side.
Stories next door
nearby towns’ historyFrom Wikimedia Commons (6). Images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.