I recently received emails from the sons of Howard and Lona Brown that lived in the Canal Zone in the 1940's.  Howard was a Locomotive Operator on the Gatun Locks and an avid photographer.  The sons were cleaning out old photos and came across quite a few 3 x 4 inch negatives of when Howard was in the Canal Zone.  The asked me if I wanted to see them before they were pitched.  Of course!!! I said and am thrilled to death after scanning them.  A large negative is always good as it produces good images.  This weeks photos are two from this collection and probably the best of the best, because they are of the old Gatun Clubhouse.  Gatun Clubhouse photos are far and few between.  I posted a photo of the old Clubhouse back in 2010 that I found (click here), but not as good as these two.  The 2010 photo looks like it was taken in the 60's by way of the car's rear end in the photo.  These photos I am posting this week are from the mid 1940's in which many of the buildings in Gatun were relatively new at the time.  The top photo is super as it shows the clubhouse, the gym, the fire station and in the distance you can see the houses in New Town which were all demolished to build the new locks a few years ago. 

The photo below was taken from the opposite direction.  Note  the military vehicle in the parking lot and there are two soldiers walking up on the sidewalk.  We were just getting out of WWII at this time and there was a heavy military presence in the Canal Zone, especially near the locks.

 I will have more photos of Gatun from this collection in the next few weeks.

Many thanks to the Brown family for sharing these wonderful old captures in time.