Mountain View Rec reation Center under construction in early 1967.
Not much has changed at Mountain View over the years, with the exception of the addition of tennis courts located south of the entrance to the auditorium.
Another photo of Mountain View taken in the summer of 2020. No cars are in the parking lot due to the COVID-19 closure.

Mountain View Center ignites rec centers consolidation efforts

Mountain View Recreation Center, located at 107th Avenue and Mountain View Road, became Sun City’s third recreation center when it officially opened in June 1967.

Originally known as Town Hall South, the facility sat on 6.5 acres of land and featured an auditorium that would accommodate up to 1,200 people.

The auditorium , the largest in Sun City up to that point, would soon become the official home to local musical and theater groups, including the Sun City Players.

The center is located just down the street from the Sun Bowl, an outdoor amphitheater that officially opened its doors earlier that same year.

When construction plans for the facility were first announced, the two existing recreation facilities — what are now Oakmont and Fairway — were owned and operated by two separate entities.

The Civic Association owned and operated the Community Center (now Oakmont Recreation Center) and the Town Hall Association operated Town Hall Recreation Center (now Fairway).

Town Hall would also operate the new recreation center, giving residents of that organization access to two facilities, while original homeowners of Sun City’s first phase would be restricted to using Oakmont.

The relationship between the two entities was cordial and for the most part, residents belonging to one facility were often allowed in as guests to use the other facility.

Soon after Mountain View opened, however, the Webb Company announced plans to expand Sun City north of Grand Avenue. Included in that expansion were plans to build the community’s fourth — and most expansive — recreation center that would be located adjacent to a huge man-made lake.

Those expansion plans prompted Town Hall and Civic Association officials to begin meeting with an eye toward combining their entities into one recreational organization owned by all Sun City residents. Most important, the new structure would allow every Sun City resident equal access to all of the community’s current — and future — recreational facilities.

On February 2, 1968, the two groups signed a consolidation agreement to create the Sun City Community Association, which would eventually become the Recreation Centers of Sun City, Inc.

Archive photos courtesy of the Sun Cities Area Historical Society. Current photo by Bret McKeand/Independent Newsmedia Inc. USA