A long-proposed theme park near the Route 66 town of Williams, Ariz., took a step forward last week when the park’s financial backers were revealed to the Coconino County Board, reported the Williams-Grand Canyon News.

Grand Canyon Northland Amusements and Entertainment announced it had received financial backing from Republic Urban Properties L.L.C.

The group is currently poised to purchase roughly 300 acres of land near the Garland Prairie exit of Interstate 40, as well as land near the Williams airport and 20 acres of land near Cataract Lake, the latter of which Buitenhuis explained may be used for lodging. He said GCNAE representatives were also exploring the possibility of purchasing more land near their Garland Prairie location that could be used for support buildings related to the park.

“We have land at each exit, starting with Cataract Lake at the west and Garland Prairie at the east,” Buitenhuis said. The group is also looking at over 300 acres of property in the Phoenix area.

Officials with GCNAE are expecting a total capital investment of $174,297,000, as detailed in a five-year pro forma report handed to supervisors during the meeting, for the Williams Park alone. Estimated total revenue after five years, they projected, would be $511,971,070, with bond revenue totaling $46,077,396. Total capital investments for both parks would cost $374,006,000, according to the report.

According to my archives, this is what the amusement park was slated to have:

The proposed park is slated to have a combination of attractions featuring Route 66 themes, a Fab ’50s town, a Western town, a Navajo Learning Center and Asian Gardens.

Given the huge scale of the proposal, locals were understandably skeptical whether the project would become reality. It was initially proposed in 2005 as a $3 billion project. Then it became $750 million. Now it appears the park’s size has been whittled further.

With this new development, maybe the amusement park will happen after all. But here’s a hint to the organizers: It would inspire more public confidence if you actually had content on your Web site.

Steven Shaw has turned his collection of 700 vintage postcards into a book about the history of San Bernardino, Calif. About 225 of the postcards were used in the Arcadia Publishing book titled “San Bernardino,” which comes out Monday, reports the San Bernardino County Sun.

Shaw told the Inland Press-Enterprise something interesting about preservation:

“Everybody wishes we would have kept more of the old buildings,” Shaw said. “With some cities that did, it was almost luck and the circumstances at the time. Maybe the city didn’t have enough money to redevelop, so they just left those old buildings in place and made do with what they had. And now they’re really glad they didn’t tear them down.” [...]

Sections of the book deal with the city’s early history, its rapid growth as a railroad center, past festivals and parades, public buildings, the still-standing Arrowhead Springs resort, the National Orange Show and Route 66.

“San Bernardino” can be ordered here. The price is $19.99, plus shipping. It is part of Arcadia’s Postcard History Series.