Lee's Ferry is named after John D. Lee a Mormon settler who established a ferry crossing on the Colorado River near Page, Arizona. Originally named the Paria Crossing where the Paria River meets the Colorado River, the site features a natural slope from the cliffs to the riverbank allowing safer crossing of the Colorado River in otherwise impassable terrain. The ferry was established in 1871 by Lee and financed by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Lee's Ferry was the only crossing of the Colorado River by ferry from Moab, Utah to Needles, California and was used by travelers between Utah and Arizona until 1928 when the Navajo Bridge (now highway US 89A) over Marble Canyon opened.

The ferry was of such importance to travelers that the amount of ferry traffic it attracted forced Lee to leave the site to evade law enforcement officers for his part in the 1857 Mountain Meadows Massacre. The ferry continued to operate under the LDS church until about 1910 when Coconino County, Arizona managed the ferry until its closure in 1928.

Lee's Ferry is considered the official beginning of Grand Canyon National Park on the Colorado River and is used as a fishing area and river rafting launch site. The site features several buildings built at the site since 1874 and a steamboat abandoned in 1913 by a mining company's operation in the canyon walls nearby. The area is managed by the National Park Service within the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area as a historical site. Permits are required for use of the river downstream in the national park, especially for river rafting, but not upstream.