Historical buildings and structures of Grand Teton National Park
Encyclopedia
The historical buildings and structures of Grand Teton National Park include a variety of buildings and built remains that pre-date the establishment of Grand Teton National Park
, together with facilities built by the National Park Service
to serve park visitors. Many of these places and structures have been placed on the National Register of Historic Places
. The pre-Park Service structures include homestead
cabins from the earliest settlement of Jackson Hole
, working ranches that once covered the valley floor, and dude ranches or guest ranches that catered to the tourist trade that grew up in the 1920s and 1930s, before the park was expanded to encompass nearly all of Jackson Hole. Many of these were incorporated into the park to serve as Park Service personnel housing, or were razed to restore the landscape to a natural appearance. Others continued to function as inholding
s under a life estate
in which their former owners could continue to use and occupy the property until their death. Other buildings, built in the mountains after the initial establishment of the park in 1929, or in the valley after the park was expanded in 1950, were built by the Park Service to serve park visitors, frequently employing the National Park Service Rustic
style of design.
The earliest remaining built object in Grand Teton National Park is a diversion ditch, now known as Mining Ditch, which carried water in the vicinity of Schwabacher's Landing for prospecting activities. Dug around 1871-72, the ditch lent its name to nearby Ditch Creek. The prospectors left no other trace in Jackson Hole.
The valley's first permanent settlers did not arrive until 1884, when John Holland and John Carnes claimed a homestead to the north of Jackson, of which no trace remains. The Cunningham Cabin
is the earliest remaining relic of settlement in the northern portion of Jackson Hole. It was built by J. Pierce Cunningham in 1885, at about the same time as the town of Jackson
was established at the southern end of Jackson Hole. William D. Menor established Menor's Ferry
across the Snake River
in 1892, homesteading the lands on the western bank of the river, and operating the ferry until a bridge was built in 1927.
The Luther Taylor Cabins near Kelly
were built beginning in 1916. The cabins were featured in the 1953 Western movie Shane.
The Manges Cabin
was built by James Manges, the second homesteader after Bill Menor to settle on the west side of the Snake. Manges' operation grew to become a working ranch, later the Elbo Dude Ranch, which featured a racetrack and rodeo grounds. The perceived blight of the Elbo development, so close to the mountains, led Struthers Burt and other local citizens to consider strategies for land preservation in the valley in the 1920s. The Elbo was acquired by the Park Service in 1956, and after some time as employee lodging, was gradually demolished to allow the site to return to its natural state. The Manges Cabin is the only remnant.
Homestead buildings were crude, using hewn timber harvested locally and resting on minimal foundations, excavation being difficult in the valley's stony soil. Log construction was employed almost universally, given the absence of local sawmills. This rustic local construction practice was to make a return as the economic focus of the valley shifted from agricultural development to tourism.
One of the earliest ranchers was Josiah David Ferrin, also known as "Uncle Si," who became a successful cattle rancher selling beef to crews building Jackson Lake Dam. The Elk Ranch at its height had 2000 cattle on 400 acres (161.9 ha) near Moran
. Ferrin sold the property to the Snake River Land Company in 1928.
In the first decade of the 20th century, Mormon
settlers established a farming community in the Antelope Flats area of Jackson Hole. Becoming known as Mormon Row, the settlement extends as a line of farms, or "line village," along the former Jackson-Moran Road, with irrigated farmsteads running perpendicular to the road. The six homestead complexes once covered the area between the Gros Ventre River
and Blacktail Butte
. Individual farms included the Andy Chambers
, John Moulton and T.A. Moulton homesteads. The Andy Chambers Ranch is the most complete of the surviving ranches.
The Hunter Hereford Ranch
was a 1909 homestead on the eastern side of Jackson Hole that became a hobby ranch for William and Eileen Hunter in the 1940s. Its spectacular location led to its use as a movie set in the 1950s. The property was sold to the Park Service in 1957, but operated as a ranch even after Eileen Hunter's death in 1969. While the residential areas have been demolished, much of the working ranch facility remains.
Joe Pfeifer, a former miner from Butte, Montana
, established a homestead near Mormon Row in November 1910. The homestead's well-preserved remains were burned in a 1994 brush fire, but were documented by the Historic American Buildings Survey
in 1979 and 1992.
Geraldine Lucas arrived in Jackson Hole following her 1912 retirement from teaching in New York at the age of 47. She built a cabin in 1912, eventually amassing several hundred acres of lands and becoming a significant opponent of the Rockefeller-backed Snake River Land Company
. However, following Lucas' death, the Lucas property
was acquired in 1944 by the Snake River Land Company and was used as the residence for its general manager, whose life estate ran until 1975, after which it was turned over to the Park Service.
when the Rockefellers started acquiring land in Jackson Hole, remaining an inholding as the family gradually donated portions to the Park Service. The final portion of the JY became the Laurance S. Rockefeller Preserve
in Grand Teton National Park in 2008. The Bar B C Dude Ranch
was the first dude ranch in Jackson Hole to be conceived as a dude ranch from its inception. Established in 1912, it strongly influenced later dude ranch development and had a significant role in the development of tourism in Jackson Hole. The Bar BC owed much of its success to its co-owner, author Struthers Burt
, who had started the JY and who published Diary of a Dude Wrangler in the Saturday Evening Post in 1924. The White Grass Dude Ranch
was established in 1913, when George Tucker Bispham, a former Bar B C employee, and Harold Hammond consolidated their adjoining working ranches right at the foot of the Tetons. The White Grass inholding operated as a dude ranch until 1985, when its life estate expired, the longest-active dude ranch in the valley. After a period of abandonment and deterioration, the White Grass was rehabilitated as the Western Center for Historic Preservation in a joint venture between the National Trust for Historic Preservation
and the National Park Service. The Double Diamond Dude Ranch was started in 1924 by Joseph Clark and Fran William, initially catering primarily to boys from Eastern families. While most of its buildings were destroyed by a wildfire in 1985, the ranch's 1945 dining hall
survives. The area is now known as the Climbers Ranch, used as a base camp for mountain climbers.
The Flying V Ranch was established in 1921 as a dude ranch, but was sold in 1935 to Gustav Koven and Paul Petzoldt
, who intended to operate the ranch as a climbing school. After changing the name to the Ramshorn Dude Ranch
, the partnership fell apart. After acquisition by the Park Service in 1956 the Ramshorn was operated as a concession under the Elbo Ranch name, which had been displaced from its previous location at the foot of the mountains when the original Elbo-Manges ranch was purchased and used for Park Service personnel housing. The Ramshorn now houses the Teton Science School. Another 1920s establishment was Leek's Lodge
on upper Jackson Lake, close to the AMK, which continued to operate as a concession associated with the Signal Mountain Lodge
into the 1970s. Although the Park Service had removed most of the buildings, the main lodge stood until 1998, when it was destroyed by fire, leaving only the lodge's chimney standing. The original Jackson Lake Lodge
was established nearby by Eugene Amoretti, and featured the first hot and cold running water in the valley. It was replaced by the present Jackson Lake Lodge in 1955.
The Triangle X Ranch was established in 1926 on the east side of Jackson Hole and is the last dude ranch operating in the park. The Turner family was from Utah, and after failing to grow potatoes, took to guiding hunting trips. The Triangle X operated both as outfitters and as dude ranchers. The Triangle X Barn
, built in 1928 of salvaged materials, is listed on the National Register.
The STS Dude Ranch was established by Buster and Frances Ester on the west bank of the Snake River a little south of Menor's Ferry in 1921. The unprofitable operation was purchased by conservationists Olaus Murie
, his wife Margaret (Mardie) Murie
and scientist Adolph Murie
and his wife Louise. Adolph and Louise lived in the original ranch complex, while Olaus and Mardie lived in a house
they built nearby on the property. The Murie Ranch
hosted some of the first meetings of The Wilderness Society
in the 1950s. The Murie Ranch was designated a National Historic Landmark
in 2006, and is operated as the Murie Center conference facility by the National Park Service.
was started as a working ranch in 1914 by Philadelphian Bryant Mears, who called it the Sun Star. The Mears family sold it to William Frew, a dude from Pittsburgh, who renamed it the 4 Lazy F for the "four lazy Frews." The Frews operated the ranch as both a family retreat and as a dude ranch for a few selected guests. It remains in the Frew family as a life estate inholding. The AMK Ranch
, established in the 1920s on the east side of Jackson Lake
, was a personal retreat for William Johnson of The Hoover Company
. Alfred Berolzheimer of the Eagle (later Berol
) pencil company bought the ranch in 1936, greatly expanding it in a high-rustic style. The Brinkerhoff
, on the shore of Jackson Lake near Signal Mountain
, was a pure vacation lodge, built in 1946 by oil executive Zach Brinkerhoff and furnished with Thomas C. Molesworth
furniture. The Sky Ranch at the outlet of Death Canyon
was established in 1953 as a summer retreat for the Balderston family, close to the White Grass ranch. William Balderston had been a surveyor and photographer for the Jackson Lake Dam
project in 1914, going on to eventually become the president of the Philco
Corporation. The Balderston family were regular guests at the White Grass, and friends of the Muries. They bought 13.66 acres (5.5 ha) of White Grass property from Frank Galey in 1952. Balderston hired Philadelphia architect John Arnold Bower to design a small group of cabins, a barn and support structures.
Retired politician John Hogan bought a homestead on the east side of the park in 1926 for use as a guest ranch and fox farm. In 1930 the ranch was purchased by the Snake River Land Company and was its headquarters while the Rockefeller-owned company was assembling lands in Jackson Hole for donation to the Park Service. The main house
was occupied by SRLC manager Harold Fabian and his wife Josephine until 1945, when they moved to the Geraldine Lucas homestead on the other side of the valley. Donated as part of the SRLC lands in the 1950s, the house was used as a dormitory by the Park Service for a time.
Other significant extant vacation homes, dude ranches and small working ranches include Dick and Ethel Reimer House, built in 1938 between Moose and Mormon Row at the end of Blacktail Butte, and the McCollister residential complex farther to the east on Antelope Flats Road. Paul W. McCollister was the primary developer of Teton Village
. The McCollister compound was built and expanded between 1953 and 1987. The Aspen Ridge Ranch, in the same area, is a complex of modest log residential and agricultural buildings, built in 1910 and expanded in 1946. The Wolff Ranch, located farther north near Moran, is small dude ranch complex established in the 1940s by Stippy Wolff and Frank Allen.
, established in 1937 by J.D. and Lura Kimmel, are the last example of as many as twelve similar motor court-type lodgings in the park. Its remaining structures are used to house Park Service personnel. Harry and Elizabeth Sensenbach were earlier pioneers in this market, opening their homestead in front of the Cathedral Group
to automobile tourists. The Sensenbach operation was bought in 1946 by Charles Byron, Jeanne Jenkins and Gloria Jenkins Wardell, who expanded the operation as the Highlands guest ranch
. The Highlands was acquired by the Park Service in 1972 and used for employee housing. The Signal Mountain Lodge
was one of several ventures by the Wort family, starting in the 1920s as Ole Warner's fishing camp. The Worts developed the property after they purchased it in 1931, adding cabins and a small lodge. They sold the camp in 1940, when it acquired its present name. Apart from a few cabins, most of the resort is of relatively recent construction.
Jimmy Manges, whose old ranch became the first Elbo Ranch, had built a cabin on his remaining land near the Double Diamond in 1926. He gradually created a guest camp on the property, calling it the X Quarter Circle X. The camp expanded to twenty cabins by the 1940s, when his nephew Irwin Lesher and Irwin's wife Marvel took over management and improved the camp's standard of hygiene. The Leshers continued to manage the camp after Jimmy's death in 1960 until they sold out to the Park Service in 1960.
The 1925 Chapel of the Transfiguration
catered to the tourist trade. Built and owned by St. John's Episcopal Church
, the chapel was built near Menor's Ferry, in an area that became known as Moose
. The grounds and church interior focus on the Cathedral Group of peaks, all in a consciously rustic style that emphasizes the natural environment over the built environment. The Chapel of the Sacred Heart was built in similar rustic style near Signal Mountain by the Our Lady of the Mountains Catholic Church of Jackson in 1958.
The dude ranches and guest ranches were overwhelmingly rustic in style, representing a return to log construction and deliberately "Western"-looking details, as a way of appealing to eastern dudes looking for an informal retreat reminiscent of the frontier.
Grand Teton National Park was designated in 1929 to encompass only the Teton Range and a narrow strip of land at the foot of the mountains including Jenny Lake
and several smaller lakes. Nearly all of Jackson Hole was excluded from the park in the face of opposition from ranching interests. At the same time, the Rockefeller family, using the shield of the Snake River Land Company, began to buy lands in the valley for preservation and eventual donation to an expanded park. The SRLC lands were added to Jackson Hole National Monument in 1949, and Grand Teton National Park absorbed the monument lands in 1950.
During the 1930s the Park Service began to build visitor and administrative facilities in the original park lands.The park's first point of visitor contact was, for many years, at Jenny Lake. The Jenny Lake Ranger Station
comprised purpose-built structures as well as structures moved to the site from elsewhere. Chief of these relocated structures were the former Lee Manges cabin, built about 1925 and moved to the site to become the ranger station, and the Crandall Photo Studio, built around 1925-26 and later moved to the site. In the 1930s the Park Service added rustic public toilet facilities, called "comfort stations." The White Grass Ranger Station
was built to a standardized Park Service plan in 1930.
The park had already inherited a number of similar structures built by the U.S. Forest Service prior to the 1929 establishment of the park, including the Leigh Lake Ranger Patrol Cabin
and the Lower Berry Creek Patrol Cabin in the northern reaches of the park.
As the Great Depression
wore on, the Park Service received help from Civilian Conservation Corps
labor, and a CCC camp
was established at Jenny Lake. The CCC built the Cascade Canyon
and Death Canyon
barns, as well as the Moran Bay
and Upper Granite Canyon
patrol cabins. Despite their names, the barns were patrol cabins, built to standard Park Service designs from the Branch of Plans and Designs, and intentionally designed in the National Park Service Rustic
style. The CCC built three comfort stations as well, including the String Lake Comfort Station
, originally located at Jenny Lake.
The largest concentration of structures from this era comprise the Old Administrative Area Historic District
at Beaver Creek. The park headquarters, superintendent's residence, four employee residences and three warehouses were designed in Park Service Rustic style and built by the CCC between 1934 and 1939. The Moose Entrance Kiosk
was built nearby, and has since been moved to Moose. Private development in the 1930s included the Jenny Lake Boat Concession Facilities
, built by Charles Wort, who held a legacy concessioner's permit originally issued by the Forest Service, and who built a boathouse on Jenny Lake. Wort's family went on to establish the Wort Hotel
in Jackson and the Signal Mountain Lodge. Robert Reimer, who took over the Wort concession at Jenny Lake in 1935, added a personal residence to the Jenny Lake ensemble.
The expansion of the park into Jackson Hole brought a requirement for new facilities at the new park gateway at Moose. The Mission 66
program was conceived in 1955 to deal with the dramatic increase in visitation, particularly automobile-borne tourism, being experienced Park Service-wide. The Moose Visitor Center, a new administration building, and employee residences were built at Moose, just downstream from Menor's Ferry, where a bridge crossed the Snake River. At about the same time the Colter Bay Village
complex was developed on Jackson Lake in the northern part of the park, providing camping, lodging and marina services. The largest development of this era was the new Jackson Lake Lodge
, a reinterpretation of the traditional Park Service lodge concept in a modern style
by architect Gilbert Stanley Underwood
. Underwood, who had designed the rustic Bryce Canyon
and Grand Canyon
lodges as well as Yosemite's
Ahwahnee Hotel
, made a sharp break from the naturalistic rustic style, using concrete and steel and straight, sharp lines while he incorporated traditionally rustic colors and textures, framing a view of Mount Moran
from the main lobby. The Jackson Lake Lodge was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2003.
Grand Teton National Park
Grand Teton National Park is a United States National Park located in northwestern Wyoming, U.S. The Park consists of approximately and includes the major peaks of the long Teton Range as well as most of the northern sections of the valley known as Jackson Hole. Only south of Yellowstone...
, together with facilities built by the National Park Service
National Park Service
The National Park Service is the U.S. federal agency that manages all national parks, many national monuments, and other conservation and historical properties with various title designations...
to serve park visitors. Many of these places and structures have been placed on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
. The pre-Park Service structures include homestead
Homestead (buildings)
A homestead is either a single building, or collection of buildings grouped together on a large agricultural holding, such as a ranch, station or a large agricultural operation of some other designation.-See also:* Farm house* Homestead Act...
cabins from the earliest settlement of Jackson Hole
Jackson Hole
Jackson Hole, originally called Jackson's Hole, is a valley located in the U.S. state of Wyoming, near the western border with Idaho. The name "hole" derives from language used by early trappers or mountain men, who primarily entered the valley from the north and east and had to descend along...
, working ranches that once covered the valley floor, and dude ranches or guest ranches that catered to the tourist trade that grew up in the 1920s and 1930s, before the park was expanded to encompass nearly all of Jackson Hole. Many of these were incorporated into the park to serve as Park Service personnel housing, or were razed to restore the landscape to a natural appearance. Others continued to function as inholding
Inholding
An inholding is privately owned land inside the boundary of a national park, national forest, state park, or similar publicly owned, protected area...
s under a life estate
Life estate
A life estate is a concept used in common law and statutory law to designate the ownership of land for the duration of a person's life. In legal terms it is an estate in real property that ends at death when there is a "reversion" to the original owner...
in which their former owners could continue to use and occupy the property until their death. Other buildings, built in the mountains after the initial establishment of the park in 1929, or in the valley after the park was expanded in 1950, were built by the Park Service to serve park visitors, frequently employing the National Park Service Rustic
National Park Service Rustic
National Park Service rustic, also colloquially known as Parkitecture, is a style of architecture that arose in the United States National Park System to create buildings that harmonized with their natural environment. Since its founding, the National Park Service consistently has sought to provide...
style of design.
Homesteads
The valley's first permanent settlers did not arrive until 1884, when John Holland and John Carnes claimed a homestead to the north of Jackson, of which no trace remains. The Cunningham Cabin
Cunningham Cabin
The Cunningham Cabin is a double-pen log cabin in Grand Teton National Park. The cabin was built as a homestead in Jackson Hole and represents an adaptation of an Appalachian building form to the West. The cabin was built just south of Spread Creek by John Pierce Cunningham, who arrived in Jackson...
is the earliest remaining relic of settlement in the northern portion of Jackson Hole. It was built by J. Pierce Cunningham in 1885, at about the same time as the town of Jackson
Jackson, Wyoming
Jackson is a town located in the Jackson Hole valley of Teton County, Wyoming, United States. The population was 8,647 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Teton County....
was established at the southern end of Jackson Hole. William D. Menor established Menor's Ferry
Menor's Ferry
Menor's Ferry was a river ferry that crossed the Snake River near the present-day Moose, Wyoming. The site was homesteaded by Bill Menor in 1892-94, choosing a location where the river flowed in a single channel, rather than the braided stream that characterizes its course in most of Jackson Hole. ...
across the Snake River
Snake River
The Snake is a major river of the greater Pacific Northwest in the United States. At long, it is the largest tributary of the Columbia River, the largest North American river that empties into the Pacific Ocean...
in 1892, homesteading the lands on the western bank of the river, and operating the ferry until a bridge was built in 1927.
The Luther Taylor Cabins near Kelly
Kelly, Wyoming
Kelly is an unincorporated community in Teton County in the U.S. state of Wyoming. Kelly is .situated along the Gros Ventre River on the eastern side of the Jackson Hole valley, is part of the Jackson, WY–ID Micropolitan Statistical Area and has a US Post Office with zip code 83011.The settlement...
were built beginning in 1916. The cabins were featured in the 1953 Western movie Shane.
The Manges Cabin
Manges Cabin
The Manges Cabin in Grand Teton National Park, also known as the Old Elbo Ranch Homestead Cabin, Mangus Cabin and the Taggart Creek Barn, was built in 1911 by James Manges. Manges was the second settler on the west side of the Snake River after Bill Menor, setting up a homestead near Taggart Creek...
was built by James Manges, the second homesteader after Bill Menor to settle on the west side of the Snake. Manges' operation grew to become a working ranch, later the Elbo Dude Ranch, which featured a racetrack and rodeo grounds. The perceived blight of the Elbo development, so close to the mountains, led Struthers Burt and other local citizens to consider strategies for land preservation in the valley in the 1920s. The Elbo was acquired by the Park Service in 1956, and after some time as employee lodging, was gradually demolished to allow the site to return to its natural state. The Manges Cabin is the only remnant.
Homestead buildings were crude, using hewn timber harvested locally and resting on minimal foundations, excavation being difficult in the valley's stony soil. Log construction was employed almost universally, given the absence of local sawmills. This rustic local construction practice was to make a return as the economic focus of the valley shifted from agricultural development to tourism.
Working ranches
With the advent of large-scale ranches worked by extended families with staffs of cowboys, wranglers and hired help, Jackson Hole saw the construction of planned complexes of buildings, as opposed to ad hoc assemblages of sheds and cabins. The new structures used milled lumber and typical western carpentry details in keeping with Wyoming construction practices. The working ranches moved away from rustic design, reflecting a maturing social order in the newly populated valley, which by 1909 had three sawmills to provide sawn lumber.One of the earliest ranchers was Josiah David Ferrin, also known as "Uncle Si," who became a successful cattle rancher selling beef to crews building Jackson Lake Dam. The Elk Ranch at its height had 2000 cattle on 400 acres (161.9 ha) near Moran
Moran, Wyoming
Moran is an unincorporated community in south central Teton County, Wyoming, United States, which serves as one of the principal fee collection entrances to Grand Teton National Park. It lies in Grand Teton National Park northeast of the city of Jackson, the county seat of Teton County, at the...
. Ferrin sold the property to the Snake River Land Company in 1928.
In the first decade of the 20th century, Mormon
Mormon
The term Mormon most commonly denotes an adherent, practitioner, follower, or constituent of Mormonism, which is the largest branch of the Latter Day Saint movement in restorationist Christianity...
settlers established a farming community in the Antelope Flats area of Jackson Hole. Becoming known as Mormon Row, the settlement extends as a line of farms, or "line village," along the former Jackson-Moran Road, with irrigated farmsteads running perpendicular to the road. The six homestead complexes once covered the area between the Gros Ventre River
Gros Ventre River
The Gros Ventre River is a tributary of the Snake River in the state of Wyoming. It rises in the Gros Ventre Wilderness in western Wyoming, and joins the Snake River in the Jackson Hole valley. In 1925, the massive Gros Ventre landslide dammed the river and formed Lower Slide Lake...
and Blacktail Butte
Blacktail Butte
Blacktail Butte is a butte mountain landform rising from Jackson Hole valley in Grand Teton National Park in the U.S. state of Wyoming. Blacktail Butte was originally named Upper Gros Ventre Butte in an early historical survey conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey...
. Individual farms included the Andy Chambers
Andy Chambers Ranch Historic District
The Andy Chambers Ranch is the only remaining nearly complete farmstead in Mormon Row, itself a historic district in Grand Teton National Park. The locale was settled by Mormon migrants between 1900 and 1920, creating an enclave near the Gros Ventre River...
, John Moulton and T.A. Moulton homesteads. The Andy Chambers Ranch is the most complete of the surviving ranches.
The Hunter Hereford Ranch
Hunter Hereford Ranch Historic District
The Hunter Hereford Ranch was first homesteaded in 1909 by James Williams in the eastern portion of Jackson Hole, in what would become Grand Teton National Park. By the 1940s it was developed as a hobby ranch by William and Eileen Hunter and their foreman John Anderson...
was a 1909 homestead on the eastern side of Jackson Hole that became a hobby ranch for William and Eileen Hunter in the 1940s. Its spectacular location led to its use as a movie set in the 1950s. The property was sold to the Park Service in 1957, but operated as a ranch even after Eileen Hunter's death in 1969. While the residential areas have been demolished, much of the working ranch facility remains.
Joe Pfeifer, a former miner from Butte, Montana
Butte, Montana
Butte is a city in Montana and the county seat of Silver Bow County, United States. In 1977, the city and county governments consolidated to form the sole entity of Butte-Silver Bow. As of the 2010 census, Butte's population was 34,200...
, established a homestead near Mormon Row in November 1910. The homestead's well-preserved remains were burned in a 1994 brush fire, but were documented by the Historic American Buildings Survey
Historic American Buildings Survey
The Historic American Buildings Survey , Historic American Engineering Record , and Historic American Landscapes Survey are programs of the National Park Service established for the purpose of documenting historic places. Records consists of measured drawings, archival photographs, and written...
in 1979 and 1992.
Geraldine Lucas arrived in Jackson Hole following her 1912 retirement from teaching in New York at the age of 47. She built a cabin in 1912, eventually amassing several hundred acres of lands and becoming a significant opponent of the Rockefeller-backed Snake River Land Company
Snake River Land Company
The Snake River Land Company was a land purchasing company established in 1927 by philanthropist John D. Rockefeller, Jr.. The company acted as a front so Rockefeller could buy land in the Jackson Hole valley in Wyoming without people knowing of his involvement or his intentions for the property,...
. However, following Lucas' death, the Lucas property
Geraldine Lucas Homestead-Fabian Place Historic District
The Geraldine Lucas-Fabian Place Historic District in Jackson Hole, Wyoming is significant as the 1913 home of Geraldine Lucas, a single woman pioneer in a harsh environment. It later became the home of Harold Fabian, vice president of the Snake River Land Company, which assembled much of the land...
was acquired in 1944 by the Snake River Land Company and was used as the residence for its general manager, whose life estate ran until 1975, after which it was turned over to the Park Service.
Dude ranches
The first dude ranch in Jackson Hole was the JY Ranch, which was converted from a working ranch. It became the property of the Rockefeller familyRockefeller family
The Rockefeller family , the Cleveland family of John D. Rockefeller and his brother William Rockefeller , is an American industrial, banking, and political family of German origin that made one of the world's largest private fortunes in the oil business during the late 19th and early 20th...
when the Rockefellers started acquiring land in Jackson Hole, remaining an inholding as the family gradually donated portions to the Park Service. The final portion of the JY became the Laurance S. Rockefeller Preserve
Laurance S. Rockefeller Preserve
The Laurance S. Rockefeller Preserve is a refuge within Grand Teton National Park on the southern end of Phelps Lake. The site was originally known as the JY Ranch, a dude ranch. Starting in 1927, John D. Rockefeller, Jr. purchased much of the land in Jackson Hole for the creation of Jackson...
in Grand Teton National Park in 2008. The Bar B C Dude Ranch
Bar B C Dude Ranch
The Bar B C Dude Ranch was established near Moose, Wyoming in 1912 as a dude ranch by Struthers Burt and Dr. Horace Carncross, using their initials as the brand. Rather than converting a working ranch, Burt and Carncross built a tourist-oriented dude ranch from the ground up, using a style called...
was the first dude ranch in Jackson Hole to be conceived as a dude ranch from its inception. Established in 1912, it strongly influenced later dude ranch development and had a significant role in the development of tourism in Jackson Hole. The Bar BC owed much of its success to its co-owner, author Struthers Burt
Maxwell Struthers Burt
Maxwell Struthers Burt , was an American novelist, poet, and short-story writer.-Life:...
, who had started the JY and who published Diary of a Dude Wrangler in the Saturday Evening Post in 1924. The White Grass Dude Ranch
White Grass Dude Ranch
The White Grass Dude Ranch is located in the White Grass Valley of Grand Teton National Park. The rustic log lodge, dining hall service building and ten cabins were built when a working ranch was converted to a dude ranch, and represented one of the first dude ranch operations in Jackson Hole...
was established in 1913, when George Tucker Bispham, a former Bar B C employee, and Harold Hammond consolidated their adjoining working ranches right at the foot of the Tetons. The White Grass inholding operated as a dude ranch until 1985, when its life estate expired, the longest-active dude ranch in the valley. After a period of abandonment and deterioration, the White Grass was rehabilitated as the Western Center for Historic Preservation in a joint venture between the National Trust for Historic Preservation
National Trust for Historic Preservation
The National Trust for Historic Preservation is an American member-supported organization that was founded in 1949 by congressional charter to support preservation of historic buildings and neighborhoods through a range of programs and activities, including the publication of Preservation...
and the National Park Service. The Double Diamond Dude Ranch was started in 1924 by Joseph Clark and Fran William, initially catering primarily to boys from Eastern families. While most of its buildings were destroyed by a wildfire in 1985, the ranch's 1945 dining hall
Double Diamond Dude Ranch Dining Hall
The Double Diamond Dude Ranch Dining Hall was built in 1945 as the centerpiece of a dude ranch operated by Frank Williams and Joseph Clark in Grand Teton National Park. The ranch was opened in 1924 with a dozen tent cabins and log buildings for a kitchen and dining hall, lounge and commissary. In...
survives. The area is now known as the Climbers Ranch, used as a base camp for mountain climbers.
The Flying V Ranch was established in 1921 as a dude ranch, but was sold in 1935 to Gustav Koven and Paul Petzoldt
Paul Petzoldt
Paul Kiesow Petzoldt was one of America's most accomplished mountaineers. He is perhaps best known for establishing the National Outdoor Leadership School in 1965. Paul made his first ascent of the Grand Teton in 1924 at the age of 16, becoming the youngest person at the time to have done so...
, who intended to operate the ranch as a climbing school. After changing the name to the Ramshorn Dude Ranch
Ramshorn Dude Ranch Lodge
The Ramshorn Dude Ranch Lodge in Grand Teton National Park was built after 1935 by mountaineers Paul Petzoldt, founder of the National Outdoor Leadership School, and Gustav Koven. The property that became the Ramshorn Ranch was originally established by Ransom Adams at the mouth of Gros Ventre...
, the partnership fell apart. After acquisition by the Park Service in 1956 the Ramshorn was operated as a concession under the Elbo Ranch name, which had been displaced from its previous location at the foot of the mountains when the original Elbo-Manges ranch was purchased and used for Park Service personnel housing. The Ramshorn now houses the Teton Science School. Another 1920s establishment was Leek's Lodge
Leek's Lodge
Leek's Lodge is part of a former resort and dude ranch in Grand Teton National Park, near Jackson Lake. The ranch was specifically intended to offer activities to boys in a frontier setting. Its founder, Steven N. Leek, was instrumental in the establishment of the National Elk Refuge in Jackson Hole...
on upper Jackson Lake, close to the AMK, which continued to operate as a concession associated with the Signal Mountain Lodge
Signal Mountain Lodge
Signal Mountain Lodge is a resort located within Grand Teton National Park on Jackson Lake. The resort started in the 1920s as a fishing camp operated by Ole Warner. The camp was purchased in 1931 by the Wort family of Jackson, Wyoming, who owned other concessions in the park, renaming it the Wort...
into the 1970s. Although the Park Service had removed most of the buildings, the main lodge stood until 1998, when it was destroyed by fire, leaving only the lodge's chimney standing. The original Jackson Lake Lodge
Jackson Lake Lodge
Jackson Lake Lodge is located in Grand Teton National Park, in the U. S. state of Wyoming. The lodge has 385 rooms, a restaurant, conference rooms, and offers numerous recreational opportunities. The lodge is managed by the Grand Teton Lodge Company, and is not affiliated with the National Park...
was established nearby by Eugene Amoretti, and featured the first hot and cold running water in the valley. It was replaced by the present Jackson Lake Lodge in 1955.
The Triangle X Ranch was established in 1926 on the east side of Jackson Hole and is the last dude ranch operating in the park. The Turner family was from Utah, and after failing to grow potatoes, took to guiding hunting trips. The Triangle X operated both as outfitters and as dude ranchers. The Triangle X Barn
Triangle X Barn
The Triangle X Barn is a log barn at the Triangle X dude ranch in Grand Teton National Park. The barn was built by J.C. Turner, who used logs from neighbor John Fee's partly completed log cabin to begin construction of his barn in 1928. The barn, which is still in use, displays several methods of...
, built in 1928 of salvaged materials, is listed on the National Register.
The STS Dude Ranch was established by Buster and Frances Ester on the west bank of the Snake River a little south of Menor's Ferry in 1921. The unprofitable operation was purchased by conservationists Olaus Murie
Olaus Murie
Olaus Murie , called the "father of modern elk management", was a naturalist, author, and wildlife biologist who did groundbreaking field research on a variety of large northern mammals. He also served as president of The Wilderness Society, The Wildlife Society, and as director of the Izaak Walton...
, his wife Margaret (Mardie) Murie
Margaret Murie
Margaret Thomas "Mardy" Murie was a naturalist, author, adventurer, and conservationist. Dubbed the "Grandmother of the Conservation Movement" by both the Sierra Club and the Wilderness Society, she helped in the passage of the Wilderness Act, and was instrumental in creating the Arctic...
and scientist Adolph Murie
Adolph Murie
Adolph Murie , the first scientist to study wolves in their natural habitat, was a naturalist, author, and wildlife biologist who pioneered field research on wolves, bears, and other mammals and birds in Arctic and sub-Arctic Alaska...
and his wife Louise. Adolph and Louise lived in the original ranch complex, while Olaus and Mardie lived in a house
Murie Residence
The Murie Residence was the home of naturalists and conservationists Olaus and Mardie Murie. Located near Moose, Wyoming in the southern end of Grand Teton National Park, the house and adjoining studio are now part of the Murie Ranch Historic District, a National Historic Landmark encompassing the...
they built nearby on the property. The Murie Ranch
Murie Ranch Historic District
The Murie Ranch Historic District, also known as the STS Dude Ranch and Stella Woodbury Summer Home is an inholding in Grand Teton National Park near Moose, Wyoming. The district is chiefly significant for its association with the conservationists Olaus Murie, his wife Margaret Murie and scientist...
hosted some of the first meetings of The Wilderness Society
The Wilderness Society (United States)
The Wilderness Society is an American organization that is dedicated to protecting America's wilderness. It was formed in 1935 and currently has over 300,000 members and supporters.-Founding:The society was incorporated on January 21, 1935...
in the 1950s. The Murie Ranch was designated a National Historic Landmark
National Historic Landmark
A National Historic Landmark is a building, site, structure, object, or district, that is officially recognized by the United States government for its historical significance...
in 2006, and is operated as the Murie Center conference facility by the National Park Service.
Vacation houses
Other ranches took the form of rustic family retreats, rather than as guest ranches. The 4 Lazy F Dude Ranch4 Lazy F Dude Ranch
The 4 Lazy F Ranch, also known as the Sun Star Ranch, is a dude ranch and summer residence in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, built by the William Frew family of Pittsburgh in 1927. The existing property was built as a family retreat, not as a cattle ranch, in a rustic style of construction using logs and...
was started as a working ranch in 1914 by Philadelphian Bryant Mears, who called it the Sun Star. The Mears family sold it to William Frew, a dude from Pittsburgh, who renamed it the 4 Lazy F for the "four lazy Frews." The Frews operated the ranch as both a family retreat and as a dude ranch for a few selected guests. It remains in the Frew family as a life estate inholding. The AMK Ranch
AMK Ranch
The AMK Ranch is a small dude ranch on the eastern shore of Jackson Lake in Grand Teton National Park. Also known as the Merymare, Lonetree and Mae-Lou Ranch, it was built beginning in the 1920s by William Louis Johnson, then expanded in the 1930s by Alfred Berol...
, established in the 1920s on the east side of Jackson Lake
Jackson Lake
Jackson Lake is a lake located in north western Wyoming in Grand Teton National Park. The lake is natural, except for the top 33 feet , which is due to the construction of Jackson Lake Dam, built in 1911. This top level of the lake is utilized by farmers in Idaho for irrigation purposes...
, was a personal retreat for William Johnson of The Hoover Company
The Hoover Company
The Hoover Company started out as an American floor care manufacturer based in North Canton, Ohio. It also established a major base in the United Kingdom and for most of the early-and-mid-20th century, it dominated the electric vacuum cleaner industry, to the point where the "hoover" brand name...
. Alfred Berolzheimer of the Eagle (later Berol
Berol
Berol is a British company that manufactures pencils, pens and other stationery items, based in Lichfield, England. Established in 1969, its handwriting pen, used in many British schools, is now more than 25 years old....
) pencil company bought the ranch in 1936, greatly expanding it in a high-rustic style. The Brinkerhoff
The Brinkerhoff
The Brinkerhoff is a vacation lodge in Grand Teton National Park on the shore of Jackson Lake. It is the last remaining example of a forest lease vacation lodge in the park. The log house and caretaker's lodge were designed by architect Jan Wilking of Casper, Wyoming and were built in 1946 in what...
, on the shore of Jackson Lake near Signal Mountain
Signal Mountain (Wyoming)
Signal Mountain is an isolated summit standing above sea level. The mountain is located in Grand Teton National Park in the U.S. state of Wyoming. The next closest higher summit is more than distant, and this isolation provides sweeping views of the Teton Range, much of the northern Jackson Hole...
, was a pure vacation lodge, built in 1946 by oil executive Zach Brinkerhoff and furnished with Thomas C. Molesworth
Thomas C. Molesworth
Thomas C. Molesworth was an American furniture designer who was a significant figure in the creation of a distinctly Western style of furniture and accessories, using hides, horn and natural wood. Molesworth's style drew from the Arts and Crafts Movement and from vernacular design characteristics...
furniture. The Sky Ranch at the outlet of Death Canyon
Death Canyon
Death Canyon is located in Grand Teton National Park, in the U. S. state of Wyoming. The canyon was formed by glaciers which retreated at the end of the last glacial maximum approximately 15,000 years ago, leaving behind a U-shaped valley. The trailhead for the canyon is located on a side road off...
was established in 1953 as a summer retreat for the Balderston family, close to the White Grass ranch. William Balderston had been a surveyor and photographer for the Jackson Lake Dam
Jackson Lake Dam
Jackson Lake Dam is a concrete and earth-fill dam at the outlet of Jackson Lake in northwestern Wyoming, USA. The lake and dam are situated within Grand Teton National Park in Teton County. The Snake River emerges from the dam and flows about through Wyoming, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington to its...
project in 1914, going on to eventually become the president of the Philco
Philco
Philco, the Philadelphia Storage Battery Company , was a pioneer in early battery, radio, and television production as well as former employer of Philo Farnsworth, inventor of cathode ray tube television...
Corporation. The Balderston family were regular guests at the White Grass, and friends of the Muries. They bought 13.66 acres (5.5 ha) of White Grass property from Frank Galey in 1952. Balderston hired Philadelphia architect John Arnold Bower to design a small group of cabins, a barn and support structures.
Retired politician John Hogan bought a homestead on the east side of the park in 1926 for use as a guest ranch and fox farm. In 1930 the ranch was purchased by the Snake River Land Company and was its headquarters while the Rockefeller-owned company was assembling lands in Jackson Hole for donation to the Park Service. The main house
Snake River Land Company Residence and Office
The Snake River Land Company Residence and Office are structures associated with John D. Rockefeller, Jr.'s acquisition of land in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Under the guise of the Snake River Land Company, Rockefeller bought much of the land that he eventually donated to the National Park Service,...
was occupied by SRLC manager Harold Fabian and his wife Josephine until 1945, when they moved to the Geraldine Lucas homestead on the other side of the valley. Donated as part of the SRLC lands in the 1950s, the house was used as a dormitory by the Park Service for a time.
Other significant extant vacation homes, dude ranches and small working ranches include Dick and Ethel Reimer House, built in 1938 between Moose and Mormon Row at the end of Blacktail Butte, and the McCollister residential complex farther to the east on Antelope Flats Road. Paul W. McCollister was the primary developer of Teton Village
Teton Village, Wyoming
Teton Village is a census-designated place in Teton County, Wyoming, United States. The population was 175 at the 2000 census. The village surrounds the base of the Jackson Hole Mountain Resort...
. The McCollister compound was built and expanded between 1953 and 1987. The Aspen Ridge Ranch, in the same area, is a complex of modest log residential and agricultural buildings, built in 1910 and expanded in 1946. The Wolff Ranch, located farther north near Moran, is small dude ranch complex established in the 1940s by Stippy Wolff and Frank Allen.
Tourist camps
In the 1930s increasing numbers of visitors began to arrive in the park by automobile, and accommodations were developed to suit the new, more transient tourists. The Kimmel KabinsKimmel Kabins
The Kimmel Kabins were a tourist camp in Grand Teton National Park. The camp was built in 1937 by J.D. and Lura Kimmel with a rustic lodge and eleven cabins on either side of Cottonwood Creek south of Jenny Lake. The camp is the only remaining example of a motor court-style camp in Grand Teton out...
, established in 1937 by J.D. and Lura Kimmel, are the last example of as many as twelve similar motor court-type lodgings in the park. Its remaining structures are used to house Park Service personnel. Harry and Elizabeth Sensenbach were earlier pioneers in this market, opening their homestead in front of the Cathedral Group
Cathedral Group
The Cathedral Group is a term applied to a collection of most of the tallest mountains of the Teton Range, all of which are located in Grand Teton National Park, in the U.S. state of Wyoming. The collection of mountains known as the Cathedral Group are classic alpine peaks, with pyramidal shapes...
to automobile tourists. The Sensenbach operation was bought in 1946 by Charles Byron, Jeanne Jenkins and Gloria Jenkins Wardell, who expanded the operation as the Highlands guest ranch
Highlands Historic District (Moose, Wyoming)
The Highlands Historic District in Grand Teton National Park is a former private inholding within the park boundary. The inholding began as a 1914 homestead belonging to Harry and Elizabeth Sensenbach, who began in the 1920s to supplement their income by catering to automobile-borne tourists...
. The Highlands was acquired by the Park Service in 1972 and used for employee housing. The Signal Mountain Lodge
Signal Mountain Lodge
Signal Mountain Lodge is a resort located within Grand Teton National Park on Jackson Lake. The resort started in the 1920s as a fishing camp operated by Ole Warner. The camp was purchased in 1931 by the Wort family of Jackson, Wyoming, who owned other concessions in the park, renaming it the Wort...
was one of several ventures by the Wort family, starting in the 1920s as Ole Warner's fishing camp. The Worts developed the property after they purchased it in 1931, adding cabins and a small lodge. They sold the camp in 1940, when it acquired its present name. Apart from a few cabins, most of the resort is of relatively recent construction.
Jimmy Manges, whose old ranch became the first Elbo Ranch, had built a cabin on his remaining land near the Double Diamond in 1926. He gradually created a guest camp on the property, calling it the X Quarter Circle X. The camp expanded to twenty cabins by the 1940s, when his nephew Irwin Lesher and Irwin's wife Marvel took over management and improved the camp's standard of hygiene. The Leshers continued to manage the camp after Jimmy's death in 1960 until they sold out to the Park Service in 1960.
The 1925 Chapel of the Transfiguration
Chapel of the Transfiguration
The Chapel of the Transfiguration is a small log chapel in Grand Teton National Park, in the community of Moose. The chapel was sited and built to frame a view of the Cathedral Group of peaks in a large window behind the altar. The chapel, which was built in 1925, is owned and operated by St...
catered to the tourist trade. Built and owned by St. John's Episcopal Church
St. John's Episcopal Church and Rectory (Jackson, Wyoming)
St. John's Episcopal Church and Rectory form a small complex of log structures in Jackson, Wyoming. The rectory was built first: in 1911 it was a hostel and community center under the supervision of Episcopal Bishop Nathaniel Thomas. Church services were held there until 1916, when the church was...
, the chapel was built near Menor's Ferry, in an area that became known as Moose
Moose, Wyoming
Moose is an unincorporated community in Teton County, Wyoming, United States, in the Jackson Hole valley. It has a US Post Office, with the zip code of 83012. The town is located within Grand Teton National Park along the banks of the Snake River...
. The grounds and church interior focus on the Cathedral Group of peaks, all in a consciously rustic style that emphasizes the natural environment over the built environment. The Chapel of the Sacred Heart was built in similar rustic style near Signal Mountain by the Our Lady of the Mountains Catholic Church of Jackson in 1958.
The dude ranches and guest ranches were overwhelmingly rustic in style, representing a return to log construction and deliberately "Western"-looking details, as a way of appealing to eastern dudes looking for an informal retreat reminiscent of the frontier.
Early development
Jenny Lake
Jenny Lake is located in Grand Teton National Park in the U.S. state of Wyoming. The lake was formed approximately 12,000 years ago by glaciers pushing rock debris which carved Cascade Canyon during the last glacial maximum, forming a terminal moraine which now impounds the lake. The lake is...
and several smaller lakes. Nearly all of Jackson Hole was excluded from the park in the face of opposition from ranching interests. At the same time, the Rockefeller family, using the shield of the Snake River Land Company, began to buy lands in the valley for preservation and eventual donation to an expanded park. The SRLC lands were added to Jackson Hole National Monument in 1949, and Grand Teton National Park absorbed the monument lands in 1950.
During the 1930s the Park Service began to build visitor and administrative facilities in the original park lands.The park's first point of visitor contact was, for many years, at Jenny Lake. The Jenny Lake Ranger Station
Jenny Lake Ranger Station Historic District
The Jenny Lake Ranger Station Historic District comprises an area that was the main point of visitor contact in Grand Teton National Park from the 1930's to 1960. Located near Jenny Lake, the buildings are a mixture of purpose-built structures and existing buildings that were adapted for use by the...
comprised purpose-built structures as well as structures moved to the site from elsewhere. Chief of these relocated structures were the former Lee Manges cabin, built about 1925 and moved to the site to become the ranger station, and the Crandall Photo Studio, built around 1925-26 and later moved to the site. In the 1930s the Park Service added rustic public toilet facilities, called "comfort stations." The White Grass Ranger Station
White Grass Ranger Station Historic District
The White Grass Ranger Station includes several structures in the backcountry of Grand Teton National Park that were established to support horse patrols by park rangers. Built in 1930, White Grass is the only surviving horse patrol station in the park...
was built to a standardized Park Service plan in 1930.
The park had already inherited a number of similar structures built by the U.S. Forest Service prior to the 1929 establishment of the park, including the Leigh Lake Ranger Patrol Cabin
Leigh Lake Ranger Patrol Cabin
Leigh Lake Ranger Patrol Cabin was designed and built by the U.S. Forest Service in the 1920s. The cabin is located northwest of Leigh Lake in Grand Teton National Park in the U.S. state of Wyoming. The cabin was built to a standardized design, similar to that used for the Moran Bay Patrol Cabin...
and the Lower Berry Creek Patrol Cabin in the northern reaches of the park.
As the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
wore on, the Park Service received help from Civilian Conservation Corps
Civilian Conservation Corps
The Civilian Conservation Corps was a public work relief program that operated from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men from relief families, ages 18–25. A part of the New Deal of President Franklin D...
labor, and a CCC camp
Jenny Lake CCC Camp NP-4
CCC Camp NP-4, also known as the Horse Concessioner Dormitory and the Climbing Concession Office, at Jenny Lake in Grand Teton National Park was the largest Civilian Conservation Corps camp in Grand Teton...
was established at Jenny Lake. The CCC built the Cascade Canyon
Cascade Canyon Barn
The Cascade Canyon Barn was designed by the National Park Service to standard plans and built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1935. The National Park Service rustic style barn is 5 miles west of Jenny Lake in Grand Teton National Park in the U.S. state of Wyoming.The rustic log cabin...
and Death Canyon
Death Canyon Barn
The Death Canyon Barn is a combination barn and ranger patrol cabin in Grand Teton National Park. The barn was built in Death Canyon on the Death Canyon Trail at its junction with the Alaska Basin Trail by the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1935 in the National Park Service rustic style...
barns, as well as the Moran Bay
Moran Bay Patrol Cabin
The now-destroyed Moran Bay Patrol Cabin was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps about 1932. The log structure is located in the northern backcountry of Grand Teton National Park. The cabin was built to a standard design for such structures, in the National Park Service Rustic style, but for...
and Upper Granite Canyon
Upper Granite Canyon Patrol Cabin
The Upper Granite Canyon Patrol Cabin was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps about 1935. The log structure is located in the extreme southwest backcountry of Grand Teton National Park. The cabin was built to a standard design for such structures, in the National Park Service Rustic style...
patrol cabins. Despite their names, the barns were patrol cabins, built to standard Park Service designs from the Branch of Plans and Designs, and intentionally designed in the National Park Service Rustic
National Park Service Rustic
National Park Service rustic, also colloquially known as Parkitecture, is a style of architecture that arose in the United States National Park System to create buildings that harmonized with their natural environment. Since its founding, the National Park Service consistently has sought to provide...
style. The CCC built three comfort stations as well, including the String Lake Comfort Station
String Lake Comfort Station
The String Lake Comfort Station is one of three similar buildings in Grand Teton National Park that were built by the Civilian Conservation Corps and the Public Works Administration to standard National Park Service plans. Built between 1934 and 1939, the String Lake station was originally located...
, originally located at Jenny Lake.
The largest concentration of structures from this era comprise the Old Administrative Area Historic District
Old Administrative Area Historic District
The Old Administrative Area Historic District, also known as Beaver Creek, is the former headquarters area of Grand Teton National Park. The complex of five houses, three warehouses and an administrative building were designed in the National Park Service rustic style between 1934 and 1939 and were...
at Beaver Creek. The park headquarters, superintendent's residence, four employee residences and three warehouses were designed in Park Service Rustic style and built by the CCC between 1934 and 1939. The Moose Entrance Kiosk
Moose Entrance Kiosk
The Moose Entrance Kiosk was built between 1934 and 1939 by either the Public Works Administration or the Civilian Conservation Corps at the entrance to Grand Teton National Park. The log kiosk was built to National Park Service standard plans in the National Park Service Rustic style...
was built nearby, and has since been moved to Moose. Private development in the 1930s included the Jenny Lake Boat Concession Facilities
Jenny Lake Boat Concession Facilities
The Jenny Lake Boat Concession Facilities, also known as Reimer's Cabin and the Wort Boathouse, are a group of buildings on Jenny Lake in Grand Teton National Park. They include a dock, a boathouse, two employee cabins and Reimer's Cabin. The boathouse was built by concessioner Charles Wort, who...
, built by Charles Wort, who held a legacy concessioner's permit originally issued by the Forest Service, and who built a boathouse on Jenny Lake. Wort's family went on to establish the Wort Hotel
Wort Hotel
The Wort Hotel was built in downtown Jackson, Wyoming by brothers John and Jess Wort, who were significant figures in the transformation of the economy of Jackson Hole from ranching to tourism. The somewhat Tudor-style building was the first luxury hotel in Jackson...
in Jackson and the Signal Mountain Lodge. Robert Reimer, who took over the Wort concession at Jenny Lake in 1935, added a personal residence to the Jenny Lake ensemble.
Park expansion
Mission 66
Mission 66 was a US National Park Service ten-year program that was intended to dramatically expand Park Service visitor services by 1966, in time for the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the Park Service....
program was conceived in 1955 to deal with the dramatic increase in visitation, particularly automobile-borne tourism, being experienced Park Service-wide. The Moose Visitor Center, a new administration building, and employee residences were built at Moose, just downstream from Menor's Ferry, where a bridge crossed the Snake River. At about the same time the Colter Bay Village
Colter Bay Village
Colter Bay Village is a developed area of Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming, USA. Located on the northeast side of Jackson Lake, it was built starting in the 1950s as part of the National Park Service's Mission 66 program to expand park visitor services and to adapt them to the requirements of...
complex was developed on Jackson Lake in the northern part of the park, providing camping, lodging and marina services. The largest development of this era was the new Jackson Lake Lodge
Jackson Lake Lodge
Jackson Lake Lodge is located in Grand Teton National Park, in the U. S. state of Wyoming. The lodge has 385 rooms, a restaurant, conference rooms, and offers numerous recreational opportunities. The lodge is managed by the Grand Teton Lodge Company, and is not affiliated with the National Park...
, a reinterpretation of the traditional Park Service lodge concept in a modern style
Modern architecture
Modern architecture is generally characterized by simplification of form and creation of ornament from the structure and theme of the building. It is a term applied to an overarching movement, with its exact definition and scope varying widely...
by architect Gilbert Stanley Underwood
Gilbert Stanley Underwood
Gilbert Stanley Underwood was an American architect best known for his National Park lodges. Born in 1890, Underwood received his B.A. from Yale in 1920 and a M.A. from Harvard in 1923. After opening an office in Los Angeles that year, he became associated with Daniel Ray Hull of the National...
. Underwood, who had designed the rustic Bryce Canyon
Bryce Canyon Lodge
Bryce Canyon Lodge is a lodge in Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah. It was built between 1924 and 1925 using local materials. Designed by architect Gilbert Stanley Underwood, the lodge is an excellent example of National Park Service Rustic design...
and Grand Canyon
Grand Canyon Lodge
Grand Canyon Lodge is a hotel and cabins complex at Bright Angel Point on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. It was designed by Gilbert Stanley Underwood who also designed The Ahwahnee, Bryce Canyon Lodge, and Zion Lodge....
lodges as well as Yosemite's
Yosemite National Park
Yosemite National Park is a United States National Park spanning eastern portions of Tuolumne, Mariposa and Madera counties in east central California, United States. The park covers an area of and reaches across the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada mountain chain...
Ahwahnee Hotel
Ahwahnee Hotel
The Ahwahnee Hotel is a destination hotel in Yosemite National Park, California, on the floor of Yosemite Valley, constructed from stone, concrete, wood and glass, which opened in 1927...
, made a sharp break from the naturalistic rustic style, using concrete and steel and straight, sharp lines while he incorporated traditionally rustic colors and textures, framing a view of Mount Moran
Mount Moran
Mount Moran is a mountain in Grand Teton National Park of western Wyoming, USA. The mountain is named for Thomas Moran, an American western frontier landscape artist. Mount Moran dominates the northern section of the Teton Range rising above Jackson Lake. Several active glaciers exist on the...
from the main lobby. The Jackson Lake Lodge was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2003.
Context
The historical structures of Grand Teton National Park span a period of little more than a century. They share a common heritage of rustic design and construction, first from necessity, and later from a common desire on the part of dude ranch operators and the National Park Service to evoke the aesthetics of the Western frontier. Grand Teton is unusual in its extensive inventory of structures from the pre-park period, a legacy of its expansion into areas that had been previously settled.External links
- Cultural History at Grand Teton National Park
- A Place Called Jackson Hole, Grand Teton Natural History Association
- Ghosts in the Sagebrush, Smithsonian Magazine article on former dude ranches in Jackson Hole
- A Classless Society: Dude Ranching in the Tetons 1908-1955