The Upper Lake McDonald Ranger Station in Glacier National Park was a formerly isolated site that became an administrative center with the opening of the Going-to-the-Sun Road. The National Park Service Rustic cabin was typical of the preferred style for western park structures of the period. The ranger station is similar to its counterparts at Belly River and Sherburne, as well as the Polebridge Ranger Station residence.
The Logging Creek Ranger Station is the oldest continually operating administrative site in Glacier National Park. The rustic log cabin is an early example of what would become a typical style of western park structure. The district includes a cabin used as a residence for the summer fire guard.
The Kishenehn Ranger Station in Glacier National Park was originally built in 1913, but a fire burned it down in 1919. They rebuilt it in 1921. Located nearly five miles south of the Canada–United States border, the log cabin was one of the earliest administrative structures in the park. The cabin was designed in an early version of what became the National Park Service Rustic style.
The East Glacier Ranger Station, east of Glacier National Park, is characteristic of park buildings constructed in the 1920s and 1930s. It was designed by Daniel Ray Hull of the National Park Service Office of Plans, as a frame building compatible in style with the prevailing National Park Service Rustic style. It is the center of a group of related buildings, including several residential structures.
The Roes Creek Campground Camptender's Cabin, also known as the Rising Sun Campground Ranger Cabin, in Glacier National Park is an example of the National Park Service Rustic style.
The Sun Camp Fireguard Cabin, also known as the Baring Creek Cabin or Baring Cabin, in Glacier National Park was an example of the National Park Service Rustic style. Built in 1935 by local contractor Harry E. Doverspike, the cabin was the last remaining building of the Sun Camp Ranger Station complex of buildings, which at one time included a ranger station, barn and woodshed located near the mouth of Baring Creek. The fireguard cabin was built according to cabin specifications provided by the NPS Division of Landscape Architecture. The only apparent dissimilarity is the center-wall placement of the entry. There was no indoor plumbing and heat was provided by a wood stove whose stovepipe exited through the back log wall to a stone chimney.
The Sherburne Ranger Station in Glacier National Park is an example of the National Park Service Rustic style. Located in the Swiftcurrent portion of the park, it was built in 1926. It is part of a small historic district that includes a mess hall and subsidiary structures, formerly known as the Sherburne Road Camp, established in 1931. The ranger station closely resembles the ranger stations at Belly River and Lake McDonald. A checking station at the road remains substantially intact.
The Swiftcurrent Ranger Station is an example of the Swiss Chalet style that prevailed in the early years of Glacier National Park, before the establishment of the similar National Park Service Rustic style. The station was designed by Edward A. Nickel and built by Ole Norden and S. M. Askevold. It replaced a previous ranger station, destroyed in a 1936 forest fire. All structures in the district were built within a single year and are consistent in design and materials.
The Glacier National Park Tourist Trails, including the Inside Trail, South Circle Trail and North Circle Trail, were established in Glacier National Park to connect a series of tourist camps and hotels established by the Great Northern Railway between 1910 and 1915. Prior to the construction of the Going-to-the-Sun Road, these trails were the primary form of circulation within the park. The trail system includes a number of bridges.
The Belly River Ranger Station Historic District in Glacier National Park includes several historic structures, including the original ranger station, now used as a barn. The rustic log structures were built beginning in 1912. Other buildings include a woodshed, built in 1927 to standard National Park Service plans and a cabin used as a fire cache.
The Kintla Lake Ranger Station in Glacier National Park is a rustic log structure that was built by the Butte Oil Company in 1900 at Kintla Lake. It was taken over by the National Park Service and used as a ranger station. It is significant as a remnant of early oil exploration activities in the Glacier area. A boathouse was built by the National Park Service in 1935 to the same design as the boathouses at Upper Lake McDonald and Saint Mary ranger stations. A fire cache cabin, identical to those at Logging Creek, Polebridge and Lake McDonald ranger stations was built in 1934.
The Skyland Camp-Bowman Lake Ranger Station in Glacier National Park was originally built as the Culver Boys' Military Academy. The main building, known variously as the Skyland Camp Messhall, Culver Boys' Military Academy Messhall and Skyline Chalet, was built in 1920 and is a good example of National Park Service Rustic architecture. The main cabin, known as "Rainbow Lodge" was built by the boys of the academy in 1920 from red cedar logs, and is more elaborate and carefully detailed than typical ranger stations of this period. The interior is dominated by a stone fireplace.
The Upper Logging Lake Snowshoe Cabin was built in 1925 in Glacier National Park. The National Park Service Rustic as a shelter for rangers patrolling the backcountry. The design is similar to that used in Yellowstone National Park, which was in turn adapted from U.S. Forest Service shelters, which were themselves adaptations of trapper cabins.
The West Entrance Station at Glacier National Park was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1942. An example of the National Park Service Rustic style, it was designed by the National Park Service Branch of Plans and Design.
The Tuolumne Meadows Ranger Station and Comfort Stations are examples of National Park Service Rustic design in Yosemite National Park. They are within the Tuolumne Meadows Historic District at Tuolumne Meadows. The ranger station was built in 1924 using peeled log construction. The ranger station doubled as the park entrance station for the Tioga Road. Its function was partly superseded by a newer structure in 1936, using larger quantities of stonework.
The Glacier Basin Campground Ranger Station in Rocky Mountain National Park was built in 1930 to a design by the National Park Service Branch of Plans and Designs. The National Park Service Rustic log and stone structure was designed to blend with the landscape, and continues to function as a ranger station.
The Fall River Pass Ranger Station in Rocky Mountain National Park was designed by National Park Service landscape architect Daniel Ray Hull in the National Park Service Rustic style. Built in 1922, the stone structure is similar in design to the Chasm Lake Shelter. Between 1933 and 1937 the ranger station was converted to a museum. The ranger station is associated with the construction of the nearby Trail Ridge Road. Located above the tree line, the building has a trap door in the roof to allow access when the door is blocked by drifting snow.
The White River Entrance to Mount Rainier National Park is a complex of buildings built between 1929 and 1931 to accommodate visitors arriving on the Yakima Park Highway, in the northeastern portion of the park. Like most of the structures in Mount Rainier, the buildings are designed in the National Park Service Rustic style, using natural stone and log materials. The historic district includes the 1933 Men's Mess Hall and Dormitory, believed to be the only surviving camp structure built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the park.
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 inholdings 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.
Architects of the National Park Service are the architects and landscape architects who were employed by the National Park Service (NPS) starting in 1918 to design buildings, structures, roads, trails and other features in the United States National Parks. Many of their works are listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and a number have also been designated as National Historic Landmarks.
