Signal Mountain Lodge

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Signal Mountain Lodge
Signal Mountain Lodge GTNP1.jpg
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Location within the United States
Former namesWort Lodge and Camp
Hotel chain Forever Resorts (operator)
General information
Architectural style Rustic architecture
Location Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming
Coordinates 43°50′35.85″N110°36′41.28″W / 43.8432917°N 110.6114667°W / 43.8432917; -110.6114667
Elevationc. 6,780 ft (2,070 m)

Signal Mountain Lodge is a rustic style 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 Lodge and Camp. The camp consisted of 32 structures, including guest cabins, a store, a gas station and a rustic lodge. The Worts sold the resort in 1940 to the Harris family, when it was renamed the Signal Mountain Lodge after nearby Signal Mountain, using the proceeds to build the Wort Hotel in Jackson. Little or nothing survives from the Wort's resort; the lodge was demolished by 1963 and replaced with an enlarged facility, although some of the Wort-built cabins may remain on the property. [1] [2]

The new owners built new cabins, a store, restaurant, and utility buildings. For a time in the 1970s, the Signal Mountain organization operated Leek's Lodge and marina on upper Jackson Lake. [2] The Harrises sold the concession to Rex Maughan, operator of the Forever Resorts concession in a number of national and state parks, in 1984. [3] [4]

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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 1930s 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 National Park Service. The ranger station was built as a cabin by Lee Mangus north of Moose, Wyoming about 1925 and was moved and rebuilt around 1930 for Park Service use. A store was built by a concessioner, and comfort stations were built to Park Service standard plans. All buildings were planned to the prevailing National Park Service Rustic style, although the ranger station and the photo shop were built from parts of buildings located elsewhere in the park.

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The Grand Lake Lodge hotel was opened in 1920 to serve tourists visiting Rocky Mountain National Park via the Trail Ridge Road, completed the same year. Located in Grand Lake, Colorado, the rustic lodge was founded by Frank Huntington and Roe Emery on land owned by the National Park Service at the edge of the park. The resort was affiliated with the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Historical buildings and structures of Grand Teton National Park</span> United States historic place

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.

Jenny Lake Lodge is a luxury resort concession in Grand Teton National Park. Located close to the base of the Teton Range at Jenny Lake, the resort as operated since the 1920s, when Tony Grace established the Danny Ranch, a dude ranch, on the site, with two rental cabins. The ranch was purchased by the Snake River Land Company, which made improvements starting around 1933, under the auspices of its operating company, the Teton Investment Company. The ranch's lodge burned in 1935, but a new lodge was built, accompanied by enough cabins to accommodate 65 guests.

The following articles relate to the history, geography, geology, flora, fauna, structures and recreation in Grand Teton National Park.

References

  1. Grever, Joan; Dennis, Barry; Lynn, Ann; Dubbe, Kurt; O'Connor, Jesse; Jacobson, Silver; Rigter, Robert (April 15, 1999). "National Register of Historic Places Registration: Wort Hotel". National Park Service. Retrieved 2009-05-24.
  2. 1 2 "Chapter 15: Tourists". A Place Called Jackson Hole: A Historic Resource Study of Grand Teton National Park. National Park Service. 2008-08-12. Retrieved 15 April 2011.
  3. "History". Signal Mountain Lodge. Forever Resorts. Retrieved 15 April 2011.
  4. "About Forever Resorts". Forever Resorts. Archived from the original on 13 May 2015. Retrieved 15 April 2011.