Old Faithful Museum of Thermal Activity

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The Old Faithful Museum of Thermal Activity was one of a series of four "trailside" museums built in Yellowstone National Park in 1929. Funded by a grant of $118,000 from Laura Spelman Rockefeller, the museums interpreted park features for visitors, and represented an early version of the visitor information center concept that became widespread throughout the National Park Service. The four museums were notable examples of the National Park Service Rustic style, and all were designed by Park Service architect Herbert Maier. The surviving Norris Museum, Fishing Bridge Museum and the Madison Museum are collectively listed as National Historic Landmarks. [1]

The Old Faithful museum, the first of the series, was built at a cost of $8,500 and was completed in 1929. [2] The museum was a low T-shaped single-story structure of rustic log and stone construction. Two stepped sections of roof dominated the main portion of the building with deep overhangs supported by angled log brackets resting on a raised stone foundation sill. A perpendicular wing extended in the direction of the parking lot. The building resembled the Madison and Fishing Bridge museums. [3] The museum's surroundings featured an amphitheater for ranger talks and a small garden of native botanical specimens. [4]

The Old Faithful museum was demolished in 1971 to make way for a full-scale Mission 66 visitor center on the site, midway between the Old Faithful Inn and the Old Faithful Lodge, facing Old Faithful geyser. This visitor center was in turn demolished in 2006 and was replaced by the Old Faithful Visitor Education Center, opened in August 2010. [3]

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The Old Faithful Inn is a hotel in the western United States with a view of the Old Faithful Geyser, located in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming. The Inn has a multi-story log lobby, flanked by long frame wings containing guest rooms. In the western portion of the park, it sits at an approximate elevation of 7,350 feet (2,240 m) above sea level.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Park Service rustic</span> Style of architecture developed in 20th century for the United States National Park Service

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Hamilton's Stores were concessioners in Yellowstone National Park from 1915 to 2002. The stores were founded by Winnipeg native Charles Hamilton, who arrived in Yellowstone in 1905, aged 21, to work for the Yellowstone Park Association. The stores provided food, souvenirs and sundries to tourists at the major attractions along Yellowstone's Grand Loop Road. Several of the buildings constructed for Hamilton's are significant examples of the National Park Service Rustic style of architecture and have assumed prominence as attractions in their own right. Most or all are included as contributing structures in National Register of Historic Places historic districts.

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The Roosevelt Lodge Historic District comprises the area around the Roosevelt Lodge in the northern part of Yellowstone National Park, near Tower Junction. The district includes 143 buildings ranging in size from cabins to the Lodge, built beginning in 1919. The Lodge was first conceived as a field laboratory for students and educators conducting research in the park. It later became a camp for tourists, specifically designed to accommodate automobile-borne tourists. The Lodge is a simplified version of the National Park Service Rustic style.

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

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hotels and tourist camps of Yellowstone National Park</span>

Since before the creation of Yellowstone National Park in 1872, entrepreneurs have established hotels and permanent tourist camps to accommodate visitors to the park. Today, Xanterra Parks and Resorts operates hotel and camping concessions in the park on behalf of the National Park Service. This is a list of hotels and permanent tourist camps that have operated or continue to operate in the park.

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.

References

  1. Harrison, Laura Soulliere. "Norris, Madison and Fishing Bridge Museums". Architecture in the Parks: A National Historic Landmark Theme Study. National Park Service. Retrieved 29 September 2010.
  2. Rydell, Kiki Leigh & Culpin, Mary Shivers (2006). "Managing the Matchess Wonders:A History of Administrative Development in Yellowstone National Park, 1872-1965" (PDF). National Park Service, Yellowstone Center for Resources. p. 101. Retrieved 2010-12-13.
  3. 1 2 Old Faithful Historic District: A Brief History and Walking Tour. National Park Service. August 2010.
  4. Writer's Program, Works Projects Administration (1941). Wyoming: A Guide to its History, Highways and People. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN   9781603540490.

Coordinates: 44°27′31.4″N110°49′45.8″W / 44.458722°N 110.829389°W / 44.458722; -110.829389