Have you seen Yellowstone’s iconic Old Faithful Inn without its portico? Did you know employees at the North Rim’s Grand Canyon Lodge serenaded departing guests?
Guests at some park lodges were serenaded when they arrived and departed. National park lodges sometimes treated guests to weekly employee talent shows.
As unlikely as it seems, the same architect who designed rustic lodges in Bryce Canyon, Zion, and the Grand Canyon’s North Rim over two decades later designed modern Jackson Lodge in Grand Teton National Park.
We have included images and overviews for ten of our favorite historic national park lodges. There are more than ten, of course, many of which unfortunately are no longer with us.
El Tovar Hotel, Grand Canyon National Park/Public Domain
El Tovar Hotel opens (circa 1905)
The El Tovar welcomed its first visitors in 1905, 14 years before Congress made Grand Canyon a national park (it had been a national monument since 1908). Such an elegant hotel near the edge of the remote canyon became financially viable after a 65-mile railroad spur was completed to the South Rim. The upscale hotel had a coal-fired generator for electric power, hot and cold running water, and indoor plumbing with community bathrooms.
Zion Lodge dedication/Zion National Park, Museum Catalog Number ZION 14982
Dedication of the original Zion Lodge in Zion National Park (1925)
Zion National Park’s first lodge was dedicated in May 1925. The building was designed by famed architect Gilbert Stanley Underwood for the Utah Parks Company, a subsidiary of the Union Pacific Railroad. Cabins were added later. The lodge burned in 1966 and was replaced in short order with a less-striking building that continues to welcome guests.
Bright Angel Lodge/Public domain
Bright Angel Lodge soon after its 1935 opening (1936)
Bright Angel Lodge on the South Rim of Grand Canyon National Park was designed by architect Mary Colter for the Santa Fe Railroad. Colter also designed the park’s Hopi House, Phantom Ranch, Desert View Watchtower, Lookout Studio and more. The lodge and surrounding cabins are on the site of one of the area’s first tourist camps. The complex includes the Bucky O’Neill Cabin that was built in 1895 and is available for rent.
North Rim Lodge at Grand Canyon National Park/NPS, George Grant
The North Rim’s Grand Canyon Lodge employees serenade departing guests (1930)
The original lodge on Grand Canyon National Park’s North Rim was designed by Gilbert Stanley Underwood as a two-story structure. The lodge was completed in 1928 and burned in 1932. Grand Canyon Lodge was rebuilt in 1937 as a one-story structure at the same location. The replacement lodge was constructed with a steeper roofline to better weather the North Rim’s heavy winter snowfall. The lodge building contains offices, a sunroom and one of the most stunning restaurants in any national park, but it does not have guest rooms. All guest accommodations are in cabins and motel units. (NPS image, George Grant)
Bryce Canyon Lodge was dedicated in 1925/NPS archives
Dedication at Bryce Canyon Lodge in Bryce Canyon National Park (1925)
The site for Bryce Canyon Lodge was selected in 1923 with construction completed two years later. Now called “The Lodge at Bryce Canyon,” this is the only remaining member of four lodges designed by Underwood. (Zion Lodge, Grand Canyon Lodge, and Cedar Breaks Lodge were the other three). The first two burned and the last was torn down. (NPS image-BRCA Archives)
Many Glacier Hotel lobby at Glacier National Park/Public domain
Lobby of Many Glacier Hotel in Glacier National Park (1915)
Glacier National Park’s Many Glacier Hotel was constructed from 1914 to 1917 as the largest of the Great Northern Railway’s Glacier hotels. The hotel’s main section that contains a large lobby opened in 1915, with an annex being added in 1917. Located among the park’s majestic peaks along the shoreline of Swiftcurrent Lake, hotel guests have long enjoyed some of the best vistas of any national park.
Paradise Inn, Mount Rainier National Park/Public domain
Paradise Inn in Mount Rainier National Park (1940s)
Paradise Inn was mostly constructed in 1916 and welcomed its first guests in July of the following year. Initially, the hotel had 37 guest rooms and a dining room that could seat 400. Nearby platform tents provided bedding for additional guests. An annex with 104 guest rooms was constructed in the early 1920s. Nearly 300 housekeeping cabins plus a service building named “Paradise Lodge” with a cafeteria and additional guest rooms was added in the early 1930s. A 9-hole golf course constructed in 1931 experienced a short life. The tent cabins were removed in 1930 and in the early 1940s Paradise Lodge was closed and the housekeeping cabins sold and removed. (Public domain image)
Old Faithful Inn before the portico was added/Public domain
Old Faithful Inn in Yellowstone National Park (1903)
Designed by architect Robert Reamer and financed by the Northern Pacific Railroad, Old Faithful Inn opened in 1904. The hotel’s east wing was added in 1919 and the west wing in 1927. The inn in the photo is without its portico that framed the famed geyser for arriving guests. The inn was named for the famed geyser and replaced an earlier hotel that burned in 1894. The inn’s lobby is an exhibit of masterful design and craftsmanship. (Public domain image)
Big Meadows Lodge, Shenandoah National Park/Public Domain
Big Meadows Lodge in Shenandoah National Park (1939)
Big Meadows Lodge and Big Meadows Wayside, constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps and mountain labor, opened three years after President Franklin Roosevelt dedicated the national park at Big Meadows in 1936. Five cabins had been constructed one year prior to the lodge. The park and its concession facilities were closed during most of WWII. Big Meadows Lodge is one of three lodging facilities in Shenandoah National Park. (NPS image: Harvey Benson)
Jackson Lake Lodge during construction/Public domain
Jackson Lake Lodge in Grand Teton National Park (1954)
The modern design of Jackson Lake Lodge is the work of architect Gilbert Stanley Underwood, whose earlier projects included Yosemite’s Ahwahnee Hotel and four rustic lodges for the Union Pacific Railroad in northern Arizona and southern Utah. Construction on Jackson Lake Lodge commenced in March 1953 with the hotel opening in June of 1955 near the site of the Amoretti Inn that had welcomed guests since 1922. Amoretti Inn closed when the new Jackson Lake Lodge opened. (NPS image)
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