The Jenny Lake Ranger Station Historic District comprises an area that was the main point of visitor contact in

Grand Teton National Park Grand Teton National Park is a national park of the United States in northwestern Wyoming. At approximately , the park includes the major peaks of the Teton Range as well as most of the northern sections of the valley known as Jackson Hole. G ...

from the 1930s to 1960. Located near

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 m ...

, the buildings are a mixture of purpose-built structures and existing buildings that were adapted for use by the

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an List of federal agencies in the United States, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government, within the US Department of the Interior. The service manages all List ...

. The ranger station was built as a cabin by Lee Mangus north of

Moose, Wyoming Moose is an unincorporated community in Teton County, Wyoming, 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. It is popula ...

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 National Park Service rustic – sometimes colloquially called Parkitecture – is a style of architecture that developed in the early and middle 20th century in the United States National Park Service (NPS) through its efforts to create building ...

style, although the ranger station and the photo shop were built from parts of buildings located elsewhere in the park.

Ranger station

The ranger station was reconstructed from a cabin originally built by Lee Manges about 1925 which was acquired by the

in 1930 and moved to the present site. The small rectangular log cabin features a log pole front porch, with decorative half-log sheathing in a V-pattern on its gable.

Crandall Studio

The Crandall Photo Studio was built just east of

String Lake There are 44 named and countless unnamed lakes in Grand Teton National Park. The largest of these is Jackson Lake, a natural glacial lake that has been enlarged with the construction of the Jackson Lake Dam. The lakes range in size as well as ea ...

in 1925-26 and moved to the Jenny Lake site after Harrison Crandall's property was purchased by the Park Service in 1931. The studio operated at Jenny Lake until 1958, when the Grand Teton Lodge Company bought out Crandall's concession contract. Crandall, a Kansan, arrived in Jackson Hole in 1921. He returned the following year with his wife Hildegarde, and established a homestead claim in 1923 near the present Jenny Lake Lodge, where he built the cabin. Crandall sold scenic pictures of the Tetons as well as souvenir shots of dudes at the many dude ranches in Jackson Hole. Crandall also painted, his work appearing in magazines and collected by

John D. Rockefeller Jr. John Davison Rockefeller Jr. (January 29, 1874 – May 11, 1960) was an American financier and philanthropist. Rockefeller was the fifth child and only son of Standard Oil co-founder John D. Rockefeller. He was involved in the development of th ...

The studio-visitor center consists of two main rooms in a long, deep log structure, with a high open ceiling lighted by

clerestory A clerestory ( ; , also clearstory, clearstorey, or overstorey; from Old French ''cler estor'') is a high section of wall that contains windows above eye-level. Its purpose is to admit light, fresh air, or both. Historically, a ''clerestory' ...

windows in roof monitors.

Comfort stations

The comfort stations were built in 1934 and 1935 from Park Service standard plans by

Civilian Conservation Corps The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a voluntary government unemployment, work relief program that ran from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men ages 18–25 and eventually expanded to ages 17–28. The CCC was ...

labor, based at Jenny Lake CCC Camp NP-4.

Present use

The district still serves as a point of visitor contact, but was superseded as the primary contact center with the construction of

Mission 66 Mission 66 was a United States 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. When the National P ...

facilities at Moose, which themselves have recently been replaced by newer facilities. The Crandall Studio, formerly used is a book and gift store by the Grand Teton Association, as well as functioning as a small visitor center. The ranger station is no longer a primary visitor contact point, a function now fulfilled by the Crandall Studio, but the comfort stations remain in use. The ranger station is now used as a base for climbing rangers and to issue climbing permits. The district was placed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

on April 23, 1990.

References

External links