The Swiftcurrent Auto Camp Historic District preserves a portion of the built-up area of Glacier National Park that documents the second phase of tourist development in the park. After the creation of a series of hotels for train-borne visitors including the nearby

Many Glacier Hotel Many Glacier Hotel is a historic hotel located on the east shore of Swiftcurrent Lake in Glacier National Park in the U.S. state of Montana. The building is designed as a series of chalets, up to four stories tall, and stretches for a substant ...

, courtesy of the Great Northern Railway's hotel concession, facilities were developed for the increasing numbers of automobile-borne tourists, drawn to Glacier by the

Going-to-the-Sun Road Going-to-the-Sun Road is a scenic mountain road in the Rocky Mountains of the western United States, in Glacier National Park in Montana. The Sun Road, as it is sometimes abbreviated in National Park Service documents, is the only road that trav ...

. The Swiftcurrent Auto Camp at

Swiftcurrent Lake Swiftcurrent Lake is located in the Many Glacier region of Glacier National Park, in the U.S. state of Montana. The Many Glacier Hotel, the largest hotel in the park, is along the east shore of the lake. Many hiking trails originate from the ar ...

was created for these new tourists. It includes a rustic general store, built in 1935 by the Glacier Park Hotel Company, surrounded by a number of log tourist cabins., as well as a shower and laundry house and other supporting structures. In contrast to the prominent site of the nearby

, the auto camp is located in stands of mature trees that block direct views of the surrounding mountains. The facilities were intended to provide an inexpensive, informal alternative to the hotels that had heretofore provided the bulk of tourist accommodations. The camp was built by the railroad's Glacier Park Hotel Company subsidiary, under pressure from 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 ...

to provide such accommodations. Swiftcurrent auto camp Glacier NP1

References

National Park Service rustic in Montana Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Montana National Register of Historic Places in Glacier County, Montana 1996 establishments in Montana National Register of Historic Places in Glacier National Park Great Northern Railway (U.S.) 1935 establishments in Montana Commercial buildings completed in 1935 {{Montana-NRHP-stub

See also

References