Baker Ranger Station was established in 1911 at the edge of

Baker, Nevada Baker is a census-designated place in southeastern White Pine County, Nevada, United States. It is located east of the main entrance of Great Basin National Park at the junction of State Routes 487 and 488. The town is named after an early s ...

to administer U.S. government lands in

White Pine County, Nevada White Pine County is a largely rural, mountain county along the central eastern boundary of the U.S. state of Nevada. As of the 2010 census, the population was 10,030. Its county seat is Ely. The name "(Rocky Mountain) white pine" is an old ...

. The original plot was first known as the Baker Administrative Site, becoming a year-round ranger station in 1918 for the Baker Ranger District of Nevada National Forest. The compound became a guard station and work site with the division of Nevada National Forest into Humboldt and Toiyabe National Forests in 1957. In 1986

Great Basin National Park Great Basin National Park is an American national park located in White Pine County in east-central Nevada, near the Utah border, established in 1986. The park is most commonly entered by way of Nevada State Route 488, which is connected to U. ...

was established and the station was transferred to the

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational propertie ...

as an administrative center for the park.

Description

The ranger station includes four wood-frame buildings dating to the 1930s as well as a variety of more recent structures. The first Baker Ranger Station was built in 1911, amounting to four rooms and regarded as unsightly. It was removed by the time new structures were built, beginning with a 1935 cottage, followed by an office, barn and garage-fire cache structure. The cottage was based on

U.S. Forest Service The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands. The Forest Service manages of land. Major divisions of the agency in ...

Plan R-4, No. 23, the office on R-4, No. 4, and the barn R-4, No. 13B. The buildings were built by men on the local relief rolls. Other infrastructure items at the compound were built by

Civilian Conservation Corps The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a voluntary government 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 a major part of ...

labor. The complex was placed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1995.

References

{{National Register of Historic Places National Park Service ranger stations United States Forest Service ranger stations Government buildings completed in 1935 Government buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Nevada 1935 establishments in Nevada Civilian Conservation Corps in Nevada National Register of Historic Places in Great Basin National Park