The Glacier Park Company, a

subsidiary A subsidiary, subsidiary company or daughter company is a company owned or controlled by another company, which is called the parent company or holding company. Two or more subsidiaries that either belong to the same parent company or having a s ...

of the Great Northern Railway (GN), constructed and operated hotels, chalets, and other visitor facilities in Glacier National Park,

Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbi ...

and

Waterton Lakes National Park Waterton Lakes National Park is a national park located in the southwest corner of Alberta, Canada. It borders Glacier National Park in Montana, United States. Waterton was the fourth Canadian national park, formed in 1895 and named after Waterto ...

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

from the 1910s through 1960. Operating as a concessionaire of 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 ...

, the company operated from a summer base in

East Glacier Park, Montana East Glacier Park (Blackfeet: , "Big Tree Lodge") is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Glacier County, Montana, United States. The population was 363 on the 2010 United States Census. The Great Northern Railway pla ...

, near the company's flagship Glacier Park Hotel; winter headquarters were in

St. Paul, Minnesota Saint Paul (abbreviated St. Paul) is the capital of the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of Ramsey County. Situated on high bluffs overlooking a bend in the Mississippi River, Saint Paul is a regional business hub and the center o ...

. Originally known as the Glacier Park Hotel Company, the corporate name was shortened to Glacier Park Company in 1943. During the early years of the Glacier Park Company's operation, its facilities were primarily geared to serve tourists who arrived in Glacier on the Great Northern's passenger trains, which stopped at a station adjacent to Glacier Park Hotel. From there, horse and motorcoach tours connected to the company's other hotels and chalets. The largest of the company's facilities was the Many Glacier Hotel, which opened in 1915. The landmark

Prince of Wales Hotel The Prince of Wales Hotel is a historic hotel located in Waterton, Alberta, Canada. It is situated within Waterton Lakes National Park, overlooking Upper Waterton Lakes. It was designed by and built for the Great Northern Railway company. It is ...

in Waterton was completed in 1927, and in 1930 the company was contracted to operate the privately constructed Lake McDonald Hotel. The hotels were supplemented by a network of smaller lodging complexes called "chalets," some accessible only by trail. A total of nine such properties were constructed during the 1910s, four of which survive today in whole or part: the

Belton Chalets The Belton Chalets are a group of historic hotel buildings in the village of West Glacier, Montana, near the western entrance to Glacier National Park. The chalet buildings were built in 1910-11 by the Great Northern Railway (GN) as the first c ...

, Sperry Chalet, Granite Park Chalet and the

Two Medicine Store Two Medicine Store, formerly part of Two Medicine Chalets, is a historic building in Glacier National Park in the U.S. state of Montana. The chalet was originally built in 1914 by the Glacier Park Hotel Company, a subsidiary of the Great Northe ...

. Two additional locations, Swiftcurrent and Rising Sun, were developed in the 1930s and 1940s to serve Glacier's increasing numbers of automobile travelers. After the 1960 operating season, the company's Glacier and Waterton operations were sold to

Don Hummel Don Hummel (September 8, 1907 – August 18, 1988) was an American businessman and politician. Don Hummel served as the mayor of Tucson, Arizona from 1955 through 1961, where he is remembered for pushing an aggressive annexation program tha ...

, a

Tucson, Arizona , "(at the) base of the black ill , nicknames = "The Old Pueblo", "Optics Valley", "America's biggest small town" , image_map = , mapsize = 260px , map_caption = Interactive map ...

businessman who formed "Glacier Park, Inc." to operate the concessions. The Glacier Park Company continued to exist as a real estate subsidiary of the Great Northern, and later the GN's corporate successor Burlington Northern. As of 1990, it was a subsidiary of

Burlington Resources Burlington Resources Inc. was a company engaged in hydrocarbon exploration. In 2006, the company was acquired by ConocoPhillips. History In 1988, the company was formed to own the resource assets of Burlington Northern Railroad. The company became ...

. The company is now a wholly owned subsidiary of

ConocoPhillips ConocoPhillips Company is an American multinational corporation engaged in hydrocarbon exploration and production. It is based in the Energy Corridor district of Houston, Texas. The company has operations in 15 countries and has production in ...

References

*Djuff, Ray, and Chris Morrison. ''View with a Room: Glacier's Historic Hotels and Chalets''. Helena, Montana: Farcountry Press, 2001. . * Ober, Michael J. "Enmity and Alliance: Park Service-Concessioner Relations in Glacier National Park, 1892-1961." MA Thesis, University of Montana, 1973. {{Authority control Glacier National Park (U.S.) Great Northern Railway (U.S.) hotels Hotels in Montana ConocoPhillips subsidiaries