The Timpanogos Cave Historic District is an
historic district
A historic district or heritage district is a section of a city which contains older buildings considered valuable for historical or architectural reasons. In some countries or jurisdictions, historic districts receive legal protection from c ...
in the
Timpanogos Cave National Monument in
American Fork Canyon
American Fork Canyon is a canyon in the Wasatch Mountains of Utah, United States. The canyon is famous for the Timpanogos Cave National Monument, which resides on its south side. It is named after the American Fork River, which runs through the b ...
in northeastern
Utah County,
Utah
Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...
, United States, that is listed 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 ...
(NRHP).
Description
The district consists of support and administration buildings built in the monument in the 1920s and 1930s. These structures are notable examples of the
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 buildings ...
style, designed to fit with their environment. The earliest trails and structures were built by Errol M. Halliday while the location was still under the administration of the
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 ...
. The Old Cave Trail was built in 1921-22. The stone storage building was built in the 1920s, together with a frame custodian's residence that no longer exists. A stone confort station (Building 126) was built in 1928.
The structures are scatted on a steep landscape. The most significant building is the superintendent's residence, of rubble stone construction with a log-framed roof, covered with green shingles. The bridge is a single span built in 1935, using rubble stone. The 1935 Comfort Station restroom (presently named Last Chance restroom) is built on a ledge on the mountainside, and has a nearly flat concrete roof faced with stone. The 1928 comfort station is larger and built with a shingled roof. It is no longer used as a restroom. The rubble storage building is covered with a flat concrete roof. There are also two cold cellars on the site, both built about 1930. The trail climbs the cliffs for between one and , its vertical climb of supported by stone retaining walls.
[
]
History
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 ...
took over the monument in 1933. Monument facilities were expanded using labor provided by the Works Progress Administration
The Works Progress Administration (WPA; renamed in 1939 as the Work Projects Administration) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to carry out public works projects, i ...
, with another comfort station (Building 127) in 1939. The unnamed stream that flows through the American Fork Canyon (and becomes the American Fork river at the mouth of the canyon) was diverted and a new bridge was built in the 1930s. The Superintendent's Residence was completed in 1941.[
The Timpanogos Cave Historic District was placed on the NRHP on October 13, 1982.]
See also
*
References
External links
{{National Register of Historic Places
Park buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Utah
Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Utah
National Park Service rustic in Utah
Historic districts in Utah County, Utah
Works Progress Administration in Utah
National Register of Historic Places in Utah County, Utah