The Yosemite Village Historic District encompasses the primary built-up section of the

Yosemite Valley Yosemite Valley ( ; ''Yosemite'', Miwok for "killer") is a U-shaped valley, glacial valley in Yosemite National Park in the western Sierra Nevada (U.S.), Sierra Nevada mountains of Central California. The valley is about long and deep, surroun ...

as it was developed by 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 ...

for

Yosemite National Park Yosemite National Park ( ) is an American national park in California, surrounded on the southeast by Sierra National Forest and on the northwest by Stanislaus National Forest. The park is managed by the National Park Service and covers an ar ...

. The district includes visitor services areas, park personnel residences and administrative facilities. It is located to the north of the

Merced River The Merced River (), in the central part of the U.S. state of California, is a -long tributary of the San Joaquin River flowing from the Sierra Nevada (U.S.), Sierra Nevada into the San Joaquin Valley. It is most well known for its swift and st ...

. The district includes the

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...

Rangers' Club The Rangers' Club is a building in Yosemite Valley in Yosemite National Park that was donated by the independently wealthy first director of the National Park Service, Stephen Tyng Mather. He intended it to be used by the newly hired park range ...

Settlement

The Yosemite Village area was settled beginning about 1865, when

James Mason Hutchings James Mason Hutchings (February 10, 1820 – October 31, 1902) was an American businessman and one of the principal promoters of what is now Yosemite National Park. Biography Born in Towcester in England, Hutchings immigrated to the U.S. i ...

built a so-called winter cabin for his family as a permanent residence. Hutchings was a successful publisher, and had visited the valley as a tourist in 1855. Nine years later he moved there, successfully lobbying the federal government to cede the valley to the State of California as a park. Hutchings built a mill and planted an apple orchard. No buildings remain from the Hutchings place, but apple trees and a depression that may have been a mill flume remain. The present built-up area was established in 1918, and includes several older buildings that were moved to Yosemite Village from elsewhere. Four buildings were built by the U.S. Army during its tenure as the custodian of Yosemite National Park prior to the establishment of the National Park Service. The other buildings were built from 1918 on as the Park Service moved personnel and services out of the old Yosemite Village that had grown awkwardly around the Sentinel Hotel in the middle of the valley. Most of the structures in the historic district are houses. A portion of the park's administrative district is included in the historic district, including the park headquarters. The period of development in the historic district extends until 1951.

John Muir

J.M. Hutchings had bought a hotel near the present historic district in 1863. In 1869 he hired

John Muir John Muir ( ; April 21, 1838December 24, 1914), also known as "John of the Mountains" and "Father of the National Parks", was an influential Scottish-American naturalist, author, environmental philosopher, botanist, zoologist, glaciologist, a ...

to mill wood from downed trees for new cabins. Muir stayed at first with the Hutchings, then built his own cabin. The location of this cabin is not known with certainty, but is believed to be within the historic district. Muir lived in the cabin for two years, during which time he developed his philosophy of wildland preservation.

Significant structures

The most significant building in the historic district is the

, built at the personal expense of Park Service director Stephen T. Mather in 1924 to house rangers. The

structure is an early example 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 in the park. Early residences used wood shingles and natural materials, and were rustic in character. From the mid-1920s, following the construction of the Rangers' Club, houses were more explicitly rustic. The Park Superintendent's Residence was built a little apart from the other houses in 1912 by the Army. The Superintendent's Residence was extensively remodeled in the 1920s to National Park Service rustic standards. The residential district was laid out in an informal style by Park Service landscape architect Charles Punchard. Non-residential buildings include the Administration Building (1924) designed by architect Myron Hunt, the Post Office (1925), and the Museum Building or Valley District Building (1926), both designed by Park Service architect

Herbert Maier Herbert Maier (January 2, 1893 – February 23, 1969) was an American architect and public administrator, most notable as an architect for his work at Yosemite, Grand Canyon and Yellowstone National Parks. Maier, as a consultant to the Natio ...

. All are rustic in character. Other buildings in the area include the Pohono Indian Studio (1925), which is used as a gift shop, and the Ansel Adams Gallery, a complex of five buildings incorporating what was first known as Best's Studio. The Yosemite Village district 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 ...

on March 30, 1978.

References

{{National Register of Historic Places Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in California National Park Service rustic in Yosemite National Park National Register of Historic Places in Mariposa County, California National Register of Historic Places in Yosemite National Park