The Great Northern Railway Buildings are a set of five building complexes in or near Glacier National Park in

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 Columb ...

. They were built by the Great Northern Railway during the period of the park's founding to provide a unified tourist experience to visitors to the park, using the Swiss

chalet A chalet (pronounced in British English; in American English usually ), also called Swiss chalet, is a type of building or house, typical of the Alpine region in Europe. It is made of wood, with a heavy, gently sloping roof and wide, well-suppo ...

as a building model. The building complexes, each separately 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 ...

, are: *

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 ...

Granite Park Chalet Granite Park Chalet is located in the heart of Glacier National Park in the U.S. state of Montana at an elevation of 6,693 feet above sea level. The chalet was built in 1914 by the Great Northern Railway and is a National Historic Landmark contr ...

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 substantia ...

Sperry Chalet Sperry Chalet is located about seven miles east of Lake McDonald in Glacier National Park in the U.S. state of Montana. The chalet was opened in 1914 by the Great Northern Railway and was a National Historic Landmark contributing property, bein ...

* Two Medicine General Store Four of these complexes were declared a discontiguous

National Historic Landmark District National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ...

in 1987, notable as the largest such concentration of

Swiss chalet architecture Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland *Swiss people Places * Swiss, Missouri *Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia *Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports *Swiss Internationa ...

in the country. In May 2000, the designation was amended to include the Belton Chalets, which differs from the other buildings in being located just outside the park. and

History

Glacier National Park was founded in 1910. Its creation received significant support from the Great Northern Railway, which passed just south of the park, and which stood to benefit from increased tourist traffic on its line, following similar railroad-related developments at

Grand Canyon National Park Grand Canyon National Park, located in northwestern Arizona, is the 15th site in the United States to have been named as a national park. The park's central feature is the Grand Canyon, a gorge of the Colorado River, which is often conside ...

and

Yellowstone National Park Yellowstone National Park is an American national park located in the western United States, largely in the northwest corner of Wyoming and extending into Montana and Idaho. It was established by the 42nd U.S. Congress with the Yellowst ...

. In order to present a unified yet flexible tourist experience, the railroad partnered with 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 properti ...

to provide infrastructure both inside and outside the park to serve a variety of tourist needs. The services the Great Northern sought to offer ranged from elegant hotel accommodations to a rustic and somewhat rough backcountry experience. Their buildings were unified by the use of a single architectural style, the Swiss chalet, which railroad president Louis W. Hill adopted from the European mountain experience.

and

, built in 1914, are examples of backcountry accommodations built by the railroad. The

, completed in 1915, was the centerpiece, a large and grand hotel with elegant amenities. The Two Medicine General Store is a surviving remnant of a mid-sized lakeside hotel built on the shores of Two Medicine Lake; one of its two rustic log chalet structures has been demolished, and the other now serves as a general store. The Great Northern also built service areas just outside the boundaries of the park. The

, built in 1910-11, were among the first buildings the company built for this effort, and were located at what was then the main station for accessing the park. The

Glacier Park Lodge Glacier Park Lodge is located just outside the boundaries of Glacier National Park in the village of East Glacier Park, Montana, United States. The lodge was built in 1913 by the Glacier Park Company, a subsidiary of the Great Northern Railw ...

was built in 1913 to serve visitors approaching from the east. When the National Historic Landmark District was designated in 1987, it was restricted to properties located in the park bounds. The National Park Service at the time noted the significance of the Belton Chalets and the Glacier Park Lodge, recommending that they be analyzed for inclusion in the landmark designation, since they appeared to be eligible. As a result, the Belton Chalets were included in a 2000 amendment; the owners of the Glacier Park Lodge declined participation.

References

{{Montana National Historic Landmarks in Montana Great Northern Railway (U.S.) Rustic architecture in Montana Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Montana National Register of Historic Places in Flathead County, Montana National Register of Historic Places in Glacier County, Montana National Register of Historic Places in Glacier National Park Swiss Chalet Revival architecture

History

See also

References