Canyon Hotel Yellowstone National Park

Divided-back chrome postcard by Haynes Studios

The third Canyon Hotel, shown above in its final declining days, was designed by Robert Reamer,  architect of the Old Faithful Inn, the North Entrance Arch, Lake Lodge, and renovations at the hotels at Lake and Mammoth. The Canyon Hotel was built in the winter of 1910-1911, adding to the previous structure, which was built in 1886. In contrast to the rustic style of the Old Faithful Inn, Canyon Hotel reflected the arts and crafts style, popular at the time of its construction. Its vast lounge was a favorite resting place for many travel-weary tourists.

In the 1950s, with an eye toward increasing yearly visitation projected for the parks in the 1960s and beyond, the National Park Service launched a plan called "Mission 66," a set of proposals that were intended to help parks meet the demands of the future. The closing of the old Canyon Hotel  was proposed, with a modern Canyon Village to be built to replace it. Canyon Village was built in 1956-1957. The new Canyon Lodge, with its plainly constructed tourist cabins, was heralded as a model of future park architecture, built to accommodate motorists who, proponents believed, would prefer to drive up to their cottages rather than park in a remote lot and carry their belongings up to their hotel rooms. To the embarrassment of Mission 66 proponents, tourists in the late fifties still seemed to prefer the grand old Canyon Hotel, and its rooms were filled through the summer of 1958. But it was declared structurally unsound and in 1959 sold to a wrecking company. Ultimately it caught fire and burned in August 1960.

(right) This unusual view of a verandah at the Canyon Hotel was taken in July 1941. For two additional photos taken at the Canyon Hotel as well as a photo of the Canyon bear feeding area, see the page at this link, as well as the page following.

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SOURCES AND RECOMMENDED READING      Richard A. Bartlett, Yellowstone: A Wilderness Besieged (University of Arizona Press, Tucson, AZ, 1989).       Winfred Blevins, Roadside History of Yellowstone Park (Mountain Press Publishing Company, Missoula, MT, 1989).      Aubrey L. Haines, The Yellowstone Story (University Press of Colorado, Niwot, CO, 1977), Vols. 1 and 2.      Gwen Petersen, Yellowstone Pioneers:  The Story of the Hamilton Stores and Yellowstone National Park (Oak Tree Publications, San Diego, CA, 1985).      Haynes Guide to Yellowstone National Park (Haynes Studios, Bozeman, MT 1959),      Lee H. Whittlesey and the Yellowstone staff, managing editor Marsha Karle, A Yellowstone Album (Roberts Rinehart Publishers, Boulder, CO, 1997).