Plan – 03 Visitor Use Trends and Developed Area History

The cafeteria building, rental cabins, community house, Kiser Studio, promenade, and Sinnott Memorial were constructed in the 1920s and 1930s to provide for increased overnight and day use visitation. The rental cabins were removed in 1985.

The cafeteria building was built in 1928 to house food services and camper supplies. The cafeteria building was expanded in the 1950s and again in the 1970s to accommodate a perceived market for additional food, gift, and sundry sales. The community house was built as a social gathering place for campground and lodge visitors. It was used for interpretive exhibits, informal evening get-togethers, and as an auditorium for evening interpretive programs, dances, and other forms of entertainment. Kiser Studio was constructed in 1921 and served as the headquarters and salesroom for the renowned photographer, artist, and conservationist, Fred Kiser. He rendered and sold hand-colored photographs of the park and the northwest at the studio. In 1928 it became the visitor contact station at Rim Village and has housed a variety of exhibits over the years. The Sinnott Memorial was built over Victor Rock, a popular site to see the lake. It was constructed of large rocks that blended in well with the caldera wall and was a prototype of rustic architecture in the national park system. It has been used as a museum, a contact station, and a viewing point. Visitors continue to be attracted to the Sinnott Memorial because of its pleasing and unusual architecture and the outstanding view of the lake it provides. The promenade, consisting of the stone parapet and path along the caldera wall, the associated connecting trails, and the native vegetation landscaping, was developed in the early I 930s. It was a designed landscape that reduced the random wandering and trampling of vegetation by visitors. However, it also served as a means of restoring the area to a more natural appearance, provided a pleasing landscape for visitors to enjoy as they walked about the village and viewed the lake, and was a means of connecting the various visitor facilities in the developed area.

Mazama campground was established in the mid- 1950s and was expanded in the early 1960s. It is a pleasant, shady campground that visitors enjoy. A campground amphitheater is used for evening interpretive programs. A seasonal 40-unit motel was constructed in Mazama Village in 1989 to replace the lodging that was eliminated with the removal of the cold water cabins south of the Rim Village cafeteria. Although the motel lacked the spectacular views of the lake like those available from the lodge, visitors had a pleasant setting to spend the night and were within a short driving distance from views of the lake and the amenities of Rim Village. A conveniently situated camper store built in 1991 provides food, camper supplies, public showers and laundry, and gasoline. The camper store was primarily built to provide services for visitors staying overnight at Mazama Village in the campground and motel. However, certain camper store amenities were located at Mazama Village to make sure that they did not intrude on the central features of the park.

The park headquarters area in Munson Valley was primarily developed during the 1930s and 1940s to provide park administration and housing. When the park headquarters buildings were rehabilitated in the 1980s, the ranger dormitory was remodeled and became the Steel Information Center to provide year-round visitor contact and interpretation for the park.