VII. Concessionaire
Development of Visitor Services
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C. Cafeteria and Cabins Added to
Rim Village
On December 7, 1922, a contract
was entered into between the Department of the Interior and the Crater Lake
National Park Company initiating a new twenty-year lease to maintain hotels and
other facilities, for tourist accommodation in the park. In 1927 a number of
important decisions concerning future development at Crater Lake were made by
the superintendent of the park, National Park Service Assistant Director Horace
Albright, and other staff officers and representatives of the Bureau of Public
Roads. One major action was approval of a general plan for rim area development,
whereby the concessionaire would construct and operate in the next year a
cafeteria, with a connecting general store for the sale of camp supplies, and a
small group of rental cabins in the campground area away from the rim edge. By
the 1928 season the new cafeteria and cabin group were a reality, the
housekeeping cabins opening on July 15 and the new cafeteria on July 20. The
latter was a large stone building housing food services, a store, and a
photographic studio. Tent cottages were available on the lodge grounds as well
for cheaper accommodations. Also during the 1928 season a new awning-covered
veranda was constructed on the lake side of the lodge.
Illustration 11. Cold-water cabins behind
cafeteria.
A brief summary of construction
activity from 1922 to 1938 written by the park concessionaire mentioned that
In 1922 when our plans were drawn for the addition
of the Lodge, the plumbing was put in at that time for the laundry plant. We
started our building program in 1923 and continued until 1929. During that time
the frame work of the Lodge was completed, the twenty-two cabins and the
Cafeteria and Store. In 1929, the beginning of the depression, we stopped all
new construction and did not start again until 1936. At that time we completed
all of the rooms on the third floors [of the lodge] and in 1937 all of the rooms
were completed on the second floor. Also during this time, all of the rooms in
the older part of the Lodge were papered and painted.
[5]
During World War II, the lodge and
associated buildings were closed down, the Crater Lake Company deriving no
revenue from the property. After January 1, 1941, improvements by the
concessioner included construction of two deluxe cabins containing eight single
units and refurnishing of the old cabins. In 1948 the twenty-two sleeping cabins
near the cafeteria were described as single rooms, twelve by sixteen feet,
equipped with cold running water, oil heaters, electric lights, one double bed
with linen and blankets, and two half beds with linen and blankets. There were
also deluxe units, containing four rooms each. Maid service was furnished and
each room was equipped with hot and cold running water, electric lights, a
private toilet and shower, automatic hot water, thermostatically controlled
heat, one double bed, and two half beds.
Illustration 12. Four-plexes behind cafeteria.
Photos by David Arbogast, NPS, DSC.
