Government Camp
By 1924, the Munson Valley facilities were known as "Government Camp" and the site had become the park’s summer headquarters. Though the site had adequate space, the facilities were poorly designed and cheaply constructed. In 1925, National Park Service approved a master plan for developing Munson Valley. The development program began in 1927, and was overseen by the National Park Service’s Landscape Engineering Division, headed by Thomas C. Vint. The major components of the plan included construction of new administrative buildings, a new maintenance area, living quarters for park staff and seasonal employees, and general support buildings.
Between 1927 and 1930, a park warehouse, mess hall, bear-proof meat-house, comfort station with employee restrooms and showers, four small cottages, and two utility buildings were built. All these structures were designed in a common rustic style using timber from nearby stands and locally quarried stone.
Between 1932 and 1936, houses for the park superintendent, park naturalist, and several other employees were completed along with four more utility buildings, a second comfort station, and a dormitory for park rangers. The old log headquarters building was demolished and a new rustic stone structure built in its place. The plaza in front of the new administration building had a landscaped island in the center with space to park 50 cars around the outside. During this period, Civilian Conservation Corps crews planted over a thousand trees and several thousand shrubs in the Government Camp area. In addition, many small features such as flagstone walks, rustic signs, stone bridges, and drinking fountains were incorporated into the landscape. In 1938, Government Camp was renamed "Park Headquarters" by Superintendent Ernest P. Leavitt.
Development in Crater Lake National Park was curtailed during World War II. Maintenance became the primary concern of the park staff, as Civilian Conservation Corps manpower disappeared with the onset of the war. This began a period of decline in park facilities.
Read more about this topic: Munson Valley Historic District
Famous quotes containing the words government and/or camp:
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—Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (b. 1922)
“Usually the scenery about them is drear and savage enough; and the logger’s camp is as completely in the woods as a fungus at the foot of a pine in a swamp; no outlook but to the sky overhead; no more clearing than is made by cutting down the trees of which it is built, and those which are necessary for fuel.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)