The
current Jackson
Lake Lodge was completed in
1956 and has been operating
continuously as a hotel and conference
center since
that time; however, despite its
success as a tourist destination the
Lodge
complex, as it is known today, almost
didn’t exist.
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Only ten years earlier, in
1946, the original Jackson Lake Lodge was on
a path to demolition and
the
entire site was to be cleared of all tourist
accommodations. The battle
between
the conservation of natural resources,
homesteads and ranches, and
tourist
concessions was well-known to the Jackson
Hole Valley, having been a
source of
on-going disputes between the Federal
government and local residents
since the
1890s. With the creation of the National
Park Service in 1916, ranchers
and
smaller tourist companies increasingly
opposed the designation of
private lands
as public resources.
The
Snake River Land Company, a private company
created by John D.
Rockefeller, Jr., was established to prevent
unchecked
commercialism from spreading. The lands
acquired by the Company
was eventually turned over
to the
Federal government for public protection as a
national park. In 1943,
President Roosevelt signed an executive
order
making the area a National Monument and by
1950 the Grand Teton
National Park
had been established. By this time, some of
the Park’s strongest
opponents had
become its biggest supporters, as an increase
in visitors began to
stimulate
local economies.
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The
ground-breaking ceremony took place on
May 25, 1953. Here, some of the
attendees stand on the site of the new
hotel, overlooking Jackson Lake
and the Cathedral Group of the Grand
Teton mountains. Standing second
from the left (in the checkered jacket)
is Harold P. Fabian, Executive
Vice President and General Manager of
the Grand Teton Lodge &
Transportation Company. Without his
persistence and direction, Jackson
Lake Lodge would likely never have been
built. (image
source: Jackson Hole Historical
Society) |
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Right:
A consolidated base map drawn by
Underwood's architectural firm dated
December of 1953, shows the location of
the original Jackson Lake Lodge
(lower left with arrow) in relationship
to the new main lodge and guest
cabins. |
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This photograph shows
the tourist
accommodations available at Moran
that, along with Jenny Lake Lodge and
the Square G Ranch, were completely
reconfigured as part of the Jackson
Lake Lodge development progressed.
Jenny Lake was expanded and
rehabilitated, while the buildings at
the Square G were demolished. All
of the buildings at Moran were
originally going to be combined with
cottages at the old Jackson Lake
Lodge, but instead made up a new
development nearby at Colter Bay. (image
source:
Rockefeller Archives)
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The
site where Jackson Lake Lodge
currently sits had been home to the original
Jackson Lake Lodge which
consisted of a
small group
of cabins. Operated as a hotel and restaurant
since about 1920, it was
near a favorite place of John D. Rockefeller,
Jr.: the hill overlooking Jackson Lake
and the
Teton Range. Rockefeller purchased much of the
surrounding land
with
the aim of preserving the natural beauty of the
landscape; however, he
had little interest in taking over the
management and operation of the
old
Jackson Lake Lodge or that of nearby concessions
at Colter Bay and
Jenny Lake
Lodge. |
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A
last look at the old Jackson Lake Lodge
and accompanying guest cabins
(now demolished). Originally called The
Amoretti Inn, the old Jackson
Lake Lodge was built in 1922 and
included a large, central building
that primarily held a dining room, and
groups of cabins for travelers
stopping on their way to Yellowstone
National Park. The old Lodge was
used all throughout construction of the
new Lodge, housing workmen as
well as tourists. (image
source: Rockefeller Archives) |
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Horace
Albright, Superintendent of the National Park
Service,
and Harold
P. Fabian, Rockefeller’s former manager of the
Snake River Land
Company, were
convinced that providing some form of tourist
accommodation would help
make
Grand Teton National Park, the park they had
worked hard to preserve
and
create, a destination and not just a place to
pass through on the way
to
Yellowstone. In 1940, they persuaded John D.
Rockefeller, Jr.’s son
Laurance to
help organize Jackson Hole Preserve, Inc., which
in turn founded the
Grand
Teton Lodge and Transportation Company that
would manage and
operate all
concessions within the newly created Grand Teton
National Park.
Although it
would take another ten years for the Jackson
Lake Lodge development to
take
shape, by the time the Lodge complex was
completed there was no
question that
the decision to provide tourist accommodations
in Jackson Hole Valley
was the
right one. As Laurance Rockefeller stated at the
dedication of the
Lodge in
1955, “How I wish father could be here tonight.
For to him probably
more than
any other person does the country owe the
preservation of this great
scenic
area". |
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