Lake of the Woods Ranger Station-Work Center
About this property
The Lake of the Woods Ranger Station is a United States Forest Service compound consisting of eight buildings overlooking Lake of the Woods in the Fremont-Winema National Forests of southern Oregon. All of the ranger station structures were built by the Civilian Conservation Corps between 1937 and 1939. Today, the compound serves as a Forest Service work center, and the old ranger station office is a visitor center. The ranger station is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. In the early 20th century, the forest road networks were not well developed. To facilitate work in National Forests, the Forest Service built district ranger stations at strategic locations within the forest to house full-time employees and provide logistics support to fire patrols and project crews working in remote areas of the forest. After World War II, the Forest Service greatly expanded its road network, allowing employees to get to most forest areas within a few hours. As a result, many of the more isolated ranger stations were closed or converted to summer guard stations. The historic Lake of the Woods Ranger Station was established during this early period and is still used by Forest Service crews today. In 1898, the Cascade Forest Reserve was created in southern Oregon. The forest area around Lake of the Woods became part of the reserve. The forest was managed as part of that Cascade reserve until 1908, when the area was transferred to the Crater National Forest. The Forest Service issued the first residential use permit for a private cabin in the Lake of the Woods area in 1916. In 1920, the Forest Service built a public campground at the lake. The site was very popular, with 1,850 summer visitors using the campground the first year it open. In 1923, the road into the Lake of the Woods area was improved. That same year, the Forest Service built a second campground to accommodate the increasing number of people vacationing at the lake. In 1926, the Forest Service issued a permit allowing the Lake of the Woods Recreation Company to build a resort at the lake. During this period, the only Forest Service facility at Lake of the Woods was a small log cabin originally built by a fur trapper, possibly around 1900. In 1929, the Forest Service replaced the cabin with a much larger ranger office at the north end of the lake. In 1932, the Lake of the Woods Ranger Station was transferred to the Rogue River National Forest along with the lake side campgrounds and the surrounding forest. In the mid-1930s, the Civilian Conservation Corps built a number of new buildings at the ranger station. All of the structures but one were built in the Cascadian rustic style.
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Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).
Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
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Questions about this property
When was Lake of the Woods Ranger Station-Work Center listed on the National Register?
Lake of the Woods Ranger Station-Work Center was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on April 7, 1986.
What type of historic resource is Lake of the Woods Ranger Station-Work Center?
Lake of the Woods Ranger Station-Work Center is classified as a building in the National Register of Historic Places.
What is the period of significance for Lake of the Woods Ranger Station-Work Center?
The period of significance for Lake of the Woods Ranger Station-Work Center is recorded as the industrial era.
Can I research the history near Lake of the Woods Ranger Station-Work Center?
Yes. Aubrey Research reports search National Register listings, battlefield records, land patents, and other primary historical sources within any radius of a US address. A report for an address near Lake of the Woods Ranger Station-Work Center will include this listing and all other historical records in the area.
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