North Entrance Road Historic District

About this property

The North Entrance Road Historic District is a historic district and road in Yellowstone National Park in Park County, Wyoming, and Park County, Montana in the United States, that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP). The district comprises Yellowstone National Park's former North Entrance Road from Gardiner, Montana to the park headquarters in Mammoth, Wyoming, a distance of a little over five miles (8.0 km). This original North Entrance Road was the first major road in the park, necessary to join the U.S. Army station at Fort Yellowstone to the Northern Pacific Railroad station at Gardiner. The majority of the road runs along the Gardner River. The road/district includes the Roosevelt Arch at the northern boundary of the park and winds through rolling terrain before crossing the Gardner River (twice) and joining the Grand Loop Road. The road was planned in 1883 by Lieutenant Dan Kingman of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and later on improved by Captain Hiram M. Chittenden of the Corps. It replaced the old Gardiner High Road which went from behind the Mammoth Hotel north over the ridges west of the river to the town of Gardiner. The first permanent entrance station to house rangers checking vehicle entering the park was constructed in 1921. It replaced temporary tents used by rangers at the Roosevelt Arch. The road was destroyed in the 2022 Montana floods. Most of the road was washed away by the river. On October 30, 2022, Old Gardiner Road was opened to regular visitor traffic between Gardiner and Mammoth Hot Springs, to bypass the damaged former North Entrance Road. Subsequently, the National Park Service designated Old Gardiner Road as the "North Entrance Road". The two North Entrance Roads have a short concurrency at both ends. National Register of Historic Places listings in Yellowstone National Park National Register of Historic Places listings in Park County, Montana National Register of Historic Places listings in Park County, Wyoming Culpin, Mary Shivers (1994). The History of the Construction of the Road System of Yellowstone National Park 1872-1966 (Report). National Park Service. Archived from the original on June 29, 2007. Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) No. MT-93, "North Entrance Road, Between Gardiner, MT & Mammoth Hot Springs, WY, Gardiner vicinity, Park County, MT", 1 color transparency, 11 data pages, 1 photo caption page HAER No. WY-7, "Gardner River Bridge, Spanning Gardner River at North Entrance Road, Lake, Teton County, WY", 12 photos, 3 measured drawings, 9 data pages, 1 photo caption page North Entrance Road Historic District at the Wyoming State Historic Preservation Office

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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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