Administration building
William Logan, Glacier National Park’s first superintendent hired in 1910, focused his initial construction projects on the creation of a park administrative center and on a system of roads and trails. In late 1910, soon after the area was converted from a national forest to a national park, he established the park’s first administrative center at Fish Creek Bay. This was near the current Fish Creek Campground, in a building abandoned by the U.S. Forest Service that is no longer standing. Between 1917 and 1923, the park secured funding for the development of a new administrative complex, to be located immediately adjacent to the park’s west entrance (the area you will be walking through). Later on the tour, you will see the 1924 Rustic Style building that originally housed the park’s administrative offices (today’s West Lakes District Office, stop # 7 on the tour). Due to increased workloads and staffing, by 1950 it was clear that Glacier required a new, larger administration building, and park and regional offices undertook an architectural study for a new headquarters building. It was not just Glacier National Park that was in need of better buildings in the 1950s. In 1956, the National Park Service entered a new era of funding and construction for the first time in nearly a generation, known as the “Mission 66” Program. The NPS instituted the “Mission 66” strategy for modernization to address nearly a generation of neglect of national parks resulting from massive shortages of funding, as well as staff and materials created by World War II and its long, lingering aftermath. The National park Service intended the ten-year “Mission 66 Program” to dramatically expand national park visitor services and facilities by 1966, in time for the agency's 50th anniversary. Conrad Wirth, the NPS Director at that time, conceived of and instituted the massive, ambitious plan. Wirth concentrated on the efficacy of a ten-year budget that would serve the long-term implementation of planned modernization, instead of the standard annual budget. By mid-July 1961, Glacier completed a negotiated contract for $14,000 with the architectural firm of Brinkman and Lenon of nearby Kalispell, Montana for the final design of the administration building you see today. Construction began on April 2, 1962 and was completed June 23, 1963 for a final cost of $308,377. This modern style building is asymmetrical in massing and combines a long, low one-story horizontal front (south) wing with a two story wing that projects to the rear. The resulting L-shaped structure encompasses 15,100 square feet in area. The building sits on a poured concrete foundation that holds a full basement
