Jenny Lake Ranger Station
In the 1930s, the park’s first ranger station and museum opened in a rustic cabin. The cabin was originally Lee Manges’ homestead cabin and was transported to the south shore of Jenny Lake from near today’s Windy Point Turnout. This cabin now serves as the Jenny Lake Ranger Station where climbing rangers provide backcountry safety information and issue permits. This park’s tradition of hiring skilled climbers to perform mountain rescues dates from the 1940s.
The Jenny Lake Ranger Station Historic District buildings were built from standardized plans(comfort stations) and local adaptations of National Park Service plans in the rebuilding of the ranger station and studio more than fifty years ago. The complex was built on the southeastern shore of Jenny Lake north-northwest of Moose, Wyoming, near a number of trail heads into the Teton Mountains which rise west of the lake and by a long-time boat concession facility for the lake. Both historically and today the district is set amongst pine trees that are part of the forest belt that parallels the edge of the lake. The resources that make up the district include a ranger station that functions as not only the ranger's office but also visitor center, a store that was a photographers studio from 1931 to 1958 and two comfort stations associated with camping areas nearby. When these buildings were built or rebuilt (studio and ranger stations) the architectural philosophy of the National Park Service was to construct in harmony with the surrounding environment. Clearly evident is the attempt by the National Park Service to achieve the appearance of pre-industrial buildings set in the pine forests.
