Old Faithful Inn
A trip highlight that you will remember forever is visiting the Old Faithful Inn, located in the Upper Geyser Basin. This iconic building is where Parkitecture was born. Parkitecture is a form of architecture that blends with the surrounding landscape. Native materials and whole logs were used to build the handcrafted Inn.
On May 28, 1903, the Department of the Interior approved the design and building of the Old Faithful Inn. Today, we refer to the part built in 1903 as the Old House. That is the part of the building that has the A-frame roof. Builders started in late May of 1903. Guests started using the Inn on June 1, 1904.
A guest would pay $4 for a room. There were no bathrooms in the room, so everyone had to go down the hall for showers and toilets. Guests ate meals served family style.
If you arrived late, you would have to knock on the door to be allowed in at the end of the day. The Inn was only accessible to those with reservations at the beginning of its history. Now, everyone is welcome to visit this beautiful building.
A massive log structure greets you, whether you enter through the red doors in front or any other Old House doors. The Old House can overwhelm you while wrapping you in its warm colors and simultaneously exciting chatter.
A person entering the building will be slack-jawed, trying to figure out where to look first. What would you see first? The seven-story lobby, 92 feet? The five-hundred-short-ton, eight-hearth, volcanic rhyolite rock fireplace? The fireplace features a massive clock. The two balconies of lodgepole pine are decorated with balustrades. The crow's nest is 76 feet in the air.
My advice. Just drink in the sights and enjoy the time. Feel free to take advantage of one of the four summer tours. Take 45 minutes, slip back in time, and learn about this critical building of Yellowstone.
Mr. Reimer built the Old House's first floor with load-bearing logs on which they left the bark. After much complaining from housekeeping, the staff removed the bark while the Inn was closed during WWII. Imagine the dust build-up!
I spent three seasons working in the Inn's gift shop. One season, we helped with housekeeping. I spent quality time polishing the wood stairwells, balconies, railings, and balustrades with Old English. I encourage you to take a close look at the wood. After the staff removed the bark, the past travels of insects were exposed, adding to the building's charm.
Robert Reimer was a 29-year-old Ohio man who built the Old Faithful Inn. He would work on close to thirty projects within the park. Reimer returned to the Inn in 1913 to add the East Wing to the building, and in 1927, the West Wing. In 1936, he would design the Bear Pit Lounge. In 1903, he also drew up plans to add to what we now call the Lower General Store, adding the knotted wood on the east porch.
The building of the iconic Old Faithful Inn started in 1903, making that time a crucial growth in the park's infrastructure. The Wright Brothers would end that year with a world-changing event. They completed four power flights of a heavier-than-air flying machine on December 17, 1903. The world hasn't been the same since. Both events will never be forgotten and will always bring pleasure to many people.
I encourage you to read two articles in Yellowstone Science, one on the Old Faithful Inn by Karen Reinhart. Ruth Quinn wrote the second article on the architect Robert C. Reamer. You can find both articles here, starting on page 5.
