Quarry Visitor Center

Quarry Visitor Center, in Dinosaur National Monument in Utah was built as part of the National Park Service's Mission 66 program of modern architectural design in the US national parks. This visitor center exemplifies the philosophy of locating visitor facilities immediately at the resource being interpreted. The visitor center was closed from 2006 to 2011 due to structural damage from unstable soils. The rotunda structure was demolished and replaced with a new structure of different design, while the quarry section was being stabilized and repaired.[3][4][5]

Quarry Visitor Center
Quarry Visitor Center, March 2012
Quarry Visitor Center is located in Utah
Quarry Visitor Center
Quarry Visitor Center is located in the United States
Quarry Visitor Center
LocationDinosaur National Monument, Utah
United States
Coordinates40°26′26″N 109°18′4″W
ArchitectAnshen & Allen; Richard Hein
MPSDinosaur National Monument MRA
NRHP reference No.86003401
Significant dates
Added to NRHPDecember 19, 1986[1]
Designated NHLJanuary 3, 2001[2]

Design

The visitor center was built in part to attract visitors to the little-visited monument, which had been threatened with flooding by the Echo Park Dam, as a means of guarding against renewed reservoir proposals.[6][7] The visitor center's concept was first expressed in 1916 when George Otis Smith, the director of the U.S. Geological Survey, suggested that the specimens be displayed in the northern canyon wall. Local citizens, including the dinosaur quarry's discoverer Earl Douglass, proposed a skylit shelter for the display. A temporary shelter for the bones and their excavators was finally built in 1936. A preliminary design in January 1937 was produced by a group including the Park Service Western Office of Design and Construction, the American Museum of Natural History and the directorate of the Park Service that closely resembled the eventual design by Anshen and Allen. A number of succeeding designs followed, becoming more elaborate and departing from this concept. No funding emerged for the design, but a new wood and corrugated sheet metal shelter was built in 1951, reminiscent of the 1916 proposal.[8]

The Quarry Visitor Center was declared a National Historic Landmark in 2001.[2][9]

See also

References
  1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. January 23, 2007.
  2. "Quarry Visitor Center". National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service. Archived from the original on October 18, 2007. Retrieved April 3, 2008.
  3. "Quarry Construction Background". National Park Service. Retrieved July 14, 2010.
  4. "Grand Opening Announcement". National Park Service. Retrieved February 28, 2017.
  5. Hill, David (June 2, 2009). "Wrecking Ball to Swing on "Mission 66" Visitor Center". Architectural Record. Retrieved July 14, 2010.
  6. Sellars, Richard West. "Chapter 5: The War and Postwar Years, 1940-1963". Preserving History in the National Parks: A History. Yale University Press. Retrieved May 31, 2011.
  7. Allaback, Sarah. "Quarry Visitor Center". Mission 66 Visitor Centers. National Park Service. Retrieved May 31, 2011.
  8. Allaback. "Quarry Visitor Center". p. 2.
  9. Sarah Allaback; Ethan Carr & John H. Sprinkle, Jr. (September 1, 2000). "National Historic Landmark Nomination: Quarry Visitor Center" (pdf). National Park Service. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help) and Accompanying seven images, from 1958 and 1999 and undated plan (32 KB)
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