Women's Dormitory - Rising Sun Auto Camp - Glacier National Park, MT
Posted by: 
T0SHEA
N 48° 41.791 W 113° 31.097
12U E 314697 N 5396779
Entered in the National Register on January 19, 1996, Rising Sun Auto Camp was constructed in 1941 to serve the motoring public.
Waymark Code: WM115MX
Location: Montana, United States
Date Posted: 08/19/2019
Views: 2
When Glacier National Park was created in the early 20th century, the only means of access was via the Great Northern Railway. As automobiles improved and roadways were constructed to accommodate them, tourists began to take to the road instead of the railroad. Soon Auto Camps, both government operated and privately owned, began to appear across the continent. The first to be built in Glacier National Park, the Swiftcurrent Auto Camp in 1933, proved very successful as motoring tourists demanded less expensive accommodations which were easily accessible by road.
Built at about the midpoint of St. Mary Lake, Rising Sun Auto Camp is about 6 miles west of the east edge of Glacier National Park along Going to the Sun Road. The original camp consisted of a large general store/motel, two dormitories, a power house, and 19 cabins. When built in 1941, this building was a registration office, a dormitory and public showers. In 1958 it was converted from rental rooms to a laundry, a dormitory for female employees and washrooms and showers for employees.
Some more recent buildings have been added to the side, most notably a motel at the front and larger, dormitory style, accommodations.
Eligible (contributing) Buildings are:
Cafe/Store/Motel - #810
Cabin/Office/Dorm - #811
Employee Residence - #812
Cabins - #813-#831
Women's Dormitory (Registration Office and Shower Facility [historic]) (#811), 1941
Like the remainder of the historic Rising Sun complex, the Women's Dormitory (constructed as a registration office/dormitory/public shower) occupies an unobtrusive wooded site, adjacent to the cabin access road. Although views of St. Mary Lake and of the mountains are available, these views appear incidental or of secondary concern (in contrast to an earlier generation of concession buildings). However, both the General Store and the Women's Dormitory, the key components of the complex during the historic period, were situated so as to be visible to tourists passing on Going-to-the-Sun road.
The dormitory is a two-story, wood-frame building with a clipped-gable roof. The building is painted dark brown with yellow trim and is in good condition.
Following the 1958 addition of shower facilities to the cabins, building #811 was converted from a registration center/public shower facility to domestic use: a central linen room and small electric substation were added to the rear of the building; the building was modified to provide additional employee rooms; public showers were converted to laundry facilities. Today the building serves as a dormitory for Rising Sun employees.
The building was converted from a registration building/dormitory/public shower to a dormitory c. 1958; associated changes in finishes, room configurations and the addition of life-safety equipment have cost the interior much of its historic appearance. The original component (east end) houses dormitory rooms and hall bathrooms. The one-story side-gabled west end houses the laundry and line rooms and the addition to the northwest corner of the rear elevation contains the housekeeping office.
From the NRHP Continuation Sheet
