Guard House - Fort Yellowstone - Mammoth, Wyoming
Posted by: 
Volcanoguy
N 44° 58.437 W 110° 41.952
12T E 523718 N 4980100
The Guard House building in Fort Yellowstone Historic District at Mammoth, Wyoming.
Waymark Code: WMD7MT
Location: Wyoming, United States
Date Posted: 12/01/2011
Views: 2
“The Guard House building (1891) is a one-and-a-half-story frame building constructed on a stone foundation. The building of a typical army design for a small post, is located at the south end of the front row of buildings facing the parade ground. The gable-on-hip roof is covered with red metal shingles in a diamond pattern and the exterior walls are clad with drop siding with corner board trim. The eaves flare to include an open porch on the front (west) that wraps around both sides of the building. The porch roof is supported by fourteen square posts that rest directly on a wood floor that lies almost at grade. A widely-spaced lattice installed (after the military era) between the porch columns provides some privacy for the residents. There is an off-center entrance on the north half of the front wall with a paneled and glazed door. The south half of the wall has another entrance with a paneled and glazed door. The building has primarily two-over-two-light windows. A hipped roof dormer is centered above the porch and contains two ten-light hopper windows. Shed roof dormers are on the north and south. There is a small, off-center octagonal cupola on the roof ridge with a polygonal roof and louvered walls. The rear (east)has two enclosed shed roof porches with grouped six-light windows. Modifications to the building include the addition of dormers on the north and south, the addition of rear entrance projections, alterations to the fenestration, and the elimination of one chimney.”
Above description comes from the Historic District Registration Form on the NPS website: (
visit link)
Fort Yellowstone was included in the Mammoth Hot Springs Historic District which was placed on the National Register on March 20, 2002. On July 31, 2003, the Fort Yellowstone Historic District was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in the special status of a National Historic Landmark. National Historic Landmarks are nationally significant historic places designated by the Secretary of the Interior because they possess exceptional value or quality in illustrating or interpreting the heritage of the United States. The Fort Yellowstone Historic District includes over 40 contributing structures.
All of the red-roofed, many-chimneyed buildings in the Mammoth area are part of historic Fort Yellowstone. Beginning in 1886, after 14 years of poor civilian management of the park, the Cavalry was called upon to manage the park's resources and visitors. Because the Cavalry only expected to be here a short while, they built a temporary post near the base of the Terraces called Camp Sheridan. After five cold, harsh winters, they realized that their stay in the park was going to be longer than expected, so they built Fort Yellowstone, a permanent post.
In 1891, the first building to be constructed was the guard house because it directly coincided with the Cavalry's mission--protection and management. There were three stages of construction at Fort Yellowstone. The first set of clapboard buildings were built in 1891, the second set in 1897 as the Fort expanded to a two-troop fort, and, finally, the stone buildings were built in 1909 making the fort's capacity 400 men or four troops. By 1916, the National Park Service was established, and the Cavalry gave control of Yellowstone back to the civilians. After a short time away, the Cavalry returned in 1917 and finished their duty completely in 1918. Since that time, historic Fort Yellowstone has been Yellowstone's headquarters.