In the early 1900s when the well-to-do Easterners came out west to see for themselves this amazing and strange “Wonderland” they had heard of in the Northern Pacific Railroad advertisements, they were no doubt excited, but nervous. They’d heard stories as well of Indians and bears that could kill them! So when they arrived—after their long, hot, dusty stagecoach ride from the railroad station in Gardiner, Montana—into the Upper Geyser Basin and Old Faithful, there stood this massive, impressive structure with its beautiful large banners beckoning them to the shelter and security of the Old Faithful Inn.
The Inn, with its massive seven-foot wrought iron-wrapped doors assured them of their safety from this new and strange land of geysers, hot springs, mud pots and steam vents—and, of course, from the Indians and bears.
This grand, new building was built by Robert Reamer, a young architect from San Diego recommended to Harry Child, President of the Yellowstone Park Association and Transportation Company. This was an association that was to last most of the rest of their lives.
Started in June of 1903, the Old Faithful Inn opened one year later in June of 1904. Those amazing, hardy workers who actually built this Old Inn labored through the winter to make sure it was completed in time for the summer season. And open it did! Over the past 112 years the Old Faithful Inn has become not only the icon of the Yellowstone National Park but of the National Park Service itself.
I often wonder if Robert Reamer was deprived of having a tree house as a young boy, because he more than made up for that loss in his early years with this massive tree house that is the Old Faithful Inn. Standing 76-1/2 feet—seven stories—the Old Faithful Inn was built of not only the ever-present Lodgepole Pines but the Rhyolite boulders of the surrounding Park as well.
Everyday during the summer thousands of people still come through her doors and look up, up, up in wonder and amazement. And every week or two I am privileged and overjoyed to spend my day sharing tours of this Old House with those interested in knowing more about this beautiful and unique Old House.
Perhaps Robert Reamer was trying to make a connection for those early visitors of long ago—through the Old Faithful Inn—it being a bridge from the wilderness outside to civilization inside. But today, 112 years later, people are still feeling the indoor experience of the outdoor forest in this oversized tree house built no doubt with love so long ago.
A few years back an elderly woman visited the Inn, bringing her grandmother’s journal with her. As a young woman, her grandmother had visited The Inn pasting a postcard of the Old Inn into her journal, circling her room. The elderly woman shared her grandmother’s journal with the Bell and Front Desk staff and everyone was so excited, they immediately all proceeded out front to figure out which room her grandma had stayed in all those years ago. Unbelievably, that very room was available and they invited the woman to stay in her grandma’s room. Of course she did, sleeping in the room her grandmother had occupied 90 years earlier!
Connections. She had a connection not only to the Old House but to her grandmother. My connection to and love for this Old House grows every time I enter. It’s about all of our connections to not only this beautiful Old Faithful Inn, but to this incredibly strange and wondrous Yellowstone National Park with its many weird thermal features and wild-roaming animals. It is indeed a Wonderland.
Many thanks to Karen Wildung Reinhart and Jeff Henry for their thoroughly delightful book, Old Faithful Inn: Crown Jewel of National Park Lodges: https://shop.yellowstonenationalparklodges.com/shop/books-dvds/old-faithful-inn-crown-jewel-of-national-park-lodges-by-karen-wildung-reinhart-and-jeff-henry.html
And a grateful thank you as well to Ruth Quinn for her absolutely wonderful book about Robert Reamer, Weaver of Dreams: The Life and Architecture of Robert C. Reamer https://www.amazon.com/Weaver-Dreams-Architecture-Robert-Reamer/dp/0976094517
