Cedar Breaks National Monument - Cedar Breaks Historic Lodge (U.S. National Park Service)

Courtesy of Southern Utah University

Cedar Breaks Lodge

This lodge was built in 1924 and owned by the Utah Parks Company (a part of the Union Pacific Railroad). These lodges were built within the parks in hopes of attracting rail passengers to visit these various parks and to attract more people to ride the trains. A tour was offered of Zion, Bryce, North Rim of the Grand Canyon, and Cedar Breaks. All of the lodges in the Utah Parks Company were designed by Gilbert Stanley Underwood. The lodge at Cedar Breaks was the smallest out of all the lodges visited. The Cedar Break Lodge was well known for its chicken dinners. People from CedarCity would drive up to the lodge just for the dinners. In 1970, the Utah Parks Company donated all of the lodges to the National Park Service. It was determined that Cedar Breaks Lodge was uneconomical to maintain, and it was removed in 1972. After the lodge was torn down, there were so many protests that the National Park Service decided to keep the lodges at the other parks. Although one cannot see the lodge today at Cedar Breaks, one can feel comfort in knowing that because Cedar Breaks Lodge was torn down, the rest will remain because of the importance they are to the park visitors.