When Grand Canyon National Park was established in 1919, there were 6,679,133 automobiles registered in the United States. By 1930, that number had more than tripled to over 23 million. It was the age of the automobile! And what a change the automobile brought to the Canyon. Visitation increased 450% in that same 11-year period as the car overtook the train as the most popular way to travel into the park. It became much easier for families to escape from their busy lives and take vacations to such distant places as the Grand Canyon.
Visitors expected more of their park. They wanted better hotels, more roads, and more of the comforts of home. They came not only to stand in awe but also to have fun, to escape, and be with family and friends.
Bright Angel Hotel - c. 1898
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Credit: Photograph: Maude and Bartoo, Los Angeles Grand Canyon National Park Museum GRCA 05115
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Credit: Photograph: NPS/Ted Barone - 2023
The Bright Angel Lodge is the descendant of some of the earliest lodging at the Canyon. James Thurber built a small structure he called the Bright Angel Hotel at the head of the Bright Angel Trail. Buckey O’Neill had just started laying rail tracks from Williams to the South Rim and he built a log cabin close to Thurber’s place.Martin Buggeln bought Thurber’s interests in 1901 but failed to make a formal claim to the land. When the Santa Fe Railway arrived, it claimed a 20-acre depot site which included the Bright Angel Hotel.
Woman on Grandview Point - 1905
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Credit: Photograph: H.B. White Grand Canyon National Park Museum GRCA 12001
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Credit: Photograph: NPS/Ted Barone - 2023
There are only a few spots along the rim and within the canyon where railings protect visitors from falling. Otherwise, as this oft-rephotographed pose illustrates, people who venture too closely to the edge are easily exposed to potentially fatal falls. Since the 1800s, about 900 people have died in the park. The majority were from airplane or helicopter crashes, including 128 who died in the 1956 United Airlines/TWA crash, but the #2 most common cause is either falling or heat related and hydration causes. Each has tallied 200-250 fatalities each. On average, two to three people die each year from falls off cliffs. Note that the pinnacle on the right has collapsed in the last few years. The canyon is ever changing.
Everybody is a Photographer! - c. 1910
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Credit: Photograph: Emery Kolb Grand Canyon National Park Museum GRCA 16411
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Credit: Photograph: NPS/Ted Barone - 2023
The quality of cameras on cell phones these days makes everyone a photographer. But imagine the lengths to which the photographers profiled in this presentation had to go to get their shots. Jack Hillers with Powell’s 2d expedition, Eugene LaRue with the Birdseye expedition, and the Kolb Brothers over a many year period demonstrated a verve and nerve that I don’t think I would have been capable of as they lugged their equipment around and produced photos that provide us with a beautiful periscope into time gone by.As I have traipsed around trying to find the right spot to replicate the historic photo, hiking rugged trails, and scrambling through underbrush with acacia bushes tearing up my arms and legs, I am left with complete admiration and appreciation for the work of these photographers and artists. As with nearly every aspect of my experience in the Grand Canyon, I am humbled.
Hermit's Rest Fireplace - c. 1918
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Credit: Photograph: William W. Bass Grand Canyon National Park Museum GRCA 17772
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Credit: Photograph: NPS/Ted Barone 2023
Teddy Roosevelt declared the Grand Canyon National Monument in 1908 protecting the area from uncontrolled development. To stop private entrepreneurs, such as John Hance and the Cameron Brothers, from filing fraudulent land claims, rangers negotiated with the Santa Fe Railroad to accept long-term leases rather than private property ownership and spend the needed money to develop quality tourism infrastructure. The railroad refused to extend the rail line eastward to Grandview Point, where both Hance and Cameron brothers had tourist businesses, and instead pushed westward and built the Hermit Road, Hermit’s Rest, and accompanying trails and camps.
Einstein at the Hopi House - 1931
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Credit: Museum of Northern Arizona
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Credit: Photograph: NPS/Ted Barone - 2023
In 1931, Albert Einstein returned by train from a visit to Caltech in Pasadena, CA and stopped for a brief visit at the Grand Canyon. He visited the Hopi House where he posed with Hopi tribal members who were employed artisans with the Fred Harvey Company. Einstein’s wife stands to his right.It’s interesting to note that the headdress on Einstein’s head and the pipe he holds in his hand are actually from the Plains Indian culture.
Mary Colter and Don Hichborn at Desert View - c. 1932
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Credit: Grand Canyon National Park Museum GRCA 16257C
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Credit: Photograph: NPS/Ted Barone - 2023
Don Hirchborn was the contractor at the Desert View Watchtower project and Mary Colter its designer. Mary Colter is generally known as the architect of the El Tovar Hotel, Phantom Ranch, Hermit’s Rest, and the Desert View Tower. She worked primarily for the Fred Harvey Company and the Santa Fe Railroad. At the Grand Canyon, she designed buildings using local materials to blend with their surroundings, and often embraced Native American motifs.While there is some controversy about whether Colter was actually the architect of the Grand Canyon buildings credited to her, both the U.S. Forest Service and Fred Harvey staff architect Alvin Teal gave Colter credit for design of a number of buildings at the Grand Canyon.
Grandview Auto Caravan Tourists - 1934
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Credit: Grand Canyon National Park Museum GRCA 00724
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Credit: Photograph: NPS/Ted Barone - 2023
The bridge crossing the gap in this historic photo has been removed. As with so many wonderful viewpoints at the edge of cliffs, there are no guardrails to protect visitors. Please be careful!
Bright Angel Lodge Postcard - c. 1935
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Credit: Photograph: Fred Harvey Postcards
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Credit: Photograph: NPS/Ted Barone - 2023
25 years after the Santa Fe Railroad laid claim to the rail depot land and the aging Bright Angel Hotel, Mary Colter was asked to design a replacement facility. She did so, saving the O’Neill cabin and replacing tents with log cabins in a decorative pattern of stone, board, and batten. The new Bright Angel Lodge opened on July 22, 1935.
Buses and cars at Desert View - c. 1938
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Credit: Grand Canyon National Park Museum GRCA 08141
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Credit: Photograph: NPS/Ted Barone - 2023
The approach zone at Desert View has recently been restored to a more natural ecosystem. Roads were removed, parking was expanded but now requires more of a walk to get to the tower, and a new Desert View Tribal Welcome Center is planned. The Welcome Center will provide visitors more opportunities to understand the relationships the 11 Associated Tribes have to the Grand Canyon.
Fifth Armored Division at Hopi Point - 1942
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Credit: Grand Canyon Natoinal Park Museum GRCA 00868
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Credit: Photograph: NPS/Ted Barone - 2023
The Fifth Armored Division of the U.S. Army distinguished itself during World War II. It led the breakthrough at Normandy, it was the first division to reach the Eure River, the Seine, and the Our. It was the first to enter Germany, and at the end of the war, it was near Berlin. It trained at the nearby Desert Training Center and provided an opportunity for soldiers to visit the Canyon.
African-American Green Book Tour Group - 1956
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Credit: Photograph: Emery Kolb Northern Arizona University, Cline Library NAU.PH.568.6894
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Credit: Photograph: NPS/Ted Barone - 2023
Traveling around the country for African-Americans in the 1950s was a challenge, to say the least. Many businesses were “off-limits” to Black patrons. Hotels and restaurants often refused them service. Victor Green created a travel guide for African-Americans in 1936 called The Green Book. It was published until 1966, highlighting lodging, restaurants, and fuel stations that would serve African-Americans, a road map for safe travel. Both the Bright Angel Lodge and El Tovar Hotel were listed in the Green Book as were accommodations in many other national parks.
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