Western Center for Historic Preservation
In 1990, over forty years after the final expansion of Grand Teton National Park, it was estimated that over 70% of the buildings acquired by the Park had been removed. In 1996, the historic buildings in the park were nominated for the National Trust for Historic Preservationâs âMost Endangered Historic Placesâ list. Despite decades of […]
The Manges Cabin
Jimmy Manges originally homesteaded the land that became the Elbo Ranch, just south of Jenny Lake. He applied for a patent in 1911, and it took him seven long years of hard work to clear just 42 of his 160 acres. The homestead cabin he built in 1911 became one of the first homesteads on […]
R Lazy S Ranch
In 1910, Elsie M. James (nĂ©e Olsen) received Homestead Patent #145265 for 151.33 acres along what is now known as the Moose-Wilson Road. The homestead was located just north of the White Grass Ranch Road. At the time the patent was given, the White Grass wouldnât be created for another three years. This would have […]
Double Diamond Ranch
Joseph S. Clark, Jr., a future senator of Pennsylvania and mayor of Philadelphia, and Frank R. Williams, a wilderness guide, first met in 1923 on a pack trip. Clark was part of the group that Williams was leading. Like many before him, he quickly fell in love with the Jackson Hole landscape. A fast friendship […]
Moose Entrance Kiosk
Built between 1934 and 1939, the Moose entrance kiosk was the first entrance station in Grand Teton National Park. It was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), a government organization created by President Rooseveltâs New Deal plan. CCC workers arrived in Jackson Hole in 1933 and built a camp just south of Jenny Lake […]
JY Dude Ranch
In 1906 Louis Joy filed for 160 acres under the Desert Land Act of 1877 on the south side of Phelps Lake. After making the necessary improvements and receiving a patent for the land, he filed a cash entry on an adjacent 119 acre homestead. Only a year later, in 1908, the ranch hosted the […]
Beaver Creek Administration Area
For the last century, the Beaver Creek Administration area has been housing the administrative officials tasked with managing the federally protected lands in Jackson Hole. When the Teton National Forest was created in 1908, two small log buildings were constructed to house the forest rangers and their office space. The Stewart Ranger Station remained unchanged […]
Circle H Dude Ranch
The Circle H Ranch was once part of the land that was originally split between homesteaders Louis Joy and William Grant. Joy owned a prosperous dude ranch at the base of Phelps Lake, and held a lot of the land in that area. The JY Dude Ranch (named for Joy) was the first to bring […]
Sky Ranch
Sky Ranch was the life-long dream of William Balderston II, who first arrived in Jackson Hole at 15 years old in 1912. The summer between his junior and senior high school years, Bill was working on a survey for the Oregon Short Line Railroad that held a right-of-way between Green River, Wyoming and Yellowstone’s south entrance. […]
White Grass Ranch
To learn more about the White Grass Ranch, visit www.whitegrass.org – a website completely dedicated to this spectacular ranch in partnership with the Jackson Hole Historical Society and Museum and the White Grass Heritage Project. — Harold Hammond was born in Idaho and came to Jackson Hole as a child in the early 1900s. From […]
STS Dude Ranch – Murie Ranch
STS Ranch 1922-1940 In 1914 Frances Mears came to Jackson Hole, yet another member of a wealthy Philadelphian family looking for a western adventure. Frances would certainly find hers at the Bar BC, where she stayed for four summers. Over those summers she met and fell in love with Buster Estes, a ranch employee working […]
Moose, Wyoming
Moose, Wyoming is centrally located in Jackson Hole, and was first homesteaded in 1892 when William âBillâ Menor filed for 160 acres on the banks of the Snake River. Until 1911, Bill Menor would have the only holding on the west bank of the Snake River. Because of this, the area was generally known as […]
Menor’s Ferry
Born in Ohio in 1857 in Ohio, William âBillâ Menor lived in several states before settling in Jackson Hole, Wyoming in 1894. He arrived in the valley and under the encouragement of Jack Shive and John Cherry, decided to open up a ferry service crossing the Snake River. Bill chose his parcel carefully, studying the […]
Maud Noble Cabin
Maud arrived in Jackson Hole in 1915 from a wealthy family in Philadelphia. She came out to stay with Mrs. George Woodward at the Bar BC Ranch. It is estimated that she was between 45 and 50 years old. She meant to stay only for the summer but decided to make the valley her permanent […]
Lucas-Fabian
LUCAS ERA: 1913-1938 Geraldine Lucas was born November 5, 1866 in Iowa. In 1885, she married Michael OâShea and became pregnant with a son. After two years of an unhappy marriage, Geraldine left OâShea and legally reclaimed her maiden name for both herself and her son, Russel. As a single mother she attended Oberlin College […]
The Elbo Ranch
The Elbo Ranch was located near the current Climberâs Ranch to the Cottonwood Creek pullout. Lining both sides of the road, this ranch had modest beginnings. The origin of the name and spelling of âElboâ is unknown, it appears as both âEl-Boâ and âElbo.â James H. âJimmyâ Manges filed a claim for 160 acres under […]
Bar BC Dude Ranch
Maxwell Struthers Burt, writer, novelist and poet who grew up on the East Coast journeyed to Jackson Hole in 1908 to help his colleague Louis Joy start up the JY Dude Ranch, the first dude ranch to open in Jackson Hole. Struthers Burt graduated from Princeton University in Philadelphia in 1904, and maintained his contacts […]
4 Lazy F Ranch
The 4 Lazy F Ranch is located on the western bank of the Snake River, just north of Moose and about a mile south of the Upper Bar BC Ranch. The ranch began as the Sun Star Ranch, under the care of Bryant Mears who arrived in the valley as a dude at the Bar […]