By Suzanne Waring
The community of West Yellowstone had a special reason to celebrate this year. They gathered to remember the opening of the Union Pacific Dining Lodge one hundred years ago.
In 1907 the Union Pacific (UP) Railroad began laying tracks for a line to be called the Oregon Short Line to West Yellowstone from St. Anthony, Idaho, giving tourists better access to Yellowstone National Park, an international wonder. The first train bringing tourists arrived on June 11, 1908. After that, West Yellowstone became the major entrance to the park. What was needed next was a dining hall for those who were arriving or departing on the train.
The first dining hall, called the “Beanery,” was built in 1908. This terminology was frequently used to refer to inexpensive eateries, especially railroad eateries. This unimpressive wooden structure soon proved to be too small. The railroad tried to stagger the arrival and departure of trains to reduce the need for additional dining space, but even that wasn’t enough to prevent overcrowding. Next a “Rest Pavilion” was built that had a roof but was open on the sides. This is where people waited for a “Second Seating.” Even the Rest Pavillion did not satisfy the need.
Something else had to be done to alleviate the congestion. A larger dining hall was the answer.
The Union Pacific Railroad contracted with architect, Gilbert Stanley Underwood, who was known for the rustic design of several lodges in national parks, including Zion, Bryce Canyon, and North Rim/Grand Canyon. To be located next to the West Yellowstone Railroad Depot, the UP Dining Lodge would replicate the rustic look often referred to as “Parkitecture.”
Accommodating 350 people, the large room had walls of native rhyolite stone and large timber beams throughout that supported the roof of the Dining Lodge. This gave the room the feeling of being handcrafted by pioneers. On the end wall was an impressive stone fireplace in the shape of an arrowhead. Large windows brought the beauty of nature inside. The building had an entrance hall which was made of the earlier Rest Pavilion that was turned around and connected to the new structure. The building was finished in the fall of 1925 and opened to the public on June 18, 1926.
Young women from throughout the nation came to West Yellowstone to work in the UP Dining Lodge. These women became known as the beanery queens. By working long hours, the women received lodging, food, wages of 75-91 cents an hour and tips. They sang to greet the diners morning after morning until 1960 when passenger trains and dining service ceased.
The buildings in the railroad complex were slated to be razed after passenger travel was discontinued. To save them, the townspeople of West Yellowstone had to agree to become an incorporated municipality to take ownership of the buildings. Today, the UP Dining Lodge, the 1908 Depot (now the Museum of the Yellowstone), the historic water tower and even the baggage building that houses West Yellowstone’s Police Department are protected historic structures. The buildings were placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983 and are the most intact collection of historic buildings related to rail travel to national parks in the nation.
Today, the UP Dining Lodge is rented as an event center for weddings, gatherings, and celebrations. The main room with the fireplace (known as the Mammoth Room), and the former “Rest Pavillion” (now known as the Firehole Room), have been mostly untouched. Even the 1959 earthquake barely traumatized the building except for a few stones that fell from the fireplace.
This year the non-oprofit that maintains the historic center complex opened a special, official post office overseen by the West Yellowstone Postmaster. A pictorial postal cancellation, featuring a steam locomotive, officially postmarks the current day. Collectible postcards and first-class cachet envelopes are available at the Museum’s store.
To celebrate, the gathering took place on the evening of July 25 with a silent auction and dinner, presentation on the History of the UP Dining Lodge, followed by a spirited live auction. The proceeds went to the upkeep of the structures of the Yellowstone Historic Center. Standing together once more, the community commemorated the historic buildings that embody West Yellowstone, its commitment to the visitors who have visited over the years, and their own perseverance while weathering extremely cold winters, structural fires as well as wildfires, and earthquakes.