Mount Rainier Blog

On July 1, 1917, a brand-new mountain lodge built from cedar logs and native stone opened its doors at the base of an active volcano. More than a century later, Paradise Inn is still welcoming travelers to one of the most spectacular alpine settings in the country. As the nation prepares to mark its 250th birthday, the America250 celebration is a chance to revisit the lodges that helped define what an American national park experience could be. At Mount Rainier Guest Services, a proud part of the Adventures Unbound family, we are spending the month telling the stories behind the rustic walls our guests have walked past for generations.

The History

Mount Rainier National Park was established on March 2, 1899, making it the fifth national park in the United States. Tourism took off in the early 1900s as rail access expanded, drawing climbers, scenic touring travelers, and wildflower enthusiasts to the 14,410-foot volcano. Out of that early visitor boom came a distinctive design language now known as ‘parkitecture’, an approach that used native materials and quiet craftsmanship to make buildings feel like they belonged to the landscape. The result was the Mount Rainier National Historic Landmark District, a collection of structures that shaped how Americans imagine a national park lodge.

The crown jewel of that district is Paradise Inn, whose construction began in 1916 and which officially opened on July 1, 1917. Designed by architect Frederick Heath, the inn was built from cedar logs, stone, and native materials, with a lobby anchored by massive timber beams, handcrafted furniture, and a great stone fireplace. A four-story annex followed in 1920 to keep up with growing demand, and today the inn still operates seasonally with more than 120 guest rooms.

Below Paradise, Longmire tells the park’s earlier story. James Longmire had homesteaded the site and run a mineral springs resort before it became park headquarters in 1899. The 1916 headquarters building is now a museum, and the entire Longmire complex is a National Historic District. Higher up, the Historic Camp Muir Area at 10,188 feet still shelters climbers on the most direct route to the summit, with its first shelter erected in 1916 by The Mountaineers in honor of John Muir.

The Connection

The mountain has been a place of meaning for the Cowlitz, Nisqually, Puyallup, Muckleshoot, and Squaxin Island peoples for thousands of years, and that deeper stewardship is the foundation everything else rests on. The lodges, the historic district, and the climbing camps are simply the visible layer of a much longer relationship between people and this landscape.

When you sit by the Paradise Inn fireplace or walk the Longmire boardwalks, you are stepping into rooms that were specifically designed to dissolve the boundary between indoors and out. That intention has carried for over a hundred years, and it is what we work to preserve every day.

To explore more America250 stories from across our family of properties, visit Adventures Unbound’s America250 page and start planning your own visit to a place where history is still standing.