The Lake Hotel

We approached the hotel from the rear and so we didn't get the best view upon arrival--but it was still quite distinctive.  I think it was Amy's favourite lodging place that we saw in the park--she considered it quite elegant.

The oldest hostelry in Yellowstone today, the Lake Yellowstone Hotel also holds the distinction of standing longer in the national parks than any other lodging  facility anywhere.  The Yellowstone Park Association, hotel concessionaire of the day, began construction in 1889, and the hotel opened its doors two years later.

The original hotel was a small, plain, yet comfortable establishment of just 80 rooms.  When architect Robert C. Reamer arrived in Yellowstone to build the Old Faithful Inn in 1903, he also undertook an expansion of the Lake Hotel, adding the columns and decorative elements to the front of the building and raising the room count to 210.  He made many other alterations in subsequent years, including adding 113 more rooms and the lobby fireplace in 1923, and the lounge and porte cochere [Noun: porte-cochère; 2. Canopy extending out from a building entrance to shelter those getting in and out of vehicles.] in 1928.

From 1891-1917, visitors could arrive here by ship from the West Thumb of Yellowstone Lake.  The steamships Zillah and E. C. Waters and the motorship Jean D. all provided respite from jolting stagecoaches and dusty roads as they crossed the largest lake in North America above 7000 feet elevation.

 

The hotel closed during both World Wars and fell into disrepair in the decades following World War II.  Concessionaire TWA Services, Inc., took over operations in 1979, and two years later began a decade-long plan to update and renovate the structure.  Currently there are 158 guest rooms in the hotel and some 75,000 visitors stay here each summer season.

In his landmark history The Yellowstone Story, late Park historian Aubrey L. Haines noted "Guests found a serenity absent elsewhere in Wonderland.  After a good dinner, well served by waitresses instead of by waiters as at other large hotels in the Park, there were only quiet things to do.  Whether one slipped through dim woods behind the hotel, hopeful of seeing bears feeding at the dump, walked the lakeshore, or merely sat and watched the backdrop of wooded hills and rugged peaks far across the water dissolve into the night, the mood was one of restfulness.  What a blessing after four days of staging--of sun, wind, dust, and mosquitoes!"  So it was in 1904...and somewhat similar today.
--from Xantera Parks & Resorts, Lake Hotel handout