Lake McDonald Lodge Coffee Shop facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
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Lake McDonald Lodge Coffee Shop
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 Location in Montana
Location in the United States
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| Location | Lake McDonald Lodge Blvd., Lake McDonald, Glacier National Park, Montana |
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| Area | 1.7 acres (0.69 ha) |
| Built | 1965 |
| Architect | Brinkman and Lenon |
| Architectural style | Modern Movement, Formalism |
| NRHP reference No. | 08001014 |
| Added to NRHP | October 14, 2008 |
The Lake McDonald Lodge Coffee Shop is a building in Glacier National Park, Montana, USA. It was built to serve visitors. The coffee shop opened in 1965.
It was part of a big plan called Mission 66. This plan helped the National Park Service improve parks. The goal was to build new visitor facilities by 1966. The coffee shop was special because it focused only on food. Most Mission 66 projects built many services in one place.
The Glacier Park Company ran the coffee shop. They planned to build more lodging nearby. Burt L. Gewalt designed the building. He was from the Kalispell, Montana firm Brinkman and Lenon. He made the roof look like the nearby Lake McDonald Lodge. He also used similar colors and materials.
In 2018, the Coffee Shop was updated. It reopened as Jammer Joe's. This new spot is a pizza shop with food to go. A part of a Red Tour Bus is inside. Jammer Joe's is named after a popular "Jammer." This was a Red Bus Driver who gave tours in Glacier Park.
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What the Building Looks Like
The Coffee Shop is a short walk east of the Lake McDonald Lodge. It sits between the Lodge and the Going-to-the-Sun Road. The building is about 40-foot (12 m) wide and 100-foot (30 m) long. It has one story and is shaped like a rectangle.
It is built on a small hill. Green lawns and tall trees surround it. The outside walls are white stucco and cedar wood panels. The roof is a special design. It uses strong wooden beams on steel poles. The roof shape is called a hipped roof.
The roof has clipped ends, like the main lodge. It also has a special part on top called a roof monitor. This part hides the air vents. It was changed from the original design. The first one did not work well with heavy snow. Metal art on the stucco walls shows the mountains. Burt L. Gewalt designed this art.
Inside, the main dining room is at the north end. The kitchen is in the middle. The employees' dining room is at the south end. There used to be a lunch counter near the main entrance. The employees' dining room is now used for offices and storage. The inside walls are cedar panels. The ceiling is open. The original lights are still there.
Gewalt got ideas from the main lodge building. He also looked at designs by Welton Becket. Becket designed the Canyon Village Lodge in Yellowstone National Park. Experts have compared Gewalt's design to a style called "Coffee Shop Modern." This style uses clear designs and modern features. It is a type of Googie architecture.
Who Designed and Built It
The company Brinkman and Lenon started after World War II. It continued even after its founders died in 1961. The company was sold in the 1990s. This firm designed other buildings in Glacier National Park. These include the Logan Pass Visitor Center and the Saint Mary Visitor Center, Entrance Station and Checking Stations. They also designed buildings at West Glacier and Rising Sun.
The Collins Construction Company of Kalispell built the Coffee Shop. It cost about $107,000 to build.
Plans for the Park
The Coffee Shop was meant to be the first step in making Lake McDonald bigger. The Mission 66 plan from 1955 wanted to remove all buildings except the main lodge. Then, many new lodging units would be built. These would have 20 to 70 rooms each.
These plans were made smaller over time. The Great Northern Railway owned the Glacier Park Company back then. They thought the plans were too expensive. The Great Northern then sold its operations to Glacier Park, Inc. By 1963, the plans were much smaller. They only included building a "grill" at the site.
Why It's a Historic Place
The Lake McDonald Coffee Shop was added to the National Register of Historic Places on October 14, 2008. Buildings usually need to be 50 years old to get this honor. But the Coffee Shop was added earlier. This was because it is a great example of Mission 66 design. Before this, it was not seen as a main part of the Lake McDonald Lodge Historic District.
