Administering the National Forests of Colorado: An Assessment of the Architectural and Cultural Significance of Historical Administrative Properties

Hartley, Ralph; Schneck, James

This report is organized in such a way that it can be read as a complete document or used as a reference to obtain information about properties in a given Forest or at a specified site. The following section explains the procedures used to conduct the inventory and research and also makes explicit the methods used to establish recommendations regarding the architectural, cultural, and historical significance of these sites. An overview of the history of the Forest Service in Colorado is then provided to establish a context for the construction and activities that took place at these sites and to offer some quotable experiences of those who lived and worked at some of these sites. The third section of the report documents the history and development of the architecture of the Forest Service in Colorado. A discussion of the development of the function, style, and method of construction that defines these administrative sites and buildings is included. Lastly, a summarized catalogue of all evaluated sites is presented by Forest with emphasis on recommendations for eligibility status to the National Register of Historic Places. Detailed documentation of these sites and buildings with text specific to their history of construction can be found in the set of Colorado Cultural Resource Survey and Historic Building Inventory Record forms that accompany this report. Included in the tables in this section of the report are administrative sites previously determined eligible that were not visited as part of this project. These sites are included to make the document a more complete resource for facility and cultural resource managers.