Visitor and Operations Complex: Cultural Landscapes Inventory, Casa Grande Ruins National Monument
Regions 6, 7, & 8 Park Cultural Landscapes Program. 2011. Visitor and Operations Complex: Cultural Landscapes Inventory, Casa Grande Ruins National Monument. Cultural Landscapes Inventory Report. 975504. U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service. NPS Intermountain Regional Office, Santa Fe, New Mexico / CRIS-CL Database
Inventory Unit Description: The Visitor and Operations Complex is a historic designed landscape within Casa Grande Ruins National Monument. Located in the Sonoran desert of south central Arizona, the designed complex is a result of historic interaction with the Monument by various cultural groups including historic explorers, tourists, the National Park Service, and Depression-era work program enrollees. The development of the complex was begun in 1892 when Casa Grande was set aside as the first protected cultural site within the United States. Improvements to the landscape were begun in the early 20th century to facilitate visitors to the area. By 1923, Casa Grande was designated as the National Park Service’s headquarters for the Southwestern National Monuments (SWNM). Between 1928 and 1933, NPS landscape architect Thomas C. Vint and SWNM Superintendent Frank Pinkley drafted a series of master plans for buildings, roads, and signs within the Monument to create the Visitor and Operations Complex. The design of the complex focused on separating facilities based on land use, which became a popular concept of early national park design promoted by Vint. As such, the design resulted in three separate areas—the Visitor Compound, the Residential Compound, and the Maintenance Compound. Depression-era work programs, including the Public Works Administration (PWA), Civil Works Administration (CWA), Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) and Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), provided the work force to construct and implement the plans. Construction and improvements continued into the early 1940s. Casa Grande continued to serve as the SWNM headquarters until 1952. After that time, some changes were made to the Visitor and Operations Complex. The majority of changes occurred during the 1950s and 1960s under the guise of Mission 66, a nationwide program to improve visitor experience in preparation for the 50th anniversary of the NPS. Changes to the Visitor Center, a new entrance road, parking lot expansion, and archeological stabilization were just a few of the alterations that took place. Since that time, changes to the features of the complex have focused on routine stabilization and maintenance.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Regions 6, 7, & 8 Park Cultural Landscapes Program
- Date of Issue
- 2011-07-25
- Publisher
- U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service
- Units
- CAGR , IMR
- Keywords
- agriculture, architecture, Civil Works Administration, Civilian Conservation Corps, community planning and development, conservation, Federal Emergency Relief Administration, Frank Pinkley, headquarters, historic designed landscape, historic preservation, landscape architecture, maintenance compound, master planning, politics - government, Public Works Administration, residential compound, Sonoran Desert, Southwestern National Monuments, Thomas C Vint, tourism, Visitor compound