As the new Marketing Coordinator of Glacier Park
Incorporated, I am excited to explore Glacier Park and all of GPI’s
properties. I have visited most of the
properties but haven’t really discovered
the lodges. As my first assignment I was
sent on a tour of the hotels. I stayed
the night at Glacier Park Lodge in East Glacier. In one short night, I became captivated by
the history and grandeur of the hotel.
The first step inside the vast lobby is enough to displace visitors to
an earlier time and place.
In 1913, Louis Hill, the president of the Great Northern
Railway, developed Glacier Park Lodge. Hill is regarded as a major player in
the establishment and development of Glacier National Park. Glacier Park Lodge is the first of thirteen
projects in the Park commissioned by Hill and the Great Northern Railway.
The lawn leading to the lodge is manicured with inviting
green grass and flower gardens sprayed in white and purple. Teepees hinting at earlier times dot the lawn
complementing the flora. Around the east
side of the hotel is a nine-hole golf course.
Obviously I had to try it out and I can’t think of a course around that
has a better view, it was spectacular.
With only a few folks taking advantage of Montana’s first golf course,
it is definitely one of East Glacier’s best kept secrets.
As I stepped inside the lodge, I was greeting by period
dressed bellman, Zack and Zach. Besides heavy lifting, their job is to pick
visitors up in the vintage Checker taxi (pictured below) from the same train
station Louis Hill used when the hotel was constructed.
Stepping further into the Lodge, I noticed the largest beams
I’ve seen anywhere. The columns holding
up the grand hotel are made of Douglas-Fir trees. They still look like live trees and have
their bark intact. They are over 40 feet
tall and about 40 inches in diameter.
Because Douglas-Fir trees do not normally grow this large in Montana,
they were imported by train from the Pacific Northwest where the moist growing
climate produces larger timber. Aside
from the unique architecture, the lobby invited me to sink into a couch and
enjoy a hot drink by the crackling fire.
Beyond the elaborate lobby, the original lodge houses a
grand dining room now called the Great Northern. It still bustles with seasonal employees as
it did 100 years ago; eager to explore the Park by day and satisfy visitor’s
appetites by night. I had dinner in the
Great Northern dining room where locally inspired fare like smoked trout and
huckleberry bread pudding more than satisfied my appetite.
On a full belly, I made my way to my room in the annex of
the hotel. The original lodge had 61
guest rooms. In 1915, it became apparent
that the original structure had outgrown itself, so Louis Hill commissioned an additional
structure to host 111 more guests. The
addition is connected to the original lodge by a window-lined breezeway. Day and night, guests lounge in the long corridor
to take in the views. I could easily lose hours here while sipping on something
delicious, snuggled up with a good book or board game.
My sleep that night was more than comfortable. I felt lucky to enjoy a rocking chair view
from my balcony overlooking the grand gardens.
Sadly, morning marked the end of my adventure at Glacier Park Lodge.
My stay at the lodge made it easy to forget that the adventure
only begins here, and that the lodge is just footsteps away from the adventures
inside Glacier National Park. The history,
beauty, and discovery of my Glacier Park Lodge stay made me excited for more
adventures in both the lodges and landscape of Glacier National Park.
