Friday 2/13/09 - Painted Desert Inn
Today was our first day “alone”. We have been in training for about 2 weeks and had other experienced people around to train and watch over us, but today we traveled the two miles or so to the Painted Desert Inn (PDI) for our 9-5 shift there. The PDI story goes back to the 20’s. A gentleman named Herbert Lore used some Mexican workers and built himself a home on 2500 acres he had originally homesteaded on the edge of the Painted Desert. The home was built out of petrified rock and cement, but neither Mr. Lore nor his workers knew much about building and the structure had more mortar than rock. The other difficulty with the house was that it was built on top of land that consists of bentonite clay. When it rains, the clay swells and it shrinks as it dries out. Between the two problems (mortar and clay), the building needs repair every few years. Lore used the inn as his private residence for a number of years, as well as a tourist stop which provided food, drink, gifts, and a place to stay. When Route 66 was developed, Lore sold his property to the Monument and a road was connected to 66. Because the property needed repairs, the CCC was brought in to stabilize and restore the property. No water or electricity was available; therefore, all the work was done by hand. And, the workmanship is wonderful! Logs needed to be felled and brought to the sight for ceiling supports and furniture. From the Flagstaff area ponderosa pine was brought in for the vigas and aspen for the savinas were transported from the White Mts., over 100 miles southeast. The furniture was made from wood; the light fixtures are tinwork, glass panels hand-made, as well as hand-painted, and the walls on the outside were covered with stucco to replicate the Spanish adobe look. WW II interrupted the work and the Inn was closed until 1946. In 1947 the Fred Harvey Co. was contracted to take over the concessions. Mr. Harvey had worked with the Santa Fe Railroads to provide different an oasis at different stops along the line. His practice was to hire young ladies from around the country to work in the dining rooms. The Harvey Girls as they came to be known, needed at least an 8th grade education, proper manners, and were not to be involved with the clientele during their 6 month contract. Mr. Harvey brought in his designer Mary Jane Colter to look at the Painted Desert Inn design. She changed the windows to the north for a better view of the panorama of the Painted Desert, changed the color scheme, and invited Fred Kabotie, a very famous Hopi Indian artist, to paint several wall murals in several of the rooms. The CCC had added an extra room that became the Monument’s Visitor Center until the new/current VC was opened in 1962-3 when the Monument became a National Park and PDI was closed. For 24 years there was a great deal of controversy over what to do with the crumbling building, from remodeling to bulldozing the building down. PDI was saved for good when it became a National Historic Landmark. After repairs were made, the Inn was re-opened to the public in ‘87. It requires constant monitoring for cracking and the last remodel was in 2004. Keeping this building is service is necessary because it is such a wonderful historic treasure and the view from the windows is breathtaking, especially when snow adds a new dimension to the landscape as it did last week.
Today was our first day “alone”. We have been in training for about 2 weeks and had other experienced people around to train and watch over us, but today we traveled the two miles or so to the Painted Desert Inn (PDI) for our 9-5 shift there. The PDI story goes back to the 20’s. A gentleman named Herbert Lore used some Mexican workers and built himself a home on 2500 acres he had originally homesteaded on the edge of the Painted Desert. The home was built out of petrified rock and cement, but neither Mr. Lore nor his workers knew much about building and the structure had more mortar than rock. The other difficulty with the house was that it was built on top of land that consists of bentonite clay. When it rains, the clay swells and it shrinks as it dries out. Between the two problems (mortar and clay), the building needs repair every few years. Lore used the inn as his private residence for a number of years, as well as a tourist stop which provided food, drink, gifts, and a place to stay. When Route 66 was developed, Lore sold his property to the Monument and a road was connected to 66. Because the property needed repairs, the CCC was brought in to stabilize and restore the property. No water or electricity was available; therefore, all the work was done by hand. And, the workmanship is wonderful! Logs needed to be felled and brought to the sight for ceiling supports and furniture. From the Flagstaff area ponderosa pine was brought in for the vigas and aspen for the savinas were transported from the White Mts., over 100 miles southeast. The furniture was made from wood; the light fixtures are tinwork, glass panels hand-made, as well as hand-painted, and the walls on the outside were covered with stucco to replicate the Spanish adobe look. WW II interrupted the work and the Inn was closed until 1946. In 1947 the Fred Harvey Co. was contracted to take over the concessions. Mr. Harvey had worked with the Santa Fe Railroads to provide different an oasis at different stops along the line. His practice was to hire young ladies from around the country to work in the dining rooms. The Harvey Girls as they came to be known, needed at least an 8th grade education, proper manners, and were not to be involved with the clientele during their 6 month contract. Mr. Harvey brought in his designer Mary Jane Colter to look at the Painted Desert Inn design. She changed the windows to the north for a better view of the panorama of the Painted Desert, changed the color scheme, and invited Fred Kabotie, a very famous Hopi Indian artist, to paint several wall murals in several of the rooms. The CCC had added an extra room that became the Monument’s Visitor Center until the new/current VC was opened in 1962-3 when the Monument became a National Park and PDI was closed. For 24 years there was a great deal of controversy over what to do with the crumbling building, from remodeling to bulldozing the building down. PDI was saved for good when it became a National Historic Landmark. After repairs were made, the Inn was re-opened to the public in ‘87. It requires constant monitoring for cracking and the last remodel was in 2004. Keeping this building is service is necessary because it is such a wonderful historic treasure and the view from the windows is breathtaking, especially when snow adds a new dimension to the landscape as it did last week.
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