Built in 1911, the simple frame building known for many years as the old “tack room” became the first administrative headquarters of the new Applegate Ranger District after President Theodore Roosevelt proclaimed much of the Applegate River watershed a National Forest in 1907 and Forest Service rangers arrived to manage its resources. During the summer of 1910, Ranger Horace Whitney used an abandoned miner’s log cabin at nearby Star Gulch for shelter, then returned the following spring with his new bride to find a one-room combined office and living quarters being completed on the district’s new compound. That building soon proved too small for year-round living, and for the next few summers the district ranger and his family lived in a tent while residing in town during winter. In 1914, a two-story ranger’s residence was built across Upper Applegate Road and served as both home and office until a new ranger station was constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s. Reduced to use as a storage shed, the original building was moved several times within the station compound. From World War I until the mid-1940s, District Ranger Lee Port kept saddles and other horse tack there, and later the structure stored tree-marking paint and supplies used in laying out the district’s timber sales. As the Applegate Ranger District changed from the era when rangers rode the high country, built trail, and fought fire, the old building remained as a tangible reminder of its early years and later transformation.