In 1905 Union Pacific officials began construction of a branch line through pine-forested wilderness from Ashton, Idaho, to the western edge of Yellowstone Park. As the final tracks were laid in 1907, Samuel P. Eagle, Alex Stuart, Charles Arnet, and L.A. Murray applied for commercial leases, prompting the Forest Service to survey and plat a six-block townsite. Privately owned businesses prospered by serving park tourists carried between the railway and the park by stagecoach, and West Yellowstone became a thriving permanent settlement dominated by the 1909 Union Pacific Depot. Designed by the Union Pacific Engineering Office, the depot combines Richardsonian elements with rustic exposed wood and hood-like roofs. In 1925 Gilbert Stanley Underwood, later noted for imaginative resort designs and many passenger stations, prepared plans for a new Dining Lodge and employee dormitories. These designs explored the naturalistic Rustic style adopted by the National Park Service, and welded tuff gathered along the railway line enhanced the rustic appearance of foundations, walls, colossal chimneys, and massive fireplaces while complementing the log construction. This collection of railroad buildings, constructed between 1905 and 1927, withstood severe weather, major fires, rebuilding, and expansion, and remains a rare reminder of early park tourism and a tribute to a fine architect.