Monumental Changes

Living and working at El Morro in the early 1900s was difficult and isolated, with a remote duty station, dirt roads often impassable in wet weather, and no running water or electricity; the first ranger cabin, which also served as a tourist shelter, was only a three-sided shed. During the Depression Era, public works programs transformed El Morro National Monument. A new custodian's residence and visitor contact station were completed in 1939 with Works Progress Administration funds, one of President Roosevelt's New Deal programs, and the superintendent and his family finally had running water and a coal furnace. The sandstone residence now serves as El Morro's administrative offices. After World War II, a booming economy and a more mobile public brought rising visitation, and El Morro soon outgrew its small visitor contact station. In 1956, the National Park Service launched Mission 66, a ten-year program to revitalize the national parks before the agency's 50th anniversary in 1966. As part of that effort, the visitor center was completed in 1964 in the modern architectural style common to many National Park Service visitor centers of the period.

El Morro Valley, New Mexico · United States