I ANP -Office The first step I took leading to the creation of Acadia National Park was that of securing a site for its office and accompanying buildings, at the southern border of the village of Bar Harbor. This site, which came to me through an earlier project entered into in the public interest but not made use of in its original intention, led to the establishment and gift to the Town of the Athletic Field and the construction of a road looking out across it and facing the mountains of the future Park. On this, known as Park Street and kept to public use alone, the present Park office was built at the time of the first estab- lishment of the Park as the Sieur de Monts National Monument, July 3th, 1916. Rented to the Government, it has been occupied by it unbrokenly since then. It is most important that this site, SO beauti- - ful in itself and to which the public has been SO long accustomed, should be preserved. The buildings, built by myself at that time with much care and study for future needs, still remain in good condition and repair and it is my desire that my original design for this site be adhered to permanently, with all the association that has eathered round it. And for this purpose I desire that the annual lease to the Government which I have made be converted into ownership by it, the price to be paid being established by the amount yielding the identical interest paid me in annual rental by the Government. This amount, I should like to make clear, does not represent the expenditure made upon the develop- ent of the site, which would be much greater and include not only the building site itself but much valuable land besides, not to be secured at all at the present time had the early opportunity that occurred to me not been taken. College of the Atlantic.Fawilihes Director Files. (Willard Dority) March 2006. ORIGINAL NATIONAL PARK HEADQUARTERS STUDY DECEMBER 1994 Compiled by the Office of Special Projects for Campus Planning and Building Committee The following is a study conducted over the last several terms that evaluates the cost verses benefit of relocating the original Acadia National Park Headquarters (ANP) from Park Street to the College campus. The structure is located at the corner of Main and Park streets in Bar Harbor: the site of the proposed new YMCA projected to start constructed in 1995. The construction will require that the ANP building be either moved or razed. The ANP building, commissioned by George B. Dorr in 1914, is a rustic one-and-a-half story building qualifying for listing on the National Register of Historic Places. It has not been used as the park headquarters since 1968. For the past several years it has been used by the Bar Harbor Police Department for storage. Attached is a floor plan with rooms labeled where obvious uses could be determined i.e. kitchen, bedroom, bath, etc. East and west elevations, provided by photographs, are also included. In most cases the interior finishes are linoleum floors, acoustical ceilings, and sheet paneled walls. The exterior surface is painted, tarred paper skin with one-inch by three inch pine battens. In assessing the move, Bangor Hydro, Nynex, Coastal Cable, and Jordan Movers were contacted to determine costs involved from each business. Two alternate routes were chosen to establish the least possible cost. It was recommended by Mr. Jordan that the small addition on the north side of the building, rooms labeled 105 and 106 be removed to meet road width requirements. Route #1 would take the building east on Main Street to West Street. Left on West Street to State Route 3 and on to campus. Route #2 would move the building west on Main Street to Cromwell Harbor Road and a right on Cromwell, to Route 233, the building would turn left and enter Acadia National Park to West Street Extension. From West Street Extension the building will turn left on Highbrook Road across Route 3 to campus. Also considered in cost estimate work was the possibility of moving the building in two pieces. This would save the cost of Bangor Hydro and Nynex. However, the related costs of engineering, separation, reconnection, and the double move, as well as, the violation to the integrity of the building leads to a decision that the savings would be offset by the additional costs. 1 ACADIA NATIONAL PARK HEADQUARTER FLOOR PLAN 104 106 203 103 !C2 ICE 202 204 :01 20: FLOOR SECOND FLOOR: ROOM # PRESENT USE DIMENSIONS SQ.FT. 101 Livingroom 13'- - 6" X 19'- - 3" 260 102 Kitchen 12'-10" X 19'-10" 260' 103 Hallway 50' 104 Bedroom 8'- 8" X 10'- 7" 89' 105 Bedroom 11'- 4" X 7'- 9" 85' 106 Bathroom 5'- 0" X 9'- 3" 50' 201 Bedroom 12'- 2" X 16'- 3" 195' 202 Foyer 11' 6" X 11'- 0" 130' 203 Bedroom 12'. 2" X 10'- 4" 124' 204 Bathroom 6' - 5" X 6'- 1" 39 SOUTH ELEVATION 339 SOUTHEAST ELEVATION SOUTHWEST ELEVATION 10 COLLEGE OF THE ATLANTIC History of ANP Headquarters Building C OMMISSIONED IN 1914 by Most recently, the original head- ing to provide increased exhibit George Dorr, founder of Acadia quarters building was used as hous- space and reception for visiting National Park, and constructed in ing for park rangers and storage. school groups. The nine-month 1915, the Acadia National Park head- With the construction of the new construction project began shortly quarters building has been part of YMCA adjacent to the Lower Main after the 1998 Commencement Mount Desert Island's heritage and Street site in 1996, the building was ceremony, following a successful culture for 83 years. Located on given to College of the Atlantic to fundraising campaign to preserve Lower Main Street, the building was house the college's Natural History and expand a building of historic, used as park headquarters until a Museum. cultural and educational importance Visitor Center and larger headquar- ters were constructed in Hulls Cove In October 1996, the historic not only to the island's many residents but to visitors to Acadia to accommodate the growing building was moved to campus. A National Park. number of visitors and staff. new wing will be added to the build- ANNUAL REPORT 1997-98 11 2 STORY EXHIBIT EXHIBIT R COATS ENTRY R RECEPTION O O UP touch tank EXHIBIT STAFF EXHIBIT ELEV. MACH. MECHANICAL ELEV. written kenue CATWALK TO BELOW. MEETING RM bench. stor OFFICE OFFICE 2 PREP RAMPED PASSAGE STAFF OFFICE 3 BOOKS/STOR STORAGE ELEV. 12 COLLEGE OF THE ATLANTIC The Museum exemplifies the widely held belief among museum professionals that size is not a criterion for excellence in exhibition and programming. W HEN I ASSUMED the direc- least 37 graduates are currently torship of COA's Natural employed nationwide in either History Museum in 1993, I inherited museums or environmental/informal a museum that had benefitted education centers. immensely from the vision, leader- Educational programming has ship and financial support of dedi- been cardinal to the museum's cated trustees, faculty, staff, students mission ever since Whales-on- and friends of the college. Since its Wheels was originally conceived by inception, the museum has made great strides and is currently recog- Megan Pennock '84. Incidentally, Whales-on-Wheels continues to be nized as an important educational resource for the college as well as for the most requested program by regional and statewide communities. school and community groups each Indeed, the Natural History Museum year. Outreach programming now ciplinary themes central to human exemplifies the widely held belief encompasses after-school programs, ecology, but also that the museum among museum professionals that a museum-school partnership with outreach programs will provide an size is not a criterion for excellence island schools and the Abbe extended classroom for students in in exhibition and programming. Museum, and, of course, Summer the teacher education program. The The museum's popularity and Field Studies for Children. All of move into this new facility will mark success are testimonials to the excep- these initiatives serve the dual role of a new era for the museum on the eve tional quality of student-produced enhancing or complementing public of a new millennium and thus allow exhibits that continue to inform the education on the island and in the museum to reach its full poten- public and engage their emotional surrounding communities and of tial. faculties. The museum inspires many providing invaluable practical exper- Steve Ressell, Director COA students to pursue internships ience for COA students interested in The Natural History Museum either in our museum or in other education. museums, historical societies or When the Board of Trustees informal education centers. A approved construction for the new number of students use their intern- museum building, the museum ship and senior project as curricular received a resounding vote of confi- opportunities to focus extensively on dence from the college community - museum-related work. A recent a vote that ensures not only that survey by the college revealed that at future exhibits will embody interdis- ANNUAL REPORT 1997-98 13 Reproduced at the National Archives IVARA, CP RG79, NPS, CCF-1907-39. Box 4 , File 121, Pt I.Quarters. COPY s DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR NATIONAL PARK SERVICE WASHINGTON Sunday, Oct. 20th, 1918. Stephen T. Mather, Reg., National Parks Director, Washington, D. 0. My dear Mr. Mather: I have just received your telegram, which 1 answered by letter as it will reach you equally soon tomorrow and gives me opportunity 1 am glad to take to explain the matter fully. The park office in the case is the building where I took you to see King's photographs-- King was simply established there last year in order to keep the office open, for visitors, for giv- ing information, and for the distribution of maps, publications, etc., and to provide opportunity for the employment of a stonogra- pher. The arrangement was a temporary one, not intended to last longer than $111 funds for park expenses were available. 1e. It exists no longer, nor has it since that time. This site for an office was part of our original design for the park. Mr. John S. Kennedy of New York, who gave us the summit of Green Mountain. aided liberally in securing it and laying its surroundings out according to my plan, and his widow- now living-- completed the gift. To carry out the whole scheme cost, frankly, many thousand dollars and resulted in the creation of what is now the town's principal part as & frontage to it, with a view across it to the Monument; in the establishment by the town of a now road, Reproduced at the National Archives Park Road, for it to corner on with Main Street: and to the development by the town and V. 1. Association jointly of a path system starting from it and leading to the Monument, east and west. The town park has now been deeded to the town; the office site, to the Wild Gardens of Arcadia, for the intended purpose. The building,now in use since the establishment of the Monument, was carefully designed by an architest for the end in view; was built under his supervision by the best builder in the town and of the best material obtainable; and, with the necessary work involved on its founda- tions and the ground about 18, cost several thousand dollars. When this expense has been cleared away I hope to add it to our other gifts as park property. At the present time I cannot do this but meet, with others, bear for the Wild Gardens Association the interest charges, the taxes (30 d per 1000) and Insurance, in addition to the maintenance charges of light, heat, water, janitor service, and creditable care of grounds. The building is now devoted, as the intention has been from the start, wholly to the Park office use and is wholly needed for it, with one room for of- fice work and one for the reception of visitors, and a dark room for the development of park photographs, on the ground floori and two chambers, lavatory and bath room on the floor above, the arrangement being that one or the other of the rangers shall always be there evening and night within sound of the telephone and reach of the motor- for which a shed is also built upon the 10t- This is necessary because forest fires in Spring, Summer, and Ausumn times of drought break out, now here, now there, upon the mountain slopes and spread unless checked at once with a rapidity Reproduced at the National Archives that leads to great destruction and to great expense. I have spent many nights myself, first and last, in fighting them, and have seen a hundred mon called out to do it before they were got under. I have furnished the office and whole building at my own expense this Summer, thinking it simplest to rent # fully equipped, as it now is. And I have just made contract for a new heating plant required for com. fortable office occupation in our winter climate, where the thermoneter descends at times- as 10 did before 1 left last winter-- to 20° below more. The building Lies within the sone of all-the-year-round post-office and express delivery and fire-protection, and is now well known to all, both summer visitors and the Island people, as the National Park Office. And it 10 shown also on the V. 1. A. Hope, used by strangers. Yours sincerely, (Sgd. I George B. Dorr P. S. I have some to Princeton, to spend Sunday with Mr. Inc, just returned from Bar Harbor within a week: I return to New York SOMOFFOW, and then go on to Boston. G. 3. D. cap 1935 History of a Tract of Land When I laid out the Athletic Field as a gift to the Town and built Park Street through from Main Street to Ledgelawn Avenue, placing it to form a continuation west from Livingston Road, lots of varying depth were left upon its northern side. The corner lot, fronting upon Main Street, was reserved from the first for an office site in connection with the Public Reservations I was then already forming, with no thought of a Nation- al Park as yet in mind. The remainder of the land north of the new street I devoted, carrying out the thought that prompted the creation of the Athletic Field, to the establishment of three tennis courts, to be given, severally and jointly, to the Y.M.C.A. and the Y.W.C.A. corporations of Bar Harbor, who gladly accepted them. Two of these lay lengthwise along Park Street, westward from the site reserved for the intended Public Reservations office, carrying my gift to School Street opposite the whole breadth of the Athletic Field; a third lot lay north of the westernmost of these, with entrance from School Street. This last I gave to the 2. Y.W.C.A.; the one below it to the Y.M.C.A., and the third, continuing the last lot eastward along Park Road I arranged to be shared between the two organi- zations to make such common use of it as they could. These lots all were a hundred feet in length by fifty wide, and to save the Associations all expense in con- YNYYWCA nection with the gift I built the courts myself and enclosed them with the necessary high wire nets. Turned over to the Organizations in free gift, they were warmly welcomed and much used during the next two or three years. Then, not being in close connection with their respective buildings on Mount Desert Street, with their showers and lockers, they came to be neglected and the prey of the small boys in the neighborhood who found in the fencing that kept them out a defiance they delighted in. This could not continue. I realized my mistake in thinking they would be used and cared for at a distance from their home buildings and sought some practical way out of the difficulty. 3. Our Public Reservations were now on their way to become a National Park, capable of absorbing not the corner upon Main Street only but the entire southward- facing frontage opposite the Athletic Field. But to this a difficulty now presented itself; the lands for the tennis courts had been legally deeded to their respective Associations, and I did not feel I could ask them to return them to me for other use without providing them with courts they could use, and would, in connection with their buildings. In the case of the Y.M.C.A., opportunity existed in land they owned behind their building; in that of the Y.W.C.A. no such opportunity existed. But back of its building and in direct continuation of its grounds there was a lot not built upon, just large enough for a court and the space about it which it needed. This land, acquired for investment, was held for sale by its owner, an old-time resident of the Town, whose stated price for it was $1200, but who, on my approach- ing him and telling him of the use I desired it for, offered to contribute $100 off the price, making the price to me $1100, the lot being one hundred by fifty feet in extent. Anxious alike for the future Park and 4. the Y.W.C.A. in the good work for its members it was doing, I paid the owner's price and giving the land to the Y.W.C.A. got my land on Park Street back in full. Holding this land along with the rest until our Public Reservations had become a National Park and the Town had opened its roads to motor cars, I gave it to the Government for a much-needed garage and repair shop, with entrance upon School Street. The plan was good and the space abundant, as it seemed, for the Park's needs and I felt well satisfied when, the Government allott- ing funds for it, the building it provided for went up. So it continued for the next few years. Then, in 1935 1935, it became necessary for me to have an operation on my eyes for glaucoma, which, with the consultations involved, took me away to Boston during the spring and summer, and it was not till later, when I returned, that I discovered that our foreman-mechanic, an exceptionally competent and able man in his field, had, to meet the growing need, built on an addition to the Park garage, which, for want of other space, he built across the entrance onto School Street of the lot that I had given, 5. and extended yet further onto the land I had reserved next Park Street for what use I might need it for in the further development of the Park, thus shutting the Government out completely from entrance to its land from any public way except by courtesy, and it is by such courtesy only that it finds entrance now. [G.B.DORR] General Notes on Administrative Histories From the NPS Administrative History Guidelines What is an Administrative History? Unlike general histories of parks and their resources, National Park Service administrative histories are studies of how a park and its functions originated and how they have evolved. Though useful to a wide audience, primary users are NPS personnel interested in the history of their own unit. It relates the policies established by their predecessors and helps staff better understand contemporary issues and how management decisions have shaped them. An administrative history covers the movements leading to park establishment, legislative background, and the development of the policies that guide the management of the park. What is included in an Administrative History? Administrative histories cover the establishment of a park and trace how its management has evolved. They generally include the following components: A brief statement describing the park, its resources, purpose and significance. An account of area management before NPS acquisition, especially focusing on how that management affected subsequent NPS administration. A discussion of the movement to bring the area into the NPS system. Discussions of planning and development efforts under the NPS, focusing on the development of administrative and visitor services, resource management, interpretation, protection, and land use. These discussions should concentrate on area that have concerned park managers in the past and are still relevant to foreseeable management concerns. Appendices containing copies of key park legislation, management documents, visitation statistics, and other documents useful for management reference. Administrative histories should be comprehensive, but concise enough that the document will actually be read by its intended audience. The historian should distill what is important from the research data and present it with careful analysis, rather than merely providing detailed data. Administrative histories are planned in consultation with the NPS Bureau Historian, located in the office of the Chief Historian at the NPS Washington Support Office. A completed history should be reviewed by key park management staff and outside reviewers familiar with the park. Final approval of a Service- sponsored administrative history requires the signature of the regional director. Acadia National Park Administrative History Project In 2000, Acadia National Park secured funding to prepare an administrative history tracing the park's development over its 84 years. While there are numerous accounts of the history of Mount Desert Island, there are no histories that focus on the park's establishment and development. This project will result in a comprehensive history of management of the park and its predecessors by the National Park Service, and should be a useful tool in guiding future decisions that will affect the park. The park selected Richard Quin, historian at the National Capital Support Office, to prepare the administrative history. Formerly an historian with Historic American Engineering Record, Quin prepared comprehensive histories of the park's carriage roads and bridges in 1994. He returned to the park as an interpretive ranger in 1997. Before joining the Park Service in 1990, he worked nine years for the Tennessee Historical Commission. The administrative history, which should be published in book form and also available online, should be completed in draft form in the summer of 2001. Draft copies will be circulated for review to park staff, the NPS regional historian in the Northeast Regional Office, the NPS Olmsted Center for Landscape. Preservation, the Maine State Historic Preservation Office and the Maine State Museum. The revised edition will then be submitted to the regional director for approval. Sources Consulted National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, DC and College Park, Maryland Department of the Interior Library, Washington, DC Sources to be Consulted Acadia National Park archives NPS Region I holdings, in Federal Records Center, Waltham, MA NPS regional holdings, in Federal Records Center, Philadelphia, PA Olmsted Center for Landscape Preservation, Brookline, MA Rockefeller Archives Center, Pocantico Hills, NY [NPS historian Richard Quin, Nov 2000] Working Outline Acadia National Park Administrative History Introduction 1. Description 2. Statement of Significance Background History 1. Early history of Mount Desert Island 2. First preservation movement: Hancock County Trustees of Public Reservations Sieur de Monts National Monument - congressional record 1. Establishment of the monument 2. Facilities development 3. Administration of the monument 1. Monument administration 2. Lands issues 3. Resource management 4. Ranger services in Lafayette National Park congressman Dahliner Lafajette spensed park name wanted ruz suffragettes Mt Desort were NP, glenoustering but defected 1. Establishment of the park 2. Facilities Development 3. Administration 1. Central administration 2. Lands issues 3. Resource management 4. Interpretation 5. Ranger services 6. Concessions policies 7, Maintuare Acadia National Park 1. Park renamed; new legislative authority 2. Facilities development-Maintenarce - 3. Administration 1. Park administation 2. Lands issues 1. Isle au Haut 2. Schoodic 3. Green Lake 3. Resource Management 4. Interpretation 5. Ranger services 6. Concessions A New Deal for Acadia National Park 1. Overview of public works programs 2. Public works programs in the park 1. Public Works Administration 2. Civil Works Administration 3. Public Roads Administration 4. Emergency Relief Administration 5. Emergency Conservation Works ("CCC") 3. Westward Expansion 1. Resettlement Administration 2. Recreational Development Area program 4. Analysis of New Deal projects at Acadia Acadia at War 1. Preparations for war 2. Defense installations and use of park 3. Postwar conversion 1947 Fire 1. General discussion 2. Rehabilitation efforts Mission 66 1. Program overview 2. Facilities development 3. Administrative changes Acadia in the late 20th Century 1. Administration 1. Park administration 1. Central administration 2. Lands issues 1. Acquisitions 2. Authorized area 3. Easements program 3. Resource Management 4. Interpretation 5. Ranger services 6. Concessions 2. Facilities development 2. Contemporary management issues and concerns Conclusion Appendices Cooperative u/commun trus veter ools [R Quin] Draft CULTURAL LAND USE SURVEY OF ACADIA NATIONAL PARK By Stephen J. Hornsby, Kimberly R. Sebold, Peter Morrison. David Sanger, and Alaric Faulkner University of Maine Prepared for the National Park Service 1999