page_title: Longmire, Washington
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Longmire, Washington / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Longmire Administration Building (Longmire, WA)
context_page_description: Longmire, which is effectively encompassed by the Longmire Historic District, is a visitor services center in Washington State's Mount Rainier National Park, located 6.5 miles east of the Nisqually Entrance. The area is in the Nisqually River valley at an elevation of 2,761 feet between The Ramparts Ridge and the Tatoosh Range. Longmire is surrounded by old-growth douglas fir, western red cedar and western hemlock.
context_section_description: In 1883 James Longmire built a trail from Succotash Valley in Ashford 13 miles (21 km) to the hot springs where he built cabins in the area which now bears his name. John Muir described staying there on the way to his ascent of Mount Rainier in 1888. The oldest surviving structure in the National Park is a cabin built by Longmire's son Elcaine Longmire at the springs in 1888. It is located north of the road in the area now called Longmire Meadows.
  From 1899 to 1904 approximately 500 people a year visited Longmire Springs in the summer months. They reached the area by train to Ashford and then on Longmire's wagon trail. They enjoyed the mineral springs and the view of Mount Rainier. They could also hike to Paradise or Indian Henry's Hunting Grounds, both about 6 miles (10 km) from Longmire Springs on trails built by the Longmire family.
  In 1890, Longmire built a five-room hotel, which was later expanded. By 1906, the Longmire's hotel with assorted tents and cabins totaled 30 rooms.  In that year, the Tacoma and Eastern Railroad built the original National Park Inn at Longmire, a three-story building with accommodation for 60 guests. Having a competitor establish in the Longmire area  soured relations between the National Park and the Longmire family. There followed some legal disputes between the Longmires and park officials including the opening of a saloon by Robert Longmire (James' son) and its subsequent closure by Acting Superintendent Grenville F. Allen who thought it a "public nuisance".
  Constructed in an early rustic style, a Hiker's Center was built in 1911 by the Tacoma and Eastern Railroad. It is now the Longmire general store.
  The Longmires wearied of park pressures to improve their facilities, and after Elcaine's death in 1915, they leased their property to the newly formed Longmire Springs Hotel Company in 1916.  The new operators promptly built an additional hotel structure along with 16 wood-frame cabins.  Although the property was cleaned up and improved, operating as "The New Longmire Springs Hotel", it still did not meet the quality level of the National Park Inn across the road.
  Steven T. Mather, the first director of the National Park Service developed a policy which favored regulated monopolies over competing concessioners in the National Parks. Over a number of years the National Park Service worked to make the Rainier National Park Company the only concessionaire in the park. This was completed in 1919 when the Rainier National Park Company purchased the Longmire family buildings and a 20-year lease on the Longmire's private inholding for $12,000 in a three-way deal which included J.B. Ternes and E.C. Cornell, owners of the Longmire Springs Hotel Company. They eventually bought the Longmire family property, after the lease expired in 1939.
  Rainier National Park Company moved the 1916 Longmire Springs Hotel structure next to the National Park Inn in 1920. Smaller than the existing inn, it became known as the National Park Inn Annex. A ​2 ¹⁄₂-story building with plain exteriors, it contained seventeen guest rooms. The Rainier National Park Company also demolished the original 1890 Longmire Springs Hotel and utility buildings in the area to "improve the appearance" of the area.
  Once the road to Paradise and the Paradise Inn opened, visitors to the park preferred to stay at Paradise, making the Longmire hotel and annex unprofitable. The Rainier National Park Company intended to promote the area by advertising the medicinal qualities of the spring water. However, the Bureau of Chemistry's Hygienic Lab in Washington, D.C. tested the waters and concluded that they didn't have any medicinal value. The National Park Service prohibited the Rainier National Park Company from making false claims about the waters. The springs were never redeveloped.
  In the 1910s, as the number of visitors to the park increased, the Park Service moved the administration center from the Nisqually area to Longmire. The community kitchen was built in 1916 and is now the library. The park's first administration building was built in
caption: Mount Rainier Administrative Building, Longmire
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