{"nrhp_refnum":"78000358","name":"Merced Grove Ranger Station","other_names":["Building 6200"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"N of El Portal in Yosemite National Park","address_restricted":false,"city":"El Portal","county":"Mariposa County","state":"CA","lat":37.74876462900005,"lon":-119.84027861699997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1978-06-15","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A small log cabin ranger station (Building 6200), roughly 24 by 28 feet, beside an old dirt road through the Merced Grove of Giant Sequoias in Yosemite National Park, north of El Portal, Mariposa County, California. The National Park Service built it from 1933 to 1935.","why_significant":"The nomination argues local significance in architecture for its unusual variation of NPS rustic design, a stylized version of pioneer log cabins meant to blend with the natural scene. Its logs have battered, inward-sloping ends and are adzed into curved troughs so they seat tightly without chinking. It also served for many years as a summer retreat for Yosemite superintendents.","narrative":"Set beside an old dirt road in the Merced Grove of Giant Sequoias in Yosemite National Park, this log cabin is a ranger station known as Building 6200. The National Park Service began building it in 1933, and it was finished in July 1935. It measures about 24 by 28 feet and has a living room, kitchen, one bedroom, bath and two porches, with a stone foundation and chimney and a shingled gable roof. Its peeled logs have sawn ends that taper inward as they rise. Each log is adzed on its underside into a curved trough that fits over the log below, so the walls need no chinking. The design is described as a stylized version of pioneer foothill cabins, shaped to blend with the landscape, and it differs from other rustic buildings in the Yosemite area. For many years Yosemite superintendents used it as a quiet summer retreat for paperwork, and Superintendent Carl Russell is believed to have worked on a history of the park there.","period_of_significance":"1934 - present","architect_builder":"National Park Service","architectural_style":"Rustic (NPS rustic design)","criteria":[],"status_note":"Described as publicly owned, occupied, and used as a park museum with restricted access to the exterior only; the back door is damaged, apparently chewed by an animal, and the logs retain almost no protective stain.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:31.444474-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_CA/78000358.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/78000358/9c4b63db15-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/78000358/9c4b63db15-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Grogan, Brian, creator","credit_html":"Grogan, Brian, creator, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:MERCED_GROVE_RANGER_STATION_ON_COULTERVILLE_ROAD._LOOKING_W._GIS-_NO_READING_AVAILABLE_-_Coulterville_Road,_Between_Foresta_and_All-Weather_Highway,_Yosemite_Village,_Mariposa_HAER_CAL,22-YOSEM,28-3.tif"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/123859768","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merced_Grove_Ranger_Station","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6818070"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/california/mariposa-county/merced-grove-ranger-station-78000358/"}