Baker Highway Maintenance Station Explained

Baker Highway Maintenance Station
Coordinates:38.3299°N -119.756°W
Built:1931
Builder:California Dept. of Public Works; Div. of Highways
Architecture:Bungalow/craftsman, Wooden cabin
Added:September 2, 2004
Area:5.8acres
Refnum:04000928

The Baker Highway Maintenance Station, in Tuolumne County, California near Strawberry, California, was built in 1931. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2004. The listing included 11 contributing buildings and a contributing object on 5.8acres.

It is located at 33950 California State Route 108.

It is a remote compound that housed workers and machinery who maintained the high elevation portion of the trans-Sierra, Sonora-Mono Highway, west of the Sierra Nevada crest. According to its National Register nomination, "Baker's place in the history of the development of California's highway and highway maintenance system is evidenced in three major ways: Its remote, montane, forested setting, adjacent to the highway it served; in its simple, basic materials of wood and corrugated metal; and in its site design and underlying social geography that separated work and residential areas and distanced the superintendent's from the other residential buildings."

Architect: California Department of Public Works; California Division of HighwaysArchitecture: Bungalow/craftsman, Wooden cabin

It may also have been referred to as the Baker Station Historic District, and it has designations CA-Tou-55-0016H; P-55-006760; and FS 05-16-53-0571.[1]

The station is now used as the High Sierra Institute of Columbia College?[2]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: [{{NRHP url|id=04000928}} National Register of Historic Places Registration: Baker Highway Maintenance Station / Baker Station Historic District. CA-Tuo-55-0016H; P-55-006760; FS 05-16-53-0571 ]. National Park Service. Pamela A. Conners . September 2003 . November 12, 2019. With
  2. Web site: High Sierra Institute. Columbia College.