| Unity Ranger Station | |
| Nrhp Type: | hd |
| Nocat: | yes |
| Location: | Wallowa-Whitman National Forest |
| Nearest City: | Unity, Oregon, USA |
| Coordinates: | 44.4354°N -118.1874°W |
| Built: | 1936– |
| Architect: | U.S. Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Regional Architecture Group |
| Architecture: | Cascadian rustic |
| Added: | 1986 |
| Refnum: | 86000823 |
The Unity Ranger Station is a United States Forest Service compound consisting of five buildings and a lookout tower in the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest of northeastern Oregon. It was previously the administrative headquarters for the Unity Ranger District. It is located in the small unincorporated community of Unity, Oregon. The historic structures were built in the rustic style by the Civilian Conservation Corps between 1936 and 1938. Today, the ranger station is only used during the summer months to house Forest Service fire crews. The ranger station is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
In the early 20th century, the forest road networks were not well developed. To facilitate work in National Forests, the Forest Service built district ranger stations at strategic locations within the forest to house full-time employees and provide logistics support to fire patrols and project crews working in remote areas of the forest. After World War II, the Forest Service greatly expanded its road network, allowing employees to get to most forest areas within a few hours. As a result, many of the more isolated ranger stations were closed or converted to summer guard stations.[1]
The Whitman National Forest was established in 1908. The Unity Ranger District was an administrative subdivision of the Whitman National Forest, with responsibility for 194000acres of forest land in the Blue Mountains of northeastern Oregon. After the Forest Service reorganization in 1954, the Unity Ranger District became part of the much larger Wallowa-Whitman National Forest.[2] [3]
The Civilian Conservation Corps began doing construction work at the ranger station in 1936. Between 1936 and 1938, Civilian Conservation Corps crews built a number of ranger station buildings. The construction crews worked under the supervision of Forest Service rangers. All of the buildings constructed during that period were designed by the Forest Service's Pacific Northwest Regional Architecture Group, and were built in the Cascadian rustic style.[4] [5]
In 1953, two buildings were moved to the ranger station from the John Day Experiment Station, a Forest Service research site on the Blue Mountains. This gave the ranger station a second ranger residence and a bunkhouse. Both of the buildings were constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps under the supervision of Forest Service rangers at about the same time as the original ranger station structures. The two experiment station buildings have the same architectural characteristics as the original ranger station structures and were built using the same materials and methods.[4]
The Unity Ranger Station served as a district headquarters until 2002, when the Unity district and two other ranger districts were merged and the headquarters was moved to Baker City, Oregon. However, a full-time visitor center remained open at the site until 2009. Today, the Unity Ranger Station is only open during the summer months, when the facilities are used to house Forest Service fire fighters.[6] [7] [8]
There are six historically important structures that make up the ranger station complex. The historic buildings are all in excellent condition and are still used by Forest Service employees during the summer fire season. Because the Unity Ranger Station is of unique historic value as an early Forest Service ranger station, the compound was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on 11 April 1986. All of the historic buildings are located in close proximity to one another so the historic district covers just 1acres.[4] [5] [9]
With six historic structures, the Unity Ranger Station is a classic Forest Service range station. All of the historic buildings were built by the Civilian Conservation Corps between 1936 and 1938. Their work included two ranger residences, a bunkhouse, an equipment warehouse, a garage, and a fire lookout tower. The buildings were constructed in the Cascadian rustic architectural style using a wood-frame structure on a concrete foundation with clapboard, wood shingles, native lava stone, and concrete as the principal building materials. Many of the gables and shutters have the "open pine tree" logo common to Forest Service structures built during the 1930s.[4]
The Unity Ranger Station is located in the small unincorporated community of Unity, Oregon. Unity is in southwestern corner of Baker County, Oregon surrounded by the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest. Today, the historic ranger station is part of the Whitman Ranger District. The area of the Whitman Ranger District that used to be administered from the Unity Ranger Station is the southern part of the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest. The elevation at the ranger station is 4038feet above sea level. The forest around the ranger station is dominated by large stands of Ponderosa pine.[2]
Unity is 48miles southwest of Baker City on Oregon Route 245. John Day, Oregon, is 49miles west of Unity on U.S. Highway 26. Vale, Oregon, is 65miles southeast of Unity on U.S. 26. The historic Unity Ranger Station compound is on the south side of Main Street (U.S. 26) near the center of the Unity town site.[2]