page_title: Mission 66
section_title: Extant
hierarchical_section_title: Mission 66 / Preservation and controversy / Extant
caption_attribution_description: English: The Clingman's Dome Observation Tower rises 50 feet (15&#160;m) from the summit of Clingman's Dome, the highest point both in the state of Tennessee and along the Appalachian Trail, in Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
context_page_description: Mission 66 was a United States National Park Service ten-year program that was intended to dramatically expand Park Service visitor services by 1966, in time for the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the Park Service.
  When the National Park Service was created in 1916, long-distance travel in North America was typically accomplished by train. There was no national road system, and airline travel was in its infancy. Railroads were closely involved in the development of visitor services at such parks as Grand Canyon National Park, Glacier National Park and Yellowstone National Park, and in many cases the railroads built and operated park visitor facilities.
  With the development of the US highway system as a public works project during the Great Depression, many previously remote parks became accessible via good roads and inexpensive automobiles. The explosion in prosperity following World War II brought a tide of automobile-borne tourists that the parks were ill-equipped to receive. By the mid-1950s it was apparent that massive investment in park infrastructure was required.
context_section_description: Everglades National Park Shark Valley Observation Tower
  Everglades National Park Flamingo Visitor Center
  Grand Teton National Park
  Badlands National Park Visitor Center, Cecil Doty and Lucas, Craig, Whitwam (Rapid City), 1957-1958
  Colter Bay visitor center, Malone & Hooper, San Francisco and the Western Office of Design and Construction, 1956-1957
  Jackson Lake Lodge, Gilbert Stanley Underwood, 1955
  Moose visitor center, Spencer, Ambrose and Lee, San Francisco and the Western Office of Design and Construction, 1957-1958, now functioning as the park administration building since its replacement with a new visitor center.
  Great Smoky Mountains National Park
  Sugarlands visitor center, Eastern Office of Design and Construction, 1957-1958
  Clingman's Dome observation tower
  Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument visitor center, Max R. Garcia, San Francisco, 1964–1965
  Mesa Verde National Park Far View visitor center, WODC, Joseph & Louise Marlowe, Denver, 1964-1968.
  Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site Visitor Center, Maintenance Building, Housing.  Eastern Office of Design and Construction, 1957-1958.
  Chickasaw National Recreation Area Travertine Nature Center.  MacKie and Kamrath (Houston), 1969.
  Petrified Forest National Park, Painted Desert Community Complex, Neutra and Alexander, Los Angeles, 1959-1963
  Rocky Mountain National Park, Beaver Meadows Visitor Center/Headquarters, Taliesin Associated Architects, 1967, (National Historic Landmark)
  Wright Brothers National Memorial, visitor center, Mitchell/Giurgola, 1957-1959 (National Historic Landmark)
  Zion National Park, Oak Creek visitor center, WODC, Cecil Doty, Cannon and Mullen, Salt Lake City, 1957-1961
caption: Clingman's Dome observation tower
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