Preliminary design was carried out in the Park Service's Western Office of Design and Construction, primarily by WODC architect Cecil J. Doty, with assistance from Milton Swatek and Ed Dottery. The preliminary design set forth the Park Service's design intent for size, arrangement and general architectural character. The WODC design was sent to the Kalispell architecture-engineering firm of Brinkman and Lenon, where Burt L. Gewalt was assigned the task of developing detailed design documents. Gewalt made detail changes, increasing the size of the chimney and using stone-embedded concrete, a construction method originally developed by
Frank Lloyd Wright. The construction contract was awarded to the Hefte Construction Company of
Spokane, Washington in June 1963 for a contract cost of about $136,600. A separate contract was awarded for water and sewer utility work, for $61,319. Work began in July 1963 and stopped in late October for the winter. It resumed in July 1964, running through October, and again in 1965. The visitor center was completed on August 27, 1966. A separate contract for parking lot and site improvements was completed on September 12, 1966 at a cost of $168,176. Gewalt was the supervising architect through construction. ==Historic designation==