The visitor center was built in part to attract visitors to the little-visited monument, which had been threatened with flooding by the
Echo Park Dam, as a means of guarding against renewed reservoir proposals. The visitor center's concept was first expressed in 1916 when
George Otis Smith, the director of the
U.S. Geological Survey, suggested that the specimens be displayed in the northern canyon wall. Local citizens, including the dinosaur quarry's discoverer Earl Douglass, proposed a skylit shelter for the display. A temporary shelter for the bones and their excavators was finally built in 1936. A preliminary design in January 1937 was produced by a group including the Park Service Western Office of Design and Construction, the
American Museum of Natural History and the directorate of the Park Service that closely resembled the eventual design by
Anshen & Allen Associates. A number of succeeding designs followed, becoming more elaborate and departing from this concept. No funding emerged for the design, but a new wood and corrugated sheet metal shelter was built in 1951, reminiscent of the 1916 proposal. The visitor center was completed in 1958, and the following engineers and contractor realized the final architectural design: Robert D. Dewell, Structural Engineer; Earl & Gropp, Mechanical and Electrical Engineers; R. K. McCullough Construction Co., General Contractors. The Quarry Visitor Center was declared a
National Historic Landmark in 2001. ==See also==