Zion National Park • Through two world wars, 16 presidents, and a devastating fire that nearly erased it from the map, Zion Lodge has remained the rustic heart of Utah’s canyon country.

On Friday, a crowd of dignitaries — led by U.S. Sen. John Curtis — gathered in Zion National Park’s historic lodge to kick off a centennial celebration for the edifice that has helped define southern Utah’s national park experience for 100 years. They also unveiled a new painting to commemorate the occasion.

Giving a nod to the building’s storied past, Zion Superintendent Jeff Bradybaugh said inroads made in transportation paved the way for increased visitation to Zion and created a need for lodging and other amenities.

“People needed places to stay, they needed lodging, they needed food service, all those sorts of things,” Bradybaugh said.

History and healing

In the early 20th century, according to Bradybaugh and the park’s website, railroad companies — notably the Union Pacific through its subsidiary, the Utah Parks Company — were the primary architects of park tourism. Following the arrival of a spur line in Cedar City in 1923, the railroad giant focused on establishing high-quality lodging within Zion National Park.

Bradybaugh said architect Gilbert Stanley Underwood designed the Zion Lodge to harmonize with the narrow canyon floor. Constructed when Calvin Coolidge was president, the lodge was built with timber lowered by the Cable Mountain Draw Works and the inviting main lodge opened in May 1925, with guest cabins following shortly thereafter.

Though the original structure was ravaged by a fire on January 26, 1966, that burned down the original lodge and spared only its stone pillars, Bradybaugh said, the local business community teamed up with the Utah Parks Company to build and open a prefabricated replacement in just 108 days, cementing the lodge’s enduring role in the park’s history.

While the 1966 replacement was built for speed, a 1990 renovation restored the lodge to Underwood’s original design known as National Park Service Rustic, a style intended to make buildings blend in rather than stick out from the natural landscape.

For his part, Curtis focused on the restorative nature of the park and lodge, saying the millions of visitors who flock to Zion each year experience the healing balm of nature.

“I know when I come here and am lucky enough to get a permit to go [hike] Angels Landing, I’m healed,” he said. “I am a better person when I leave here. I wish we could bottle that and just sell it in stores, but you can’t. You have to be here and experience this.”

Sacred temples and a stately tree

The painting unveiled Friday, titled “Stay in Awe,” was created by Allen Brockbank, an acclaimed landscape artist and member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Brockbank said he likens the Temple of Sinawava, West Temple and other Zion landmarks—named after temples—to those built by Utah’s predominant faith.

[Temples] “are where the divine is evident and where there is a special spirit …,” he said. “This canyon is one of those places.”

In painting the lodge amid the grandeur of the towering red cliffs, Brockbank said he made the oversized cottonwood tree on the lawn fronting the lodge a focal point of his canvas, noting the tree was aging and might not last much longer.

“It is like this old grandpa sitting out on the front lawn where people come to sit underneath the tree in the shade during the hot summer months,” Brockbank said. “It’s a gathering point … and a warm, friendly, wonderful presence here at the lodge.”

Springdale Mayor Barbara Bruno, whose town serves as the gateway to Zion, laments the possible loss of the cottonwood. “My grandkids grew up here and spent a lot of time running around and under that tree,” she said.

POWDR, the company that operates the park’s lodge and other concessions, donated the money for the painting, according to Bradybaugh.

Zion attracts roughly 5 million visitors per year, making it the second most visited park in the nation.