This week the National Park Service will celebrate its 106th birthday as well as the passage of the Historic Sites Act of 1935. This act created the National Historic Landmarks program that has led to over 2,600 landmark designations nationwide, 200 of which are within National Park units. One such landmark is the Quarry Exhibit Hall within Dinosaur National Monument and so naturally the Monument is celebrating. “The Quarry Exhibit Hall was built in 1958 to protect the world-famous wall of dinosaur bones from the elements and to add to visitors’ experiences with exhibits, a bookstore, and a paleontology lab,” shares the announcement. “It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1986, even though it was less than 50 years old at the time. The justification for that was that the Quarry Exhibit Hall was so distinctive and unusual that it merited listing. This was a unique premise- they brought the building to the exhibit rather than bringing the exhibit to the building!”
