Like many other western national parks, railroad companies would play a key role in the growth and popularization of Bryce Canyon. Here and at other southwestern parks, the Union Pacific Railroad and their subsidiary the Utah Parks Company (UPC) would provide first-class train and bus transportation, lodging, tours, and other early park infrastructure. Between 1925 and 1929, the Bryce Canyon Lodge, 15 deluxe, and 67 standard cabins were built in the National Park Service rustic style. In 1987, the lodge and deluxe cabin area became a historic district and a National Historic Landmark.

The Utah Parks Company at Bryce Canyon

The Utah Parks Company (UPC) was a subsidiary of Union Pacific Railroad, which owned and operated restaurants, lodging, and bus tours in Bryce Canyon and Zion National Parks, the north rim of Grand Canyon National Park, and Cedar Breaks National Monument from the 1920s until 1972. Before Bryce Canyon became a national park, the Union Pacific Railroad had conceived these parks and monuments as forming a "Grand Circle", which would ultimately be visited first by arrival at a rail depot in Lund, Utah (near present day Cedar City) and then by bus to the UPC-owned El Escalante hotel in Cedar City, and then to the parks themselves. To accomodate these visitors, the Utah Parks Company financed the construction of the Bryce Canyon Lodge, numerous cabins and other less permanent accomodations, the General Store, and later the Historic Service Station. After the establishment of Bryce Canyon National Park in 1928, UPC would serve as the park's sole concessionaire until competition from private motor vehicles and other operating costs would lead to their liquidiation and donation of all assets within the park to the National Park Service in 1972.

Read more about the Bryce Canyon Lodge and Deluxe Cabins Cultural Landscape