Nestled midway to the summit of Mt. Hood is Timberline Lodge, a National Historic Landmark and masterpiece of mountain lodges. Constructed of mammoth timbers and native stone in 1937, Timberline Lodge stands today as a tribute to the rugged spirit of the Pacific Northwest.

On June 14, 1936, at the brutal height of the Great Depression, ground was broken for a project unique in America. Timberline Lodge was built entirely by hand, inside and out, by unemployed craftspeople hired by the Federal Works Progress Administration. The building is a tribute to their skills and a monument to a government which responded not only to the physical needs of its people in a desperate time, but also to the needs of their spirits.

While the WPA provided funds and labor, the U.S. Forest Service and a private architectural consultant were responsible for design and engineering. The architects planned that the project would utilize the talents of local artists and craftsmen, working with materials of the area to express the spirit of the mountain.

Architects provided for even the tiniest decorative detail, using three themes to illustrate regional heritage: hand-hewn timbers and hand-crafted furnishings to pay tribute to early pioneers, carved wood and wrought iron designs to capture the Indian spirit, and carvings of animals and paintings of wildflowers to represent wildlife native to Mt. Hood.

A broad sloping roof rising up to a central point was designed to harmonize with the shape of the mountain and its ridges. Stone buttressed walls and massive timbers were planned to withstand heavy alpine winds and deeps snows. Blueprints included huge observation windows to bring the mountain and surrounding valleys "into" the lodge.