
Norris Geyser Basin Museum
About Norris Geyser Basin Museum
Situated on the ridge overlooking the Norris Geyser Basin, this historic building is staffed during the summer with rangers who provide park information and facilitate ranger programs. Visitors have been seeking information here since 1930 when the museum was built as a "trailside museum" to serve people traveling in their own automobiles without a guide. Restrooms are located in the parking lot.
Park Passport stamps are available here.
Adapted from National Park Service.
The Norris Geyser Basin Museum, also known as Norris Museum, is one of a series of "trailside museums" in Yellowstone National Park designed by architect Herbert Maier in a style that has become known as National Park Service Rustic. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and is one of three parts of a National Historic Landmark, the Norris, Madison, and Fishing Bridge Museums, which were funded by Laura Spelman Rockefeller's grant of $118,000. Built 1929 - 1930, the Norris Museum is sited on a hill between the Porcelain Basin and the Back Basin of Norris Geyser Basin. Its central breezeway frames a view of the Porcelain Basin for arriving visitors.
The 94-foot (29 m) by 20-foot (6.1 m) museum consists of two rectangular sections divided by the breezeway, which is roofed by a prominent jerkinhead gable., framed in massive logs. The pavilions to either side are of shingle-coveredframe construction on a massive stone base. A stone and concrete terrace surrounds the building.
A nearby comfort station is included in the National Register nomination. It was probably built in the 1930s. With the construction of modern restroom facilities the one story log structure is now used as a bookstore operated by the Yellowstone Association.
The museum exhibits focus on geothermal geology, features of Norris Geyser and plant and animal life in thermal areas.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Founded
- 1929
- Architect
- Herbert Maier
Photos of Norris Geyser Basin Museum
01Park CountyMagicpiano · CC BY-SA 4.0
02Inside Norris Geyser Basin MuseumAcroterion · CC BY-SA 4.0
03Norris Museum interiorAcroterion · CC BY-SA 4.0
04Norris MuseumYellowstone National Park from Yellowstone NP, USA · Public domain
05YellowstoneNP NorrisMuseumBackMagicpiano · CC BY-SA 4.0
06YellowstoneNP NorrisBookstoreMagicpiano · CC BY-SA 4.0
Shared by photographers under free licenses on Wikimedia Commons. Tap a photo to see it full size there.
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Nearby museums
Make a day of it. 4 more museums are within 17 miles of Norris Geyser Basin Museum; the closest, Museum of the National Park Ranger, is about a mile away.



