| Additional Information: | A 'site file' exists for this property. It contains additional information such as correspondence, newspaper clippings, or historical information. It is a public record and may be viewed in person at the Wisconsin Historical Society, State Historic Preservation Office.
This one and a half-story astylistic utilitarian ranger station features a rectangular shaped plan configuration, a concrete foundation, a stone exterior, a wood trim, and an asphalt shingled gable roof. Three dormers, a five-stall attached garage and living quarters are also part of the architectural design.
Other structures related to the station include a garage and a sign post. (See Map Codes 7/20, 7/21). The garage is a separate record (See AHI Record #0074280).
2024 - The Pray Ranger Station, located at W3280 Old Highway 54, is a two-story, front gable building constructed in 1937 in the Rustic style by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). Due to unsuitable soil, many of the farms in northern and western Wisconsin were abandoned in the first decades of the twentieth century. With this vacated land, the state of Wisconsin initiated extensive conservation and reforestation initiatives. In 1933, the Jackson County Board of Supervisors set aside 36,792 acres of land as the Jackson County Forest. In the following years, the CCC established three large camps in central Wisconsin to work on conservation projects. One of these camps was constructed near Pray, Wisconsin, and housed over 200 workers. The Pray Ranger Station was constructed in 1937 as a permanent addition to this camp. The three camps were responsible for building 35 bridges, 15 dams, and over 100 miles of fire access roads. Camp workers also planted nearly three million trees and fought numerous forest fires. By 1942, the Jackson County Forest had grown to include over 100,000 acres. In 1943, the camp surrounding the ranger station was disbanded, but the station remained, serving rangers for several decades after. In the late 1990s, the station was purchased and renovated for its new owners to use as a house. There are nine other extant ranger stations in Wisconsin, built in the same design as the Pray Ranger Station; however, the Pray Ranger Station is the only remaining one in Jackson County.
Set on a cut stone foundation, the building is capped with a front gable, metal roof with three prominent front gable dormers along the south elevation. There is an internal block chimney. The exterior of the ranger station is cut stone masonry. The windows are three-over-one, double-hung wood with stone lintels and sills. The south elevation—which faces the old highway and a large driveway that is parallel to the building—has a set of five overhead garage doors in a row along the first floor. The western garage door on this elevation is wood; the others are replacement doors. The ranger station’s main entry is at the eastern end of the first floor on this elevation. That entry has a concrete stoop, a front-gable hood, and a wood door with a single light set behind a metal security door. To the east of the main entry is a pair of windows. The second floor has three dormers symmetrically spaced on the south elevation. The central dormer is smaller than the others, with just a single window, while the eastern and western ones have two windows spaced apart. The west elevation has two identical windows on the first floor and two on the second floor. The east elevation has a central door with a concrete stoop on the first floor as well as a gable front wooden door hood, topped with metal roofing. There are a pair of windows on both sides of the doorway. Above, the second floor has a pair of windows spaced equally apart.
Other buildings on site include a side gable, frame garage with a metal roof and a concrete foundation. The garage has its own WHPD number (AHI# 74280) separate from the ranger station; however, it is associated as an outbuilding to this ranger station. The garage’s south elevation has metal panels and three non-historic overhead doors. The east and west elevations are clad with asbestos shingle siding. These facades also have two small, fixed wood windows with six lights. There is a single vent in each gable end. There is also a metal prefabricated shed to the southwest and a prefabricated metal carport to the east of the ranger station.
The Pray Ranger Station is associated with the CCC’s work in central Wisconsin, which was focused on forestry during the 1930s and early 1940s. The station is an intact example of a Rustic style ranger station built by the CCC; in addition to being the only remaining building at the CCC camp at Pray, the station is also the only remaining example of a CCC ranger station in Jackson County. The period of significance is roughly 1937 to 1943.
1982: Divested from WisDNR ownership |
|---|
