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Year Inducted: 2009
Home State: PA, MN, NM
Mary Jane Colter, (1869-1958) one of the few female architects of her era, has eleven buildings on the National Register of Historic Places and five of these buildings have been designated National Historic Landmarks. Known for creating structures that were in harmony with the natural environment, she developed a style now referred to as “National Park Service Rustic,” which does not interfere with, or interrupt the natural scene.
In her teenage years, after the passing of her father, she went to design school in San Francisco. Upon graduation, she began a fifteen year career as an art teacher at Mechanic Arts High School in Minnesota. In the summer of 1902, after expressing an interest in working for the Harvey Company (of the famous Harvey Houses) she was contacted to work as decorator for her first Harvey Company project. This began her long association with the company as designer and architect. For the next four decades, working in often rugged conditions, Colter completed more than 20 projects for Fred Harvey including a series of landmark hotels and commercial lodges throughout the southwest.
