The original 80 acres (32 ha) plot was first known as the Baker Administrative Site, becoming a year-round ranger station in 1918 for the Baker Ranger District of Nevada National Forest.

[2] The ranger station includes four wood-frame buildings dating to the 1930s as well as a variety of more recent structures.

The first Baker Ranger Station was built in 1911, amounting to four rooms and regarded as unsightly.

The buildings were built by men on the local relief rolls.

Other infrastructure items at the compound were built by Civilian Conservation Corps labor.