Puebloan peoples built pit houses and a ceremonial kiva in the area around AD 1050, and likely survived by hunting and growing corn, beans, and squash.

The earliest recorded visit by European Americans took place in 1869, when John Wesley Powell and his company camped on the beach at the confluence of Bright Angel Creek and the Colorado River.

Woolley hired his son-in-law David Rust to improve an ancient Native American route that Matthes had used to travel down Bright Angel Creek to the Colorado River.

[5] Rust planted native willows and cottonwoods to give the camp shade, grew alfalfa (for livestock), peaches, and plums, and raised chickens and rabbits as food for guests.

Rust's concession for the camp was transferred to the Fred Harvey Company, which hired American architect Mary Colter to design permanent lodging for the site.

Colter's solution was to create buildings from on-site rock and rough-hewn wood, in an architectural style that would come to be known as National Park Service Rustic.

[6] During the Great Depression the Civilian Conservation Corps made a number of upgrades to the Ranch, including a mule corral, the Trans-Canyon Telephone Line, improved plumbing and sewage systems, and a 35' x 70' pond-shaped swimming pool, fed by the waters of Bright Angel Creek.

[10] The 1930s saw the Ranch's popularity continue to grow, its isolation and relaxed atmosphere drawing many wealthy and notable guests, some of whom would stay for days or even weeks at a time.

The writer Adrian Harbin, after a 1937 visit, wrote: Through the end of World War II mule riding was the main method of getting around in Grand Canyon and the most popular way for tourists to experience the views that only traveling below the rims could bring.

[12] Well into the 1950s commercial mule trips from both the south and north rims were responsible for transporting about 2/3 of the guests that stayed at Phantom Ranch, with hikers taking any remaining space (mostly in the four tent cabins from 1925) on a first-come, first-serve basis.

In 1966 an immense flash flood swept through the inner canyon, stranding visitors and mules at the Ranch and damaging or destroying numerous buildings and structures in the area.

[19] Additional facilities include the mule corral, a small amphitheater, employee housing, a ranger station (with limited emergency medical services), and a heliport.

[20] Phantom Ranch has no official mail service (unlike Supai, Arizona[21]), but concessionaires have traditionally transported letters and postcards by mule.

The riparian zone at the ranch is subject to invasion by non-native species such as tamarix, and volunteers are at times invited to help maintain the original biome by removing them.