The White Pines State Park Lodge and Cabins are located in rural Ogle County, Illinois near the village of Mount Morris.

With the Great Depression in full swing the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) sought to relieve the work needs of unemployed Americans.

The National Park Service sought to work with state governments in an effort to meet those ends.

Two hundred men worked on the State Park construction project at one time, in the years 1933-1939, many of them World War I veterans.

[4] Logs for most of the project were shipped via railroad from as far away as Oregon and Washington state, unloaded in Stratford, Illinois and dragged to the construction site by teams of horses.

[6] The area that encompasses the National Register of Historic Places listing for the Lodge and Cabins at White Pines Forest State Park covers 7 acres (28,000 m2).

In addition, the area fifty yards beyond the road, into the woods, is also included, to preserve the "woodland retreat" character of the site.

[5] The building almost comprehensively makes use of wooden logs in its construction, the only non-wood part of the lodge, and for that matter, the cabins, are its stone fireplaces and chimneys.