In 1929, Benjamin and Estella Loomis gave Lassen Volcanic National Park 40 acres, a museum and a seismograph building; they kept only a tiny lifetime lease, while their museum became the first privately built one donated to a US national park
In 1929, local homesteader and photographer Benjamin Loomis and his wife, Estella, formally gave 40 acres of valuable mountain land to the United States government. The donation included a hand-built museum and a working seismograph station beside Manzanita Lake. The deal was the first known case in American history of a privately built museum being…
