It was not until September 1953 that the years of Park Service planning
bore fruit, and the work of developing an in-place exhibit for the
monument was begun. Many factors operated to spring the project into
being, not the least of which was the active interest and wholehearted
support of Horace M. Albright, a former Director of the Service.
Theodore E. White, formerly with the Smithsonian Institution and with
Harvard University, was placed in immediate charge, under the
supervision of Jess H. Lombard, the superintendent of the National
Monument. His task, and that of his associates, was to expose the
remaining specimens in the quarry wall and work them out in bas-relief.
A shelter had been built over the working space and power tools were
introduced for the first time. Using compressed air, the rock was scaled
off with jackhammers and “paving-breakers,” until most of the overburden
had been removed. Subsequent probing into the bone layer was done with
smaller chipping hammers, mallet, and chisel. This operation continued
through 1954 and 1955 as, slowly and carefully, the extent of the
skeletal material was determined. It comprised parts of several large
dinosaurs, sufficient in quantity to justify the next step—the
construction of a building to enclose the quarry face.
Erection of this unusual structure, the first of its design to be
attempted, commenced in 1957 and it was opened to the public in the
following year. Now, as one of the many development projects in its
MISSION 66 program, the National Park Service has resumed the delicate
work of uncovering this corner of the ancient world and preserving it
in-place for all time.