Bascom Lodge on the summit was begun in 1933 and expanded by the CCC 107th Co. in 1938

In the winter of 1897-98, a petition was brought before the Massachusetts Legislature for the purchase of Greylock as a State Reservation. Environmental organizations that lobbied for passage of the legislation included the Massachusetts Forestry Association (now the Environmental League of Massachusetts), the Trustees of Reservations and the Appalachian Mountain Club. After two hearings, on June 20, 1898 the Legislature passed a law (Chapter 543 of the Acts of 1898) creating the Greylock State Reservation, appropriating $25,000 for additional land purchases to be added to original 400 acres and forming a Greylock Reservation Commission to oversee operation.

Berkshire County, through the Greylock Reservation Commission, a governor-appointed three-person board, was required to manage and operate the State Reservation. Prof. John Bascom, Francis W. Rockwell and Alfred B. Mole were the first commissioners; William H. Sperry eventually replaced Alfred B. Mole. The commissioners charged with “with full power and authority to care for, protect and maintain the same (Mt. Greylock) on behalf of the Commonwealth,” from 1900-10 set about to provide better public access, building new foot trails, scenic vistas, a summit house (1902) and the Rockwell Road (1906-07)to accommodatenewfangled automobiles. However, at the same time the commissioners envisioned a more noble conservation ethic for protecting the mountain, and designated the reservation a “refuge” (Acts of 1909, Chapter 362): “We are to bear in mind that the utility of the reservation is primarily spiritual, not physical; but the highest purpose is always best attained with some wise reference to lower objects. There will always remaining the reservation large areas in which the freedom and boldness of nature will constitute the primary impression, and render the chief service.”

Campers spend the night on Mt. Greylock in a CCC-built shelter, around 1936

At the highest point in the state is the Massachusetts Veterans War Memorial Tower. This 93-foot tall Quincy granite tower, crowned with a beacon light, was “Erected by Massachusetts in grateful recognition of the loyalty and sacrifice of her sons and daughters in war” between 1931-32. It was ceremoniously dedicated on June 30, 1933 not exclusively a memorial to the First World War, but “intended a tribute to courage, endurance, loyalty and self-sacrifice wherever these qualities have been shown by Massachusetts men and women in the uniform of the state or nation.” Additional land purchases by the state and later access improvements under the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) 107th Company between 1933-41 transformed the reservation into a successful and very popular recreational facility. Among the many projects, the CCC improved the road system, built hiking and downhill ski trails, lean-to shelters and completed building the rustic Bascom Lodge and similar stone structures at the summit.

Efforts in the 1950s-60s to develop the mountain were ultimately challenged publicly and resulted in the 1966 abolishment of the Greylock Reservation Commission, transferring management and operation of the reservation to the state’s Division of Forests and Parks, today the Department of Conservation and Recreation.