The Square Tower House is one of the stops on the Mesa Top Loop Road driving tour and the tower is the tallest structure in Mesa Verde National Park. In 1906 52,073 acres (81 sq mi) of a mesa top and its canyons were designated the Mesa Verde National Park. In 1976 the site became a designated wilderness preserve, and in 1978 it became a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The park was formed to protect and preserve the more than 700 years of Native American history located within its boundaries which are represented by over 4,000 archaeological sites. These Native Americans, known as the Anasazi by the Navajo and the Ancestral Puebloans to the National Park Service, are most famous for their cliff dwellings. 
