The Halls of Natrona County High School

When I attended NCHS, back in the misty dawn of time, there were no interior paintings in the building.  Now, to my surprise, there are.  When I first learned of this, I expressed surprise about it, and in turn my wife, who attended NCHS in years more recently than I, was surprised that I was surprised.  Indeed, she insisted that I must have missed them.  As it turns out, I did not miss them at all, the murals commenced in 1983, after I had left.

Anyhow, while this is somewhat outside the usual scope of this blog, they are interesting.

 Nicely executed mural of Civil War or Frontier Era solders near the JrROTC room at NCHS.  MKTH photo.

 Example of hall mural.  MKTH photo.

 NCHS hall mural which features the logo of the band House of Pain.  It must have been the year that the rap tune "Jump" came out  that this one was painted.

 One done by my brother in law, while he was there.

Another change.  Navy recruiters in the hall.  I don't recall recruiters coming on campus back when I was there.

Opal, Wyoming

Old painted store side in Opal, Wyoming. This was a fairly substantial structure, in what was an isolated small town, and as the sign indicates, the store included groceries amongst its offerings. Gasoline and Oil were also advertised, as can be seen. A tiny super store, in its day, or a substantial general store, if more properly considered.

Townsend Ghost Signs Get Reprieve

As it turns out, the Townsend Hotel sign will remain after all. . . sort of.

Actually, it's being repainted. The bricks of the building have recently been treated with something, so they look nearly new. The sign will stay, but apparently it will be repainted too.

I'm not sure what to make of that. I like the idea of keeping the sign, but repainting it seems odd. Not as bad as removing it, but not as good as just leaving it alone.

Townsend "Ghost" sign to be no more.

As reported in today's Casper Star Tribune, the Downtown Development Commission has decided that the old sign doesn't comport to the building's new role of being a courthouse. So the sign will be covered.

I suppose there's something to that view, but I'll be sad to see the old sign go.

Updates, Changes, and Disappearing Signs

Two of the buildings depicted here no longer look anything like what is depicted below, an amazing change if you consider that these photographs are less than a year old.

Anyhow, the Townsend Building, one of the first buildings depicted on this site, has been going major alterations, as this site indicated would occur, as it is converted into a courthouse. As a result, the signs depicted on this site are no longer visible, and the building itself looks considerably different. It'll be very intersting to see how the new Townsend Justice Center develops, given as it increases the size of the building by at least a third, and converts it to a use which was never contemplated by the original designers. Suffice it to say, having the building reoccupied for the first time in nearly 30 years will itself be a major change.


Another building, the Natrona Transfer building, has also undergone some renovations, although the structure hasn't been changed. The old painted signs, however, are now gone.

We'll post updated photos on the buildings soon.

Anyhow, it's odd to think that a couple of very old buildings, whose signs had been visible for many, many, years should suddenly loose them to view in a single year. Both old buildings are showing signs of new life, so the changes aren't wholly lamentable by any means. But it does show, I suppose, how things that seem permanent are not.