Railhead: Rail Features. Thyra Thompson Building, Casper Wyoming

Railhead: Rail Features. Thyra Thompson Building, Casper Wyo...:

Rail Features. Thyra Thompson Building, Casper Wyoming.

The State of Wyoming recently completed the construction of a massive new state office building, the Thyra Thompson Building, in Casper.  All of the state's administrative bodies, except for the district and circuit courts, are housed there.

The building does house, however, the Chancery Court for the entire state, a new court that's only recently been established.

The building is built right over what had been the Great Northwest rail yard in Casper, which was still an active, although not too active, rail yard into my teens.  I can't really recall when they abandoned the line, but it was abandoned.

In putting the building in, and extending the Platte River Parkway through it, the State did a nice job of incorporating some rail features so that there's a memory of what the location had been.

They also put in some historical plaques, which are nice. The curved arch at this location, moreover, is the location of the old turntable.  It was a small one, which I hate to admit that I crossed over when I was a teenager, a dangerous thing to do.

New sidewalk clock, Platte County Courthouse. (From Courthouses of the West)

The Townsend Hotel--Townsend Justice Center

A building figuring in several posts below has now entered new service, but with its old painted signs intact.

What was once the Townsend Hotel, a Casper hotel from the golden age of hotels, at one time, and a flop house later on, is now the Natrona County Townsend Justice Center.

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.

The Townsend Hotel

This is the Townsend Hotel, in Casper. The building was built as a substantial, modern hotel, in the 1920s, but fell into disrepair and dilapidation by the late 1970s. It's a classic example of a typical midwestern mid 20th Century hotel. It features prominently in many pre 1950 photographs, as viable in our flagship photo above.

This building was abandoned in the early 1980s, but it is currently under renovation and is being converted to a courthouse for Natrona County. The project has been somewhat controversial, and efforts to expand courthouse facilities in general have not been popular with the voters in the county, who rejected tax levies for the project. The existing 1930s vintage courthouse is across the street, but is not featured here, as it doesn't fit within this blog's mission.

This sign advertises not only the hotel, but the cafe. The cafe in the hotel was one of the last things operating in it, and was still in use up until the early 80s. Where the large excavation is in these photographs, there was once a private club, the Petroleum Club, which could be accessed through the hotel. The Petroleum Club still exists, but moved out of this location over twenty years ago.

In the historic photos, showing the Townsend in its heyday, this view would not have been possible. A Greek revival style office building, The Sinclair Building, would have blocked the view. It was removed in the early 1990s.