Sunday, March 13, 2016

Buick dealership, Rock Srpings, Wyoming


This is the back of a building in Rock Springs that once housed the Buick dealership.  I'm not sure of the vintage of the dealership but nearby Bunning Park was put in during the early 1920s.

Sunday, February 28, 2016

Wyoming Automotive Company and the Rock Srpings City Hall, Rock Springs Wyoming.


This photo, taken with an Iphone on my way to a deposition, is far from ideal, and was intended to be of the Rock Springs City Hall.  It's also included on our Courthouses of the West blog.  But, more or less coincidentally, the sign for Wyoming Automotive Company can be seen on the building next to the city hall.

I don't know about this particular Wyoming Automotive, and the sign is barely depicted because the trees in the photograph obscure it, but the Wyoming Automotive in Casper was an automobile parts store, and I suspect that this one was or is.

Saturday, February 27, 2016

Plaza Hotel and Montgomery Wards, Rock Springs Wyoming


A lot of the photos I take on this blog are taken on the way to, or from, a work function. So it's frequently the case that I can't really frame them like I would if I had more time in which to do it.  So, to some degree, you catch these buildings the way a hurried pedestrian would.

That makes for a lot of bad photos that get posted here, but it also sometimes means you have something illustrated that you wouldn't otherwise, and here is such an example.  This shows the purpose of painting these large signs on the side of a building.

The building shown in the distance in this photo is the former Plaza Hotel and Montgomery Wards in Rock Springs, Wyoming.  The hotel sign is clearly visible, the Montgomery Wards sign less so.  This hotel was an old Rock Springs hotel on a main street downtown, but like most such hotels, it's now used for other businesses.

Chicago Meat Mark Building, Rock Springs Wyoming.


This 1909 structure originally housed the Chicago Meat Market in Rock Springs, Wyoming. The Odd Fellows fraternal organization has occupied the second floor of the structure since 1912.  Their symbol remains visible on the building.

First National Bank, Rock Springs Wyoming

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This is the First National Bank Building in Rock Springs, Wyoming.  This structure, no longer in use as a bank, was built in 1917.

Saturday, February 20, 2016

Chesterfield sign, J's Prairie Rose Cafe, Laramie Wyoming



This is a Chesterfield cigarettes sign on what is now J's Prairie Rose Cafe in Laramie Wyoming.  This sign is only visible as the building that was next to this one has been taken down.  I have no idea how old the sign is, but up until last year it would have have been visible for decades.

Folded Products Co., A Classic Touch, Ft. Collins Colorado.


This is a nicely preserved older brick building in Ft. Collins Colorado that has housed A Classic Touch motorcycles for at least 25 years.  At one time, according to the painted sign on the top of the building, it housed the Folded Products Company, although I have no idea what that was.

Tuesday, January 19, 2016

Pepsi Cola sign, Country Cash & Save, Burlington Wyoming


Classic Pepsi sign on the side of a small store in Burlington Wyoming. This sign is quite a bit newer than many of those featured here, which doesn't make it new.

Sinclair sign, Cody Wyoming


The remnants of a Sinclair sign on the side of a store in Cody Wyoming.  I suspect that hte store was once a garage.

Monday, December 21, 2015

Silver Dollar Bar & Grill, Cody Wyoming


The Silver Dollar Bar & Grill in  Cody Wyomign, which features a painting of Buffalo Bill Cody on its side.

Monday, December 14, 2015

Bank of America Center, Houston Texas


I hardly know what to make of this structure, which is somewhat out of place on this blog.  In taking this photograph, I actually wondered if the lower part of this very large building was a church.  It isn't, its the Bank of America Center.

Thursday, November 19, 2015

Painted Bricks: A Casper Wyoming Plaza?

We reported on the concept of a Casper Downtown Plaza in this post:

Painted Bricks: A Casper Wyoming Plaza?: As reported this past week in the Tribune and in an article in the Journal , the Casper city counsel has given provisional approval to dedi...
The Casper City Council has now approved plans for the plaza, a necessary step in order for it to come about.

Saturday, October 10, 2015

Casper's Iris to become a civic auditorium.

 
The Iris, a recently closed Casper downtown movie theater.

The association that's been backing a civil auditorium announced yesterday that it had purchased the Iris, a recently closed downtown movie theater for that purpose.

The association earlier took a couple of runs at trying to raise sufficient funds for a purpose built auditorium in Casper, but it was never successful.  When the Irish closed there was mention of the theater, which is not really all that old, being converted to that purpose, and now it apparently will be.

Friday, October 2, 2015

Cheyenne Historic District, Cheyenne Wyoming



The Mysterious Monumental Architecture in Cheyenne Wyoming's Historic District

I go to Cheyenne a fair amount but it's only recently that I've noticed some interesting monumental architecture in the town, and some of that would seemingly require some explanation.  A couple of examples are here.

I posted this one on Some Gave All, our blog that's dedicated to heroic monuments.  It's really off topic, but at first I really didn't know where to put it.  Here's the post from that blog (which I regret having used for the post):

Frank Wenger Holliday Memorial, Cheyenne Wyoming.
 



This is an unusual private memorial on a small, traffic island, park in Cheyenne, Wyoming.  I had thought it might be a war memorial, but it is instead a memorial to the thirteen year old son, Frank, of Cal and Rudolphia Holliday.  Cal Holliday was a Cheyenne businessman and mayor in the city's early days. What happened to the Holliday's young son I do not know.

This unusual memorial is just off of the downtown business district of Cheyenne in its historic district.  This post is clearly off topic for the blog its on.

What's its story?  A private memorial to a tragic loss like this is rarely done in the form of such a public monument.
And what's up with this?


A nearby huge monument to Scottish poet Robert Burns.


I know that Burns is regarded as the unofficial poet laureate of Scotland, but of Cheyenne?  I can't think of  a connection between Cheyenne and Burns, other than that the dedicating individual, Mary Gilchrist, must have been a huge Burns fan.  Apparently the city had others, as they accepted the statute, which is sort of hard to imagine occurring now.  Most monumental architecture in Wyoming now has a Western theme, sometimes an oil & gas theme, or no known theme. But a Scottish literature theme would be unlikely.

Epilogue

A post on the Early History of Wyoming Facebook site lead to a reply that indicated that Frank Holliday died by way of an appendectomy.

Thursday, October 1, 2015

Denver Engine House No. 5, Denver Colorado.


This is Denver Engine House No. 5, a 1922 vintage Denver fire station now used as retail space in Denver.

Wednesday, September 30, 2015

Coors Field, Denver Colorado


Lipton Tea Sign, Apartment Building, Denver Colorado.


A classic Lipton Tea advertisement on the side of a building that was an apartment building in Denver, at the time the sign was painted.  I don't know what the building is now.  "Demand Lipton's popular tea."

Friday, August 21, 2015

Brick Sidewalk, Casper Wyoming


A brick sidewalk in an older part of Casper Wyoming. The only such sidewalk in the city.

Wednesday, August 12, 2015

Lex Anteinternet: Help Support NCHS's Welsh Auditorium Project (and ...

Lex Anteinternet: Help Support NCHS's Welsh Auditorium Project (and ...: The NCHS Welsh Auditorium is a of course a classic, but it stings a bit to see how much support the old auditorium is getting while the p...

Friday, August 7, 2015

What is it? Granger Wyoming



This is a fairly substantial structure in the small town of Granger, Wyoming.

Granger is an old locality for Wyoming.  It was a Pony Express stage stop, and the stage building is still there (which unfortunately I didn't realize until after I'd driven out of town).  The town is small, and the population of about 140 has stayed constant for the entire 20th Century and into the 21st.

Whcih makes a building like this a peculiarity.  

When I took this photo, because of some of the features of the building, I thought it was an abandoned church, and I had intended to post it on our Churches of the West site.  But later I reconsidered as I'm not so sure of that.  It doesn't really have a steeple, not that all churches do.  It has some very church like features, but this could also have served some other purpose.  I'll note the other side made me, at the time, even more convinced this was a church, but as the house is now apparently used as a private residence, I didn't want to linger while photographing, particularly as a curious dog inside the building was taking note of me on the street.  I should also note, however, that on one side is a branch of the Sweetwater County Library, and on the other side is the Granger town hall.  Maybe this was a government building at one time?  Maybe it was a school?

So, what do we have here?  If you know, post the answer.

Abandoned buidlings in the historic district of Rock Springs, Wyoming: National Bank and "Fountain . . ."


A couple of old building in Rock Spring's historic district, across from the class Union Pacific depot.  The building on the left is the National Bank building, and was built in 1892.  The one on the right has much of its "ghost signs" painted out, so I'm not sure of its identity, but it's number 18 on the historic district tour.

Not all of the buildings in the historic district are in this condition, I should note.

Saturday, August 1, 2015

Honoring the sign makers. . a sign painter at work in Seward Alaska


The first photo we've put up showing a sign actually being painted. Sign painter at work on the facade of the Brown & Hawkins building in Seward Alaska, which has housed a candy store for over a century.

Van Gilder Hotel, Seward Alaska



The Van Gilder Hotel in Seward Alaska, which dates from 1916.

Street scene, Seward Alaska


Palace Building, Seward Alaska



Wednesday, July 8, 2015

Lex Anteinternet: Travelling through (on) time.

Lex Anteinternet: Travelling through (on) time.: I recently had the occasion to ride in a Ford Trimotor airplane. Ford Trimotor at the Natrona County International Airport. Even ...

Sunday, July 5, 2015

Natrona County High School. Casper Wyoming


These are a series of not very good photographs taken of Natrona County High School, one of three high schools in  Casper, Wyoming.  It's the oldest school, having been built in 1923, when this school replaced the prior high school, Casper High School.  NC's fight song predates the school, and recalls the earlier school, with its lyrics "All Hail To Casper High School".

I was up at NC because I was curious about the monument that appears in front of it.  It probably shows something about my teenage mentality, but I didn't know what the monument was for, even though I went to this school and passed by it every day, albeit some 30 years ago.  I probably didn't know what it was for then.

Indeed, the whole experience of taking a look at the school through a lens, albeit the lousy Iphone lens, was a bit odd.  I spent three years here, my wife graduated from here, her parents graduated from here, and my father graduated from here, but I was struck by how little I took notice of various details of the building. This is true even though I've photographed part of it before, back in high school.  In thinking on it, I went through the same door every day, left through that door, and there were entire exterior parts of the school I rarely walked by (and in part for good reason, at the time).  It's one of Casper's most beautiful buildings, and I hadn't really appreciated the structure much before.

 

According to my father, who was almost always right on such details, the building is nearly a copy of one in Denver Colorado, which is just a little larger.  Many schools built in this time frame, the 1920s, had similar castle like appearance.

It's interesting to note that this building was built during Casper's big boom of the late teens and early 20s.  It fits in, in terms of period of construction, with many of the more significant downtown buildings as well as many of the downtown area Casper churches. A lot of Casper's most striking and substantial buildings date from this period, which saw a major World War One/Post War oil boom boost the local economy.


An interesting detail of NCHS, which I paid very little attention to while there, is the two framed sets of quotations on the building.  Obviously intended to instruct the students on their purpose while there, I paid next to no attention to them while there, even though I probably should have.


This part of the building frames in a quote from Article 3 of the Northwest Ordinance, which stated, in full:
Religion, morality, and knowledge, being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged. The utmost good faith shall always be observed towards the Indians; their lands and property shall never be taken from them without their consent; and, in their property, rights, and liberty, they shall never be invaded or disturbed, unless in just and lawful wars authorized by Congress; but laws founded in justice and humanity, shall from time to time be made for preventing wrongs being done to them, and for preserving peace and friendship with them.
The quote on the school just runs through the first section of the quote.

I have to wonder if a quote like this would even be tolerated on a building today.  I doubt it, as the citation to religion and morality would no doubt offend some.



And here's another framed set of quotes.  The first quote is from Proverbs Chapter 47, which states:
Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding.
Again, solid advice for the student.  Once again, I'm sure today somebody would be offended if a quote from the Old Testament was included on a public building, let alone a school.

This also included a quote from Euripides, which is:
Whoso neglects learning in his youth,
Loses the past and is dead for the future.
 Very true indeed.


This door at NC has the words above it "Suit the Action to the Word".


And this door proclaims "Education Makes the Man."

This is what I actually went up to investigate:


I thought this might have been a World War One memorial I earlier missed, so I intended to check it out and perhaps to my blog on war memorials.  As it turns out, it's nothing of the kind, as the dedication reveals:


I had to look May Hamilton up, but apparently she was a pioneer local educator who was significant in Natrona County schools for many years.

John F. Welch Auditorium, NCHS

I added the photograph above while viewing a concert at NC.  This portrays, although not terribly well, the ornate nature of the stage.  Statues of Lincoln and Washington are on each side.  Photo added on May 16, 2014.


NCHS is currently under reconstruction with parts of the old structure, such as the swimming pool (the oldest indoor pool in Wyoming, coming down.  This photo and the ones below show the state of the work as of June 13, 2014.




The last two photographs show NCHS from the air, in July 2015, as construction was ongoing.  This photograph was taken from a plane nearly as old as the school, a Ford Tri Motor.