City of Casper Historic Preservation Commission

06/18/2026

Welcome to “Where is it?” Wednesday!

Every week, we will be posting a picture of a historic building in Casper, and you have a week to guess which building it is.

Last week’s photo depicted this building’s cornice wrapping around into an alley. Katie Stebbins is correct that this is the Hair Bar at 322 W Midwest Avenue!

Located at the corner of Midwest Avenue and Ash Street, this two-story poured concrete industrial building was built in 1922. Advertisements appeared in the The Casper Daily Tribune as early as December of 1921, boasting that the new two-story building will be fireproof and has several spaces available for rent including: a 60ft x 140ft first floor garage facing Ash Street, 5 shops or stores on the first floor, and 7 shops or offices on the second floor. Originally, there were large multi-light steel windows and storefronts placed in between each pier - however these have been replaced with smaller windows / storefronts or completely infilled. Some of the businesses that resided at this location include: Casper Sheet Metal Works, Krunf Motor Car Co., Steen & Shaull Welding, Midwest Electric Service, Shultz Walter wholesale grocery sales room and garage, Huffman’s Body Shop, North American Van Lines, the Standard Oil’s district offices, The Bracken Co., and the Plymouth Center. This building is not currently listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

This week’s photo depicts a round concrete window sill. Hint: this school building was built in the 1950s.

You have until next Wednesday, June 24th, to comment on this post your guess on the building’s identity. You are free to answer with the building’s address, building name, current business, or historic business. Good luck!

06/11/2026

Welcome to “Where is it?” Wednesday!

Every week, we will be posting a picture of a historic building in Casper, and you have a week to guess which building it is.

Last week’s photo depicted a recessed diamond pattern brickwork on this building’s south facade. Katie Stebbins is correct that this is Roosevelt High School located at 140 E. K Street!

Designed by local architecture firm Garbutt, Weidner, and Sweeney, Roosevelt School was built to serve North Casper’s student population that swelled during the oil boom. The school’s style is of a central block with wings, typical for institutional structures at the time. The main entrance is located on the east elevation where the central portion protrudes out with a porch providing a little protection. “ROOSEVELT SCHOOL” is engraved in the limestone above the second story windows. These details are reflected on the south elevation, which served as the school’s main entrance for its first two years.

Briefly called North Casper School, the school boasted 14 rooms that included 11 classrooms, showers, kitchenette, restrooms, and a cafeteria (which was unusual at the time). The south wing of the school was constructed in 1922 and was opened to students that year despite it only being half completed. In 1924, the center and north wings of the school were completed and the building finally had the promised 14 rooms. One reason why the school was halfway completed was due to a local labor strike and lack of qualified workers.

A gymnasium / auditorium was added to the north end of the school in 1959; and an addition containing the administrative and counseling offices as well as an elevator was constructed in 1995. The Roosevelt School has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1997.

This week’s photo depicts this building’s cornice wrapping around into an alley. Hint: this building is located on a corner in the Old Yellowstone District.

You have until next Wednesday, June 17th, to comment on this post your guess on the building’s identity. You are free to answer with the building’s address, building name, current business, or historic business. Good luck!

06/04/2026

Welcome to “Where is it?” Wednesday!

Every week, we will be posting a picture of a historic building in Casper, and you have a week to guess which building it is.

Last week’s photo depicted brick pilasters with a stepped dark brick cap below the decorative cornice. Kellie Moreno and Katie Stebbins are both correct that this is the NIC Art Museum located at 400 East Collins Drive!

Built in 1924, this building was originally the Mountain States Power Company Power Plant before becoming the Casper Lumber Company. By the 1980s, the building was abandoned. In 1989, the building was renovated into the art museum as it is today, adding east and west wings of the building to expand its footprint for galleries, storage, and museum shop. The building’s block style emphasizes its size, especially when it was isolated between the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad and the surrounding streets. Each facade has a set of pilastered piers that creates an illusion that this building is much taller than two stories; a lintel frieze links the top of these piers to the building’s cornice. Most unusual about this building is the fact that there’s artistic detailing in its architectural elements despite its industrial function. The NIC Museum is currently not listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

This week’s photo depicts a recessed diamond pattern brickwork on this building’s south facade. Hint: this building is located in North Casper.

You have until next Wednesday, June 10th, to comment on this post your guess on the building’s identity. You are free to answer with the building’s address, building name, current business, or historic business. Good luck!

06/02/2026

So proud of the Brattis Family’s dedication and quality service! Here’s to more decades to come! Thank you!

A family-owned Casper business is celebrating 80 years of serving the community with recognition from the Casper Historic Preservation Commission. Your Wyoming Link shares the story and legacy of the

06/02/2026

Although Historic Preservation Month has ended, the Casper Historic Preservation Commission will continue our work on preserving Casper’s historic buildings and places through educating, celebrating, and funding such projects! And to provide that funding, the CHPC has been selling Christmas ornaments featuring Casper’s historic buildings since 2023. Our 2023 ornament, featuring the Natrona County High School, sold all 500 of its ornaments in two weeks! 2024 featured the Wyoming National Bank, now called The M building, still has plenty of ornaments for sale as well as 2025’s ornament of the Rialto Theater. Please stop by the Fort Caspar Museum at 4001 Fort Caspar Road to purchase them today! We are currently in the process of designing our 2026’s Christmas ornament, and will be announcing the featured building in a future post!

We would also like to thank the Alliance for Historic Wyoming for all their hard work in creating this year’s Historic Preservation Month’s theme and graphics. Their guidance really helped us - and other historic preservation groups across Wyoming - in celebrating Historic Preservation month through special social media posts.

Looking ahead - we will be participating in the Central Wyoming Fair parade again this year! We cannot wait to see everyone out in the streets celebrating this annual rodeo and county fair. Additionally, the Preserve Wyoming conference will be held in Casper on September 17 -19, 2026; and the CHPC is planning to do another historic downtown walking tour that will be open to the public! More information will be announced in the coming months.

Finally, we would like to thank all of our social media followers and fans for supporting us! We appreciate the likes, the shares, and especially the comments on Casper’s historic buildings. We will continue to keep up with our social media pages with our weekly “Where is it?” Wednesdays, announcements, and any special posts. Feel free to drop a comment or direct message to us to let us know how we are doing and if there’s any way to can improve on our work in serving Casper’s historic buildings and places!

05/27/2026

Welcome to the last Trail Tuesday! Part Four!

Each Tuesday throughout the month of May 2026, we will be posting about the various historic trails that run through Casper to celebrate Historic Preservation Month!

Today’s post will be about the Pony Express Trail.

As the pioneers settled in the west, the need for a quick mail service was of high importance. Mail took months to travel from the eastern half of the United States to their respective cities west of the Missouri River via overland coaches. Even mail by ship took about a month to reach the west coast. Then came the idea of doing a horse relay mail service.

The Pony Express began on April 3, 1860; starting from St. Joseph, Missouri for westbound mail and from San Francisco, California for eastbound mail. The route was about 1,940 miles, and it took the riders 10 days to complete the run. The speed contributed from having an infrastructure of small relay stations every 10-15 miles to provide the riders with fresh horses. Every 75-100 miles were home stations where riders switched and rested. By mid-1861, a total of 147 stations were spread across the route, Fort Caspar being one of these stations.

Although successful, the Pony Express met its end when the transcontinental telegraph was completed on October 26, 1861. The Express made its last run on November 30, 1861.

This was a brief overview of Casper’s role on with the Pony Express. If you want to learn more about the Pony Express Trail and the various sites in the area, please visit the Fort Caspar Museum (4001 Fort Caspar Rd.) or the National Historic Trails Interpretive Center (1501 North Poplar St.).

Thank you everyone for joining us for Trails Tuesdays during Historic Preservation Month 2026! We hope these posts have piqued your interest in these historic trails that transverse through Casper - and many other trails that we were not able to cover this month.

Thanks again to the Alliance of Historic Wyoming for providing these social media tags!

Source:
Pony Express National Historic Trail brochure, National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior

05/26/2026

Join us on May 27th at noon to recognize Brattis Meat Market!

The Casper Historic Preservation Commission would like to invite the general public to recognize Brattis Meat Market’s long history in Casper! The event starts at noon on May 27th, at the Brattis Meat Market, located at 939 E 2nd St. Suite 100.

Brattis Meat Market has been operating in Casper since 1946 by the Brattis family. Nick and John Brattis purchased the grocery store from its original owners, Art Plattos and Nick Maragos, and renamed the store as Brattis Grocery. The grocery store operated in the Sandbar District, thriving through decades before and past the Urban Renewal project. In 2006, the Brattis Grocery closed due to the intense competition with the giant supermarkets; but soon after, James Brattis opened the Brattis Meat Market at its current location on Second Street.

Please take the chance to come down to Brattis Meat Market on May 27th at noon to celebrate the 80th year of this family business!

Correction (5/27/26): the original post had listed Bob Broadway with John Brattis purchasing the original grocery store instead of Nick and John Brattis.

05/26/2026

Welcome to the last Mid-Century Monday! Part Four!

Each Monday throughout the month of May 2026, we will be posting something about Mid-Century Modern Architecture to celebrate Historic Preservation Month!

Today’s post will take a more in-depth look at the Casper Planetarium.

Built in 1966, this planetarium was the first of its kind in Wyoming! It is still being used today for students around Natrona County as well as providing public shows.

Now let’s take a moment to go through the seven points and see if this building would be considered as “Mid-Century Modern”.

Clean lines (both geometric and organic forms) - the planetarium is a circular floor plan with the exterior walls raised to create two cylinder forms.
Floor-to-ceiling windows - the planetarium does have floor to ceiling windows at the public entrance; however the office entrance does not have that luxury.
Open floor plans - this building’s rooms are closed off from one another due to its function.
Wood and other materials - wood is used both in the interior and exterior of the building; and the exterior uses a rough green stone that randomly projects out from the exterior wall.
Indoor-outdoor living - the planetarium does not have an indoor-outdoor living space.
Built-ins - the planetarium does use built-in wooden display cases.
Functionality - the dome theater is centrally located in the building with offices, exhibits, gift shop, and restrooms located in the outer circle. Additionally, the entrances are protected by the wind, rain, and snow due to being placed within the void created in the eastern facade.

Meeting 4-1/2 out of 7 points and built within the acceptable timeline, the Casper Planetarium would be considered as a Mid-Century Modern building.

Thank you everyone for joining us for Mid-Century Mondays during Historic Preservation Month 2026! We hope you have learned something new about Casper’s modern buildings during this special series.

Special thanks to the Alliance for Historic Wyoming for putting together all of these awesome social media tags and topics!

Sources:
https://sites.google.com/myncsd.org/casperplanetarium/planetarium-facilities

05/21/2026

Welcome to “Where is it?” Wednesday!

Every week, we will be posting a picture of a historic building in Casper, and you have a week to guess which building it is.

Last week’s photo depicted three diamond motifs across this building’s central parapet. Katie Stebbins and Kellie Moreno are both correct that this is Durbin St. Golf!

Built in 1924, this symmetrical building is three bays wide with the central bay projecting slightly from the other two bays. Originally a private garage, this building went through a couple of owners before Jessen & Goldtrap Creamery Co. took residence here in 1929 ( according to the Classified Directory in The Casper Daily Tribune, Vol.13, No.249, August 27, 1929). The creamery operated out of this building for several decades until the Jersey Creamery took over around 1963. You can still see Jersey’ ghost sign on the north facade of this building. Durbin St. Golf has been providing golf supplies, services, and lessons at this building since 2001. Some other historical characteristics of this building include: the diamond motif across the upper east facade, the shaped parapet profile, decorative brickwork, and cast stone windowsills. This building is currently not on the National Register of Historic Places.

This week’s photo depicts brick pilasters with a stepped dark brick cap below the decorative cornice. Hint: the Rail Trail runs just north of this building.

You have until next Wednesday, May 27th, to comment on this post your guess on the building’s identity. You are free to answer with the building’s address, building name, current business, or historic business. Good luck!

05/20/2026

Welcome to Trail Tuesday! Part Three!

Each Tuesday throughout the month of May 2026, we will be posting about the various historic trails that run through Casper to celebrate Historic Preservation Month!

Today’s post will be about the California Trail.

As with the Oregon and Mormon Pioneer Trails, the California Trail follows the Great Platte River Road that runs through present day Casper, splitting from the Oregon Trail at Fort Hall in Idaho to head to California. The first group of emigrants who traversed to California was the Bidwell-Bartleson party in 1841; half of the party went to Oregon while the other half went to California, reaching Central Valley that November.

The trail only had a trickle of emigrants until the discovery of gold at Sutter’s Mill, California in January 1848 which quickly became a popular destination for over 250,000 emigrants. In 1849, the trail was at its busiest with thousands of emigrants, who were known as the “Forty-Niners”. The California Trail was used primarily from 1848 - 1852; in which the years afterward had equal traffic going east and west. The trail was abandoned in 1869 due to the transcontinental railroad’s completion.

This was a brief overview of Casper’s role on the California Trail. If you want to learn more about the California Trail and the various sites in the area, please visit the Fort Caspar Museum (4001 Fort Caspar Rd.) or the National Historic Trails Interpretive Center (1501 North Poplar St.).

Next week’s post will be about the Pony Express Trail.

Thanks again to the Alliance of Historic Wyoming for providing these social media tags!

Sources:
https://www.nps.gov/cali/learn/historyculture/index.htm
https://www.wyohistory.org/encyclopedia/trails-across-wyoming-oregon-mormon-pioneer-and-california-routes