Director's
Report
Springtime has come to the museum. Even if we never left the
building we would know this because of the non-stop parade of
school groups coming to see us on field trips. While it can be
very tiring to give three back-to-back tours to fourth graders in
the grip of spring fever, the museum tour season is also a
pleasure in many ways.
The museum tours that Gary gives and the courthouse and
walking tours I present are very much works in progress. Questions
that the kids ask often teach me something as well. For instance,
this spring I learned how a player piano actually works and that
the state only issues new license plates every eight years. While
hardly earthshaking bits of information, these things are
interesting to know and have garnered me the reputation among
family and friends of be able to answer all sorts of obscure
questions. That, I am afraid, is the mark of being a historian.
I have also become a minor expert on what goes on in the
different offices of the county and where you go in the building
to find or do this and that.
However, there is always more to learn. Though I know how
to look up a marriage record in the County Clerk's office and can
tell you what the inside of the drunk tank in the County Jail
looks like, this year for the first time I actually
learned how property is assessed in the Assessor's Office. I
am grateful for the wonderful people who work in these offices who
are so willing to share their knowledge with me and the kids in
the school groups. Their comments and input do much to enrich the
tours we provide. Our intention is to continue to do tours of the
courthouse even after we move to the new building.
For many teachers they have become an important part of the
“field trip experience”.
At the instigation of Kari Jensen, our
Secretary/Bookkeeper, we have begun requesting
that our youthful visitors sign the guest book
individually. We believe that this will give the kids more of a
stake and an interest in the museum. And besides, their comments
are always enjoyable to read. This spring we have been described
as “Sweet”, “Awesome”, “Fun”, and even, “OK”.
“Thanks for the tore.” wrote one visitor and “I think the
museum is cool” commented another.
Because
of the anticipated moving schedule for the museum, back in March
we were unsure if we were going to be able to offer many tours
this year. At that time we were slated to move in May. Thankfully
we decided to schedule the visits anyway and sure enough, come
mid-May, we are still here leading “tores”. It would have
hardly seemed like spring without them!
return
to top
Historic
Preservation Funds Used in Museum Rehabilitation
The museum recently received notice of the award of a $30,000
grant from the Wyoming State Historic Preservation Office to
complete historic rehabilitation projects on the old Post Office
building. This is the first year that these Certified Local
Government funds have been available for this type of project. The
funds come from the National Park Service and have traditionally
been used exclusively for historic preservation education and
nomination activities.
Projects funded by the grant must meet the Secretary of the
Interior's Standards for Rehabilitation. These guidelines call for
the preservation of the original fabric of the building whenever
possible and the requirement that any necessary replica parts be
built using the style and materials of the original.
The projects funded by the grant include the partial replacement
and refinishing of the hardwood floors in the gallery, the
retrofitting or replication of the front door in order to install
the “crash bar” hardware required by fire code, and the
installation of interior storm windows to increase the energy
efficiency and ultraviolet light filtering capabilities of the
original windows.
“None of these projects were included in the scope of
work to be completed by Sweetwater County. Now we have this grant
we can make sure these projects are done right, without
compromising the historic integrity of the building,” said
Director Ruth Lauritzen.
The
grant is administered through the Green River Historic
Preservation Commission and the City of Green River. The City
Council and the Green River Historic Preservation Commission (GRHPC)
have been very supportive of the museum rehabilitation project.
The City Council passed a resolution of support for the grant and
the GRHPC has, in addition to supporting this grant, donated the
profits from the sales of their publication, Echoes From The
Bluffs. return
to top
Every Building Has A Story
Municipal buildings are traditionally located in the center of a
community and provide visual evidence of the strength and
permanence of the town. The old City Hall in Rock Springs was
built with just such a purpose in mind.
Located at the corner of Broadway and B Street in the
historic downtown, this issue's featured National Register
building is an imposing stone structure built in a style known as
Richardsonian Romanesque. This style is named for Henry Hobson
Richardson and is characterized by a uniform rock-faced exterior
finish, large arched entries without columns and short, squat
towers and chimneys. Its appearance is massive and muscular and
echoes the coloring of the country around it. This is hardly
surprising due to the fact that the sandstone for the building was
quarried at a site two and a half miles southwest of town.
From early beginnings in the 1860s as a station on the
Overland Trail and rough and ready coal town, Rock Springs had
grown into a proper community by the late 1880s and was
incorporated as a town in 1888. As part of this step in becoming a
town, the citizens of Rock Springs decided they needed a building
to house their new government center.
Information in the National Register nomination of the
property indicates that the process of making these decisions was
not without contention. “Newspaper accounts stress the need for
a city hall stating that the expected cost of $12,000 to $15,000
could be raised from annual liquor license sales. Several
unsolicited plans were forwarded by council members including a
pressed brick building that would have offered a council chamber,
reading room, gymnasium, two rooms for the fire department,
justice court room, five lock-up rooms and a large hall on the
second floor. Controversy flared in the papers over the years
until the citizens voted to fund the building of a city hall in
1893.”
Land for the building was purchased from the Union Pacific
Coal Company and the town council chose the building plans
submitted by Martin Didicus Kern of Salt Lake City.
Kern was a prominent architect during the Salt Lake City
building boom of 1889-1892. He and his partner William Carrol
designed forty-five major projects in 1890 alone. The partnership
dissolved in 1892 and Kern had disappeared from the business by
1898.
When work began on the building in April of 1894 it soon
became apparent that the plans for the foundation were
insufficient when unstable soil conditions were discovered. The
problem was solved by the placement of the building on a massive
fourteen foot foundation. The remainder of the construction went
smoothly and the building was occupied by city government in 1895.
The total cost of the building was $29,000. There being
insufficient funds in the previously established city hall
building fund, the remainder was made up when newly elected Rock
Springs mayor William K. Lee added all of the money paid to the
city for saloon licenses.
It was fortunate that the building was completed when it
was, because it served as a temporary hospital when the two and a
half year old Wyoming State Miner's Hospital burned down in 1897.
The building continued to house city government until late
1978 when many of the city services relocated to the current city
hall. In 1982 the last remaining city office, the Police
Department, left the building. The structure was added to the
National Register in 1983.
When the city celebrated its centennial in 1988 and group
of community members came together to make the building into a
museum of Rock Springs history. It existed as a volunteer
organization until the museum was temporarily closed in 1991 and
'92 while the building underwent an extensive two million dollar
rehabilitation funded by an Abandoned Mine Lands grant.
The
historic City Hall building continues to operate as the home of
the Rock Springs Historical Museum and occupies an important place
in both the physical and emotional heart of downtown.
return
to top
Exhibits
Roundup
Gary Perkins
Things have been moving right along in the exhibits world.
Criss Staffa, my ever-faithful volunteer, helped me move
our Christmas toy exhibit to the Happy Hearts Senior Citizens
Center in Superior. We
changed out the exhibit at the Forest Service/Chamber of Commerce
building on Uinta Drive in Green River.
Additionally, we helped Virginia Tominc set up a new
exhibit on nursing history at the Memorial Hospital of Sweetwater
County in Rock Springs.
return
to top
Board
Message
Stan McKee
As an amateur historian, I have tried to read up on the local
history of every place my family and I have lived. Being a BLM
employee, we have lived on both coasts and several places in
between. Before being transferred to Sweetwater County, we lived
in Fairfax, Virginia. There,
we were literally surrounded by Civil War and some Revolutionary
War battlefields, the site of the first colony at Jamestown and
the capital of colonial Virginia, Williamsburg.
When we were notified of the impending transfer to Rock Springs,
we thought we would not have the historical heritage that we so
very much enjoy. After we arrived and started on our traditional
reading program we discovered how very wrong we were.
We discovered that the history of Sweetwater County is
dotted with famous names like Jim Bridger, Lot Smith, Chief
Washakie of the Shoshoni tribe, William Sublette, Archie Blair,
Narcissa and Marcus Whitman, Brigham Young, Robert Leroy Parker
(better known as Butch Cassidy), and Col. Albert Sidney Johnston
(who later gave his life for the Confederacy at Shiloh Church in
Tennessee), to name only a few.
Now that I have your interest in learning more about the history
of the Sweetwater County, I will pose a question.
Where is the best place to go to learn the history and see
actual artifacts of the period of your interest?
Of course, the answer is the local Sweetwater County
Historical Museum! That
is the place were information and artifacts can be found on
subjects such as the Trans-Mississippi migration, South Pass, coal
mining, Indian wars, the “Mormon War,”
and Fort Bridger. Your Historical Museum is the place to go
for first rate information, to see interesting artifacts, or just
spend an enjoyable afternoon.
On June 30, 2001, I will be going off the Museum Board of
Directors. I have
served on this board for the past six years and as the Chair for
the past three. During
this time, the main topic of conversation has been the remodeling
and the projected move to new quarters in the Old Post Office
building next door to the County Courthouse.
We are now projecting that the move will occur toward the
end of this summer.
Throughout my six years on the board, I have been very
impressed by the commitment and dedication of the fellow members
of the Board of Directors that I have served with, as well as the
museum staff, both past and current members.
I have also been impressed by the support provided by the
Museum Foundation, on whose board I have also served.
I
would urge all of you to actively support the museum and to take
advantage of the opportunities that it makes available to you, the
people of Sweetwater County.
Thanks for your support.
return
to top
Volunteer
Opportunities
If
you have an interest in volunteering at the museum please call
Ruth at 872-6435 or 352-6715. Volunteers may choose to work as
much as they wish, coming in on a regular schedule or just helping
out for special events. If you have special talents and time to
give we would love to hear from you.
return
to top
Check out our Museum
Photo page.
