With the Third Thursday street festivals in full swing, we thought we would encourage everyone this #tbt to take a moment during the festivities to stand in the middle of Main Street, look up, and appreciate the history written on the buildings downtown.
While many downtown buildings have architectural flourishes and oddities, some also bear names, clues to the people whose stories became synonymous with the very walls wherein they took place. “If only these walls could talk.”
Rainbow Bar – 264 North Main Street (first pic) – Oscar Nelson was the proprietor of the Opera Saloon, opened in 1907. According to the Downtown Sheridan Association, a “successful businesswoman” in the world’s oldest profession was headquartered there for many years. Behind the bar was the last of Sheridan’s two-story outhouses.
Cottonwood Kitchen + Home, Annie Greenthumb’s, and Liam’s Furniture – 234, 244, and 250 North Main Street (2nd pic) – John B. Kendrick built many buildings downtown. This building was constructed for $40,000 on a site previously used as a livery stable. The first occupant in 1908 was Golden Rule Dry Goods. Soon after Kendrick began renting out offices to architects, engineers, and doctors. He even had his offices on the second floor for several years. In 1927, The Golden Rule stores started by James Cash Penney of Kemmerer became the JC Penney Company. JC Penney occupied this building until it closed in 2017.
D&J Coins/Bozeman Trail Gallery – 190 and 194 North Main Street (3rd pic) – Peter Demple, along with Arnold Tschirgi and George Paul, founded the Sheridan Brewing Company in 1887. The three were early investors in the business landscape of Sheridan. According to Sheridan Beer, the three friends’ investments in the community accounted for 40% of the growth of the town’s infrastructure. The earliest recorded occupants of the “Demple Block” were the White Brothers Mens Outfitters in 1900.
Sheridan County Chamber of Commerce/Sheridan Community Land Trust – 54 South Main Street (4th pic) – This is the location of the first structure built on Main Street in 1882. John Loucks convinced Henry Held to open a blacksmith shop there. Held built his home across the street; a building which remains to this day as the offices of Healy Law. Somewhere around 1907 to 1910, the brick building was constructed. From 1940 to 1990, the upstairs offices were referred to as the “Kutcher Building Offices.” Charles Kutcher was a prominent attorney and the mayor of Sheridan from 1912-1913.
Each photo was taken downtown and is captioned with information from Downtown Sheridan, Wyoming Now & Then Photographic History, by The Wyoming Room at Sheridan County Fulmer Public Library.
The 5th and 6th pics were also taken in downtown Sheridan. Do you know what buildings they are? If you do, please comment with their names!
Photo courtesy of The Thorne-Rider Foundation
