The Laramie Filling Station/West Side Garage, shown in an image from the Ludwig-Svenson
Studio Collection, was once located at 312 S. Cedar St.
Folks who live on the west side of Laramie may soon see University of Wyoming students
in their neighborhood, clipboards and cameras in hand. Their mission: To gather information
about the oldest part of Laramie.
Spurred by their interest in historic preservation, UW graduate students Carly-Ann
Anderson and Molly Goldsmith are working on a cultural resources survey of a 20-block
area bounded by Clark Street to the north, Park Avenue to the south, the Laramie River
to the west and the railroad tracks to the east.
"I don't think a lot of people know about the rich history in that part of Laramie,"
says Goldsmith, a second-year graduate student from Princeton, Ill. "It's going to
be a nice reminder that there is something else around here besides campus and the
university district. It's not just a college town."
Adds Anderson, a first-year graduate student from Cheyenne, "It was a railroad town
before it was a college town."
Under the direction of Mary Humstone, a historic preservation specialist in the UW
American Studies Program, Anderson and Goldsmith have begun to document history of
the area -- block by block -- and build a list of properties. They and other students
and volunteers will be in the field during the spring semester to record buildings
and interview residents.
The Albany County Historic Preservation Board and the UW American Studies will host
an informational meeting for residents at 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 11, at the Lincoln
Community Center, 452 N. Cedar St. The project is being funded through a grant from
the Wyoming State Historic Preservation Office.
"The first thing you want to do in a survey like this is to find out what you have
and if it has historic significance, the next step is to enroll it in the National
Register of Historic Places," Humstone says. "Carly and Molly are not only going to
learn a lot about this part of Laramie but I'm sure there will probably be some myths
debunked during the survey."
Anderson believes one myth has already been squashed.
"I think a lot of people consider that area to be the wrong side of the tracks," she
says. "But I don't see that being very true at all."
The surveyed area, which Humstone says had unpaved streets in many parts until the
mid-1970s, features the oldest houses in the Gem City, some dating to 1875. Anderson
and Goldsmith say they expect to uncover more "forgotten history" during their work.
Residents who live in the west side area under survey and want to share information,
call Humstone at (307) 766-4929 or e-mail humstone@uwyo.edu.
