Ten Sleep Mercantile | |
Ten Sleep Mercantile in 2017 | |
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| Location | Pine and Second Streets, Ten Sleep, Wyoming |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 44°2′3″N107°26′59″W / 44.03417°N 107.44972°W Coordinates: 44°2′3″N107°26′59″W / 44.03417°N 107.44972°W |
| Built | 1905 |
| Architect | H.T. Church |
| NRHP reference # | 86002324 |
| Added to NRHP | September 11, 1986 [1] |
Ten Sleep Mercantile, also known as Ten Sleep Hardware, is an example of a typical small-town general store. Located in Ten Sleep, Wyoming, it has been the focal point of the town since it was built in 1905 by H.T. Church. Upon Church's death in 1918 the property was bought by Buffalo businessman and rancher Alex Healy (Rancher) in an agreement that brought the store under the control of Paul Frison. Frison, who later served as mayor of Ten Sleep and as a Wyoming state legislator, [2] operated the store from 1918 to 1943.
A general merchant store is a rural or small town store that carries a general line of merchandise. It carries a broad selection of merchandise, sometimes in a small space, where people from the town and surrounding rural areas come to purchase all their general goods. The store carries routine stock and obtains special orders from warehouses. It differs from a convenience store or corner shop in that it will be the main shop for the community rather than a convenient supplement.
Ten Sleep is a town in Washakie County, Wyoming, United States. It is located in the Big Horn Basin in the western foothills of the Big Horn Mountains, about 26 miles (42 km) east of Worland and 59 miles (95 km) west of Buffalo.
Ten Sleep Mercantile is an example of the tall, narrow and deep commercial buildings commonly found in small American towns. The two story balloon frame building is the best preserved building of its kind in Ten Sleep. The building is clad in wood clapboards. The front facade features a rod-supported shed roofed porch sheltering display windows and a recessed double door. The second floor has three double-hung windows, while the top of the facade is capped with a simplified bracketed cornice. The side elevations feature a stepped parapet following the single-pitched main roof as it rises from the rear to the front. On the east side a covered stairway climbs to the second floor. [3]
The interior is well preserved with a large, deep main room and a pressed tin ceiling and plastered walls. A row of arched columns support the second floor. The second floor originally comprised two large rooms for the live-in owners, now subdivided. An unfinished basement underlies all. [3]
Paul Frison was significant as a local historian who was instrumental in promoting the Black and Yellow Trail, a tourist route on US 14 from Chicago to Yellowstone National Park running through Ten Sleep. The trail's name was derived from the fact that it linked the Black Hills and Yellowstone. Established in 1912, the route featured Ten Sleep Canyon, just to the east of the town. [3]
The Black and Yellow Trail was the promotional name for the portion of U.S. Route 14 (US 14) nominally linking the Black Hills of South Dakota to Yellowstone National Park.The signed auto trail route was extended by promoters to Chicago in the east. In 1919, it was proposed as a brand for a continuous route from Boston, Massachusetts to Seattle, Washington The headquarters for the promotional association were established in Huron, South Dakota with the aim of diverting traffic from the better-known Yellowstone Trail to the north. The Black and Yellow Trail also included portions of US 16, US 20, and US 41.
Chicago, officially the City of Chicago, is the most populous city in Illinois and the third most populous city in the United States. As of the 2017 census-estimate, it has a population of 2,716,450, which makes it the most populous city in the Midwestern United States. Chicago is the county seat of Cook County, the second most populous county in the United States, and the principal city of the Chicago metropolitan area, which is often referred to as "Chicagoland." The Chicago metropolitan area, at nearly 10 million people, is the third-largest in the United States, the fourth largest in North America, and the third largest metropolitan area in the world by land area.
Yellowstone National Park is an American national park located in Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho. It was established by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Ulysses S. Grant on March 1, 1872. Yellowstone was the first national park in the U.S. and is also widely held to be the first national park in the world. The park is known for its wildlife and its many geothermal features, especially Old Faithful geyser, one of its most popular features. It has many types of ecosystems, but the subalpine forest is the most abundant. It is part of the South Central Rockies forests ecoregion.
