Wyoming Stories: Boom And Bust In Rawlins

Like many Wyoming natives, Pat and Ellie Noonan met at a college party in Laramie—almost sixty years ago. In this story, the couple describe the misadventures of their first encounter.
 

The Noonans remember the summer that city officials dug up the century-old corpse of outlaw Big Nose George.

From the early 1960s to the late 80s, Pat Noonan was employed by the First National Bank of Rawlins, first as a teller and later as its inaugural Computer Operations Manager—which was a wholly alien pursuit for a small town bank in 1971.

In 1967, Rawlins resident Duane Shillinger was hired by the Wyoming State Penitentiary as a counselor. Later, through an unexpected turn of events, he ended up serving as warden for seventeen years. In this story, he remembers the transition from the 19th century facility to the current one, and the relationships he formed with inmates.

This summer,  the Wyoming State Historic Preservation Office received a grant to survey buildings and landscapes along the I-80 corridor. Because I-80 and old US-30 roughly follow the nation’s first transcontinental highway, the project was called the ‘Lincoln Highway Survey.’ In honor of the highway’s 100th anniversary, we’ll make some stops along the road this week. Wyoming Public Radio’s Micah Schweizer begins our series by speaking with Beth King and Erin Dorbin from the State Historic Preservation Office.

In preparation for your upcoming road trip, you’ve already dialed the destination into your GPS. You’ve read online reviews to choose where you’ll sleep. And you probably booked the Hampton instead of that quaint motor court, right? With fewer travelers choosing rooms at smaller mid-century-era motels, how are owners adapting their businesses? Producer Erin Dorbin visited Wyoming Motel in Cheyenne to find out.