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Wyoming Stories: Murray Self Tells Three Centennial Classics

Micah Schweizer

Murray "Murf" Self grew up in Centennial where his father Pat ran the Old Corral Hotel & Steakhouse. When Pat was eighteen years old, he started receiving a money from the VA on account of his own father’s death in World War I. This windfall marked the beginning of Pat Self’s tumultuous life with fancy cars.

Have you ever wondered why so many small towns have turned their old train depots into museums? In a story about his mother’s quest to open an interpretive center in Centennial, Self explains how.

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The end of the depot days: how Union Pacific depots became museums

Toward the end of her life, Murray Self’s mother was pen pals with Pulitzer prize-winning author James Michener. Around this time, the Self family donated a log cabin on the Old Corral’s property to become the new Centennial library, and Michener accepted an invitation to attend the dedication.

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James Michener comes to town: the dedication of the Centennial Library

Adrian Shirk is a writer and editor raised in Portland, Oregon. She holds a BFA in Writing for Publication, Performance, and Media from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, and is a co-founder of The Corresponding Society, and its associated journal Correspondence. Her work has appeared in Wilder Quarterly, The Airship, Packet, Owl Eye Review, and 7Stops Magazine. She's currently an MFA candidate in creative nonfiction at the University of Wyoming. Left to her own devices, she writes about American religion, architecture, geography, the remains of fallen cities, and family ancestry.
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