Panoramic view, intersection Main Street and Brundage, Sheridan, Wyoming, 1909. Photo by F. J. Bardholtz
For Close up click here
Directly across the street at 50 N. Main is the Bank of Commerce which also housed the Masonic Temple.
Across the street to the right is the Sheridan
National Bank. The drugstore at the right in the photo
is now the site of the Kendrick Building constructed by John B. Kendrick, governor and
U. S. senator. For biographical information on Kendrick, see
Cattle II. In 1914 the Sheridan National Bank moved into the Kendrick
Building. The building at the exteme left is the Diefenderfer and Dinwiddie Hardware Store. Before moving
to their new lodge building in 1910, the Elks Lodge met on the second floor.
Down the street is the town hall with the cupola.
On the bottom floor was the fire station and the upper floor housed the
police department and court room. Behind the Town Hall was located a
corrigated iron jail, notorious for its ease of escape. Among those who escaped was Daniel
Boone Potter. Potter, going by the name "Donnelly," was wanted in North Carolina for the murder
of a deputy sheriff who attempted to serve Potter with a warrant for "forceful trespass." Potter shot the
deputy who expired several weeks later. Potter fled first to Colorado and later to Sheridan where he
was arrested by the town marshal. Potter escaped from the Sheridan jail by breaking a lock, but was
recaptured three days later. When North Carolina authorities arrived, the town marshal refused to
turn Potter over to them until they paid the award. This generated various telegrams from
Sheridan to the North Carolina Governor's office in Raleigh, from Raleigh to Ashville where the governor
was sojourning, and then from the North Carolina Governor to Governor Chatterton in Cheyenne before the matter
could be resolved. when Potter arrived back in North Carolina he again escaped using the same method of breaking
the lock on the cell with an irom bar taken from the cell's plumbing. He as killed by a posse the
following year.
Commercial buildings on Upper Main Street, 1908.
Note absence of trolley tracks. In the next photo the Trolley has been added but the street is still unpaved.
Sheridan, Main Street, approx. 1912
The street railway company was organized in 1910 and provided service from the Western
Hotel to Fort Mackenzie and to the mining camps north of town. The building on the corner is the Diefenderfer and Dinwiddie Hardware Store at
55-59 N. Main. Further down the street at 35 N. Main is the Stevens Fryberger Building
housing the "New York Store." See also next image.
Commercial buildings on Upper Main Street, 1902, card published by Glafcke and Morris
The New York Store claimed to be the largest department store in the state. The term "New York Store" was utilized in
many areas of the west as denoting a particular method of operation as opposed to being a
part of a nationwide chain of "New York Stores."
Industrial buildings, Sheridan, 1902, card published by Glafcke and Morris
Ludlow Burleigh Glafcke served as mayor of Sheridan in 1909. His brother, E. W. Glafcke, served in the
U. S. Geological Survey and was responsible for surveying portions of the
Bighorns. Their father, Herman Glafcke, a prominent Republican, was Territorial Secretary 1870-1873, and
later editor of the Cheyenne Leader. Herman Glafcke, named another son Grant Glafcke after
President Grant.
Loucks Street, 1909.
Sheridan was laid out in 1882
by John D. Loucks who arrived in the area from Miles City and purchased a
land claim and cabin from George Mandel. The cabin is still in existence although it has
been moved. Loucks drew the plat on the back of a sheet of wrapping paper.
The City experienced comparatively rapid growth. By 1900, it had a population of
over 1500 and by 1910 a population of approximately 12,000.
Sheridan c. 1930, looking south to intersection with Brundage.
Compare with photos above. Trolly tracks have now
been removed. The drug store in the panoramic photo is gone and has been replaced
with the Kendrick Building. Beyond the old Bank of Commerce Building, the two wooden buildings
have been replaced with the Lotus Theatre at 42 N. Main. Next door to the Lotus is a Greek restaurant known as the
Lotus Cafe.
Main Street looking north, 1958, WYO Theatre, formerly the Lotus, on left.
Cady Opera House, 1893
The Lotus opened in 1923 and featured seating for more than 480. The 15-piece Lotus
Orchestra provided accompaniment to the silent movies of the era. In 1929, the
theatre introduced "talkies," with persons coming from all over northern Wyoming to
witness and hear the miracle. During the 1930's the theatre was known as the
Fox-Lotus. In 1941, its owner, Fox Intermountain Theaters, renamed the facility the
WYO. In 1982, the theatre closed, but was purchased in a community effort, restored, and
remains in operation today with live performances.
Sheridan has had theatres from almost its
beginnings. In the 1890's the very elaborate Italianate-Gothic Cady Opera House opened and
featured vaudville and plays that were traveling the national circuit. In 1906, a fire destroyed the
third floor. The third floor was removed and never restored. The building was
subsequently used as the Helvey Hotel. Appearing at the time of the fire was the national
tour version of the musical comedy The Runaway Match. So the title's pun will not be missed,
the heroine was a "Nellie Matche." A "runaway match" is an elopement.
Other theatres included the Grand, the Orpheum, the Pastime, Gem, Reel, and Star. During the age of
silent movies, most augmented the film with piano music. An exception was the Orpheum located on West Brudage.
The Orpheum installed a
Robert-Morton Theater Organ in 1918. In remembrance of the days of the mighty theatre organ, background
music on this page is Are You From Dixie, I'm From Dixie Too played on the mighty Hammond.
[The writer is from Dixie] .
Are You From Dixie
Hello there stranger how do you do
there's something I'd like to say to you
You seem surprised I recognize
I'm no detective but I just surmise
You're from the place I'm longing to be
your smiling face seems to say to me
You're from my homeland my sunny homeland
tell me can it be?
Are you from Dixie I say from Dixie
where the fields of cotton beckon to me
I'm glad to see you tell me
I'll be you and the friend I'm longing to see
Are you from Alabama Tennessee or Caroline
Any place below the Mason Dixon Line
Are you from Dixie I say from Dixie
'cause I'm from Dixie too.
It was a way back in old '89
When first I crossed that Mason Dixon Line
Gee but again I long to return
To those good old folks I left behind
My home was way down in old Alabam'
On the plantation near Birmingham
and there's one thing certain I'm surely flirtin'
With those southbound trains
Next Page, Sheridan Continued.
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