Carbon County Museum gets new digs

Museum purchases historic downtown building

A new historic home is now on the horizon for the Carbon County Museum in Rawlins.

Carbon County Commissioners and the Carbon County Museum finalized the purchase of the Hugus-Ferguson Building, located at 406 West Cedar St. in downtown Rawlins, on Dec. 30, 2013. The building, which first had construction work done in 1895, will serve as the new home for the Carbon County Museum and Research Center.

The Carbon County Museum is currently located at 904 W. Walnut St. in Rawlins, which has been its home since 1976. Carbon County Museum Director Kelly Morris said she was excited to have the museum's new home be inside a historic structure more than 100 years old.

"This is a really great, positive thing for downtown Rawlins and the history of Carbon County," she said. "On top of having a better location and better home, we can save a historic building. We already know this structure can handle the museum, and we're going to have to do a lot of work to make it the facility we need."

Museum board members and staff will be working with historic architects and conservation experts, to map a plan for the building's remodeling and restoration. Work is slated to begin within weeks and will continue for the next three to five years.

"This is very exciting for Carbon County to finally have a historic home for the museum," said Carbon County Commissioner John Johnson. "The hard work and dedication by all involved, especially the staff at the museum, is apparent and they deserve the gratitude from all of us who really appreciate the history that formed Carbon County."

Thanks to a grant from Wyoming Main Street and funds from the Carbon County Museum Foundation, structural and environmental assessments have also been completed on the building.

"DDA Main Street is extremely pleased to have the museum moving to downtown," said Rawlins Downtown Development Director Pam Thayer, who wrote the Wyoming Main Street Grant. "The museum will make the downtown a tourism destination and increase tourism dollars for the entire county."

In addition to the structural and environmental assessments, a museum feasibility study paid for by the museum foundation has also been completed.

"We know this building is structurally sound and can house a state-of-the-art museum and increase our research capabilities," Morris said. "Not only will we have a larger, safer home for our county's collection, we will also save a historic structure."

Originally built in two stages, the ground floor of the Hugus-Ferguson Building was constructed in 1895 from native sandstone to house the J.W. Hugus General Store and First National Bank. The red-bricked second story was completed in 1901 and served as the Masonic Lodge until 1909.

Ferguson Mercantile purchased the building in 1912, where the business operated until the late 1960s. Also, part of the building is a basement, which Morris said will be used for storage purposes.

"The basement will be used for things like cases we're not using and mannequins, and there will be plenty of storage space," she said. "Construction will also be done in phases. We're not sitting around hoping it will happen, it's going to happen."

In its more than 110-year history, the Hugus-Ferguson building also had close ties with residents living in the Platte Valley. As a teenager in the 1950s, Jack Sintek, who lives in Saratoga but grew up in Rawlins, worked for the Ferguson's general store that once occupied the space.

"I went to work for Ferguson's Mercantile after school and during the summer out of school, but when I came back from the Korean War jobs were hard to find," he said. "I went to the Ferguson's owner/manager, Chris Kelson, and told him I was having a problem finding a job, and he got on the phone and made a phone call. He hung up the phone and said to head up to the Safeway Store, and that the manager there had a place for me. For him to call a competitor to get me a job, I was always grateful for that."

Sintek said he was working at Ferguson's during the time of a nearby building excavation, in which the remains of notorious Carbon County criminal "Big Nose" George were found.

"One of my errands was to go to another local business establishment, and on the way there down the alley there was a large group of people where a new Hested's store was being built," he said. "They were digging the foundation and came across a barrel, and they observed the barrel and it appeared to be something about maybe two feet in diameter or less. Some stuff had been pulled out of it just a little bit. It was a miracle they saw it because within just an inch or two more, they never would have seen it in the excavation."

Sintek said people present at the excavation included a local doctor named Dr. Jeffrey, and the Rawlins fire chief, whom Sintek believed was Dick Seith at the time. Sintek said the men wanted to investigate further with Dr. Lillian Heath, the first female medical doctor in Wyoming, because she had "Big Nose George's" skull cap in her possession.

"Dr. Jeffrey said to the fire chief to go down to Mrs. Heath's house, because she's got the skull cap and is using it as a doorstop," Sintek said. "He said that if that matches the guy they're digging out, that would be 'Big Nose George'. I wouldn't be surprised if whenever they called Mrs. Heath, they ended up with that skull cap."

Several artifacts made from Big Nose George's body, including a plaster death mask, skull cast and shoes made from his skin, are currently on display at the Carbon County Museum.

Carbon County Museum and the Carbon County Museum Foundation are seeking partners to share in the effort to restore and renovate the Hugus-Ferguson Building as the museum's new home. Contact Kelly Morris at 307-328-2740 for more information on how to help revitalize the structure as the new Carbon County Museum and Research Center.