Question for any old time Casper residents from the 1940s or 50s. (Mills: for sale, new home)

[Cloudy Dayz]

I'm not sure if there is anybody here who was a resident of Casper in the 1940s or 50s, or who knows much about Casper from that time period, but I thought I would ask this question anyway.

When looking at old aerial photos and maps of Casper from the 1940s and early 50s, one thing that jumps out at me was a massive unidentified complex of some kind south of CY Avenue and west of South Poplar Street. It looked kind of like some type of military base. But I have researched it and can't find any information on any such base.

The complex included four blocks of what looked like identical duplex style housing along the south side of CY Avenue, and large multiple airplane hangar size industrial buildings along the west side of Poplar Street. But there didn't appear to be any runways, so I don't think it was an airfield.

Whatever it was, it looks like it must have been pretty significant due to its size. It was completely demolished in the 1950s and redeveloped with the current commercial and residential buildings that exist in that area today.

Does anybody have any idea what it was? I have tried to figure it out, but can't think of anything other than a military base, or maybe a CCC camp.

Thanks in advance for any ideas on what it might have been.

[NW Crow]

Not sure if this is a match but good chance it is or related. Fwiw:

https://www.wyohistory.org/encyclope...-army-air-base

[Cloudy Dayz]

Originally Posted by NW Crow

Not sure if this is a match but good chance it is or related. Fwiw:

https://www.wyohistory.org/encyclope...-army-air-base

Thanks. Yeah, I'm familiar with the Casper Army Air Field. That's the current location of the Casper Natrona County International Airport in Mountain View, about 10 miles Northwest of Casper.

What I'm talking about is right on the Southwest side of Casper. Here is the aerial image. Poplar Street is running North to South and CY Avenue is running diagonally. The CY Ranch is to the Northwest, some farm field is to the Southwest, and then the developed area of Casper to the east. Of course the entire area is developed today.

It just seems so weird. It looks like it was a pretty significant complex, but there doesn't seem to be any historical record of it.

[NW Crow]

Ok, sorry. I guess what I found was too easy probably to be right. It did talk about blimps fwiw.

[Wyoprairie]

Way before my time, but just as a guess, could that have perhaps been company housing for the old Standard Oil Refinery? The refinery was north of there basically between Poplar and the town of Mills. After Amoco BP closed the refinery, it's site was redeveloped into the 3Crowns Golf Course and a refinery office building is now home to Wyoming Oil & Gas Commission.

Wasn't unusual for companies to build housing if it was a large operation. (ie. CIG building the town of Table Rock for their gas processing plant) Housing still for rotating employees at Lost Cabin Gas Plant in Lysite. Just random thought.

The site you are curious about is now, as you drive west from the intersection of Poplar and CY, first a Walgreens, then Wendy's, then a small strip shopping center, and then a Catholic church, and St Anthony Tri-Parish Catholic school. Those all occupy that piece of ground. The islands in CY avenue are still there today with grass and trees between east and westbound traffic lanes.

[NW Crow]

Maybe somebody here might know if it is military: http://www.wyomilitary.wyo.gov/resou...morial-museum/
Or could possibly contact others who might know.

[RosieSD]

If anyone is 55+ and lives near Casper, I noticed today that the Osher Learning Institute at Casper Community College has a course coming up on the old Casper airfield, among lots of other interesting classes for "older" folks. The Osher program looks like a great plus for Casper seniors!

Here's the link: https://caspercollege.augusoft.net/i...t_catalog_id=0

[Cloudy Dayz]

Originally Posted by Wyoprairie

Way before my time, but just as a guess, could that have perhaps been company housing for the old Standard Oil Refinery? The refinery was north of there basically between Poplar and the town of Mills. After Amoco BP closed the refinery, it's site was redeveloped into the 3Crowns Golf Course and a refinery office building is now home to Wyoming Oil & Gas Commission.

Wasn't unusual for companies to build housing if it was a large operation. (ie. CIG building the town of Table Rock for their gas processing plant) Housing still for rotating employees at Lost Cabin Gas Plant in Lysite. Just random thought.

The site you are curious about is now, as you drive west from the intersection of Poplar and CY, first a Walgreens, then Wendy's, then a small strip shopping center, and then a Catholic church, and St Anthony Tri-Parish Catholic school. Those all occupy that piece of ground. The islands in CY avenue are still there today with grass and trees between east and westbound traffic lanes.

That is not a bad guess. It's better than anything I can come up with. It still has that military base look to me, but it could very well have been company housing. I think Casper has always had a tight housing market. So they may have needed to build housing to get enough employees. With all the new home construction on the west side of Casper in the 1950s, their employees probably found better housing, and it wasn't needed any more. So they might have bulldozed the houses and put the land up for sale.

I remember that refinery where the Three Crowns Golf Course is when my family lived in Casper in the mid-1970s. It's amazing how the refineries have shrunk in Casper. Especially on the north side of the river. The tank farms used to stretch all the way from the river all the way up past what is now the US-26 - I-25 interchange. It looks like only a few tanks remain.

Good observation on the grass median on CY Avenue. It's a nice throwback to that long gone housing area that used to be there. As I recall in the 1970s there was a Wyatt's Cafeteria where Walgreens is now. The strip mall is actually two old Safeway stores. The 1950s store and a 1970s replacement. For a short time Safeway had both stores operating at the same time side by side. I have no idea what was up with that. The Catholic church and the school were there in the 70s. On the other side of the street Albertsons is still there, but it looks like they have taken over the entire shopping center. There used to be about a half dozen other businesses in there with them.

[Cloudy Dayz]

Originally Posted by NW Crow

Maybe somebody here might know if it is military: http://www.wyomilitary.wyo.gov/resou...morial-museum/
Or could possibly contact others who might know.

Thanks, I'll shoot them a message and see if they know. But I think Wyoprairie probably nailed it. It was probably some kind of company town. There doesn't seem to be a lot of military history in Wyoming other then Warren Air Force Base and the Casper Army Air Field. At least not since Fort Caspar and other Western forts shut down in the 1800s.

[Wyoprairie]

There is a little pocket park right at the intersection on the south corner opposite Albertson's/gas station. If I remember to, I might stop and see if they have a plaque or something like that to commemorate the earlier neighborhood.