Designed by G.W.G. Van Winkle and constructed in 1898, the Christ Episcopal Church of Douglas is a modest example of the Gothic Revival Style which became popular in the middle and latter part of the 19th century. The church was the focal point of cultural and social evolution in the small frontier community of Douglas. Voluntary associations sponsored by church groups awakened settlers to a recognition of shared social and moral interests and fostered social cohesion during early settlement.

The Christ Episcopal Church was utilized by all denominations before the construction of their own churches. Activities sponsored by the church organizations included carnivals, balls and concerts, ice cream socials, bazaars, picnics, plays, holiday celebrations, and weekly dance suppers for the entire community. Today the Church continues to function as a community meeting place and church groups are still active in sponsoring community activities begun in the first years of settlement.

The College Inn, established in 1906 by Theodore (Lee) Pringle, is unique in the fact that it is the oldest business in Douglas and Converse County continuing in one location. The bar's predecessor, a saloon begun in 1887 by this same gentleman - and thus known to early Douglasites simply as ''Lee Pringle's'' - was a frame structure which served for 19 years as Mr. Pringle's prime business establishment prior to being moved from North 2nd Street to make way for the new College Inn.

On the College Inn's second floor were, at one time, nine lavishly furnished sleeping rooms - remembered by old-timers around Douglas as the ''best in town.'' A tenth upstairs room was designed for gambling, and had bar service by way of a dumbwaiter. These rooms are no longer used, although during the latter 1930s and early 1940s the Inn's owners of those years maintained a spacious upstairs apartment.

The bar business in Douglas and elsewhere, affected first by Prohibition, then by the rationing of alcoholic beverages during World War II, has had its good years and its bad. But the College Inn has perhaps succeeded better than most businesses in Douglas by hanging on through thick and thin, achieving for itself the distinction of being Douglas' oldest business to have operated continuously in the same location.

The Douglas City Hall is significant for the vital role it played in the development of the city of Douglas, serving its civic needs in the form of fire station and jail, as well as City Hall. It was designed by the well known Denver architect William Norman Bowman in 1915 and construction was completed in August of 1916. The building indicates the community's structure, organization, spirit and community pride. It represents the growing optimism on the ''lingering frontier'' at the transition from the 19th century frontier to the 20th century.

The City Hall, and its companion building, the County Courthouse (demolished in 1978), were symbols of the hopes and aspirations the inhabitants had for Douglas as it turned from a collection of tents and rude shacks along the banks of the Platte River into a modern city at the dawn of the 20th century. The Douglas City Hall continued to serve the City of Douglas until 1989 at which time the city government moved into another building.

This thematic study includes twelve post offices owned and administered by the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) throughout the State of Wyoming. These include the Basin, Greybull, Douglas, Lander, Torrington, Thermopolis, Buffalo, Kemmerer, Powell, Yellowstone, Evanston, and Newcastle Main Post Offices. The buildings represent a continuum of federally constructed post offices allocated to the state between the turn of the century and 1941.

The buildings exhibit a variety of styles and sizes but maintain a common demeanor representative of the federal presence. All of the buildings were constructed from standardized plans developed from guidelines provided by the Office of the Supervising Architect in the Treasury Department. Variations in design styles reflect both the transition in the design philosophies of the Supervising Architect and the requirements developed in response to the Depression.

These variations in design, as well as functions are also somewhat related to the communities in which they were placed and reflect the economic, political, and governmental context of those communities.

The Fremont, Elkhorn & Missouri Valley Railroad (FE&MV) Passenger Depot is a one-story wood structure constructed in 1886. The depot stands in the rail yards which bound the western end of the principal business section of Douglas. The design of the passenger depot was a standardized plan developed by the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad (C&NW), of which the FE&MV was a part. In the summer of 1886, Douglas owed its existence to the coming of the railroad, and the city's continued life and economic stability depended on this transportation network. When the end-of-the-line moved west to Casper in 1888, the little community nearly folded, but it continued to grow steadily as the area's resources found markets in the East, first cattle, then sheep, then coal, then oil, then electric power, each made marketable by the railroad and its ability to bring in and take out the materials and services necessary for economic success.

Even Douglas's major yearly event, the Wyoming State Fair, owes its origins to the C&NW, which donated the land for the fairgrounds in 1905. As the little-changed, physical representation of the most powerful force in the history of Converse County during the period 1886-1960, the FE&MV/C&NW Depot is a significant representation of the locality's history.

The Hotel LaBonte is eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places under Criterion A. The hotel, erected in 1913 and opened in January 1914, was a community project and part of the expansion and remaking of downtown Douglas during the 1910s. Local businessmen formed the Douglas Hotel Company to finance the construction of a building that the company would retain ownership of and lease. The Hotel LaBonte is the physical expression of the prosperity and the aspirations of the residents of Douglas for a modern hotel, as well as the Douglas building boom of the period. The Hotel LaBonte, which remains in use, initially housed train passengers, local ranchers, Wyoming residents in town for the County Court session, and motorists on the Yellowstone Highway.

The Hotel LaBonte is a three-story brick building located at the northeast corner of North Second and Walnut streets in downtown Douglas. The hotel, which has a U-shaped form with east and west wings flanking a recessed central wing and enclosing a courtyard, has the symmetry and formality of the neo-Renaissance style and is enriched with terra cotta elements. The ground floor level has two storefronts in the west wing and the hotel dining room in the east wing. Columns, a beamed ceiling, and ornate tile floor carry the architectural stylishness of the exterior into the hotel lobby, which retains its historic character. A renovation of the Hotel LaBonte building that began in 1967 and another one as part of the reconstruction after a fire in 1981 introduced replacement windows, the dance hall addition, new signage, an exterior entrance in the south end of the east wing, and internal changes.

The Hotel LaBonte has excellent integrity with regards to design and workmanship. Though changes have been made to the ground story and replacement windows have been installed, the building also has good overall integrity in terms of materials. The hotel lobby has very good integrity in design, materials, and workmanship. The hotel building has excellent integrity in location, setting, feeling and association as it continues to serve its original functions as a hotel with hospitality services on the ground floor.

Douglas, an east central Wyoming city on the North Platte River, is located in close proximity to various transportation routes. Douglas is near the Oregon Trail and the southern end of the Bozeman Trail. The construction of a railroad line that paralleled the route of the Oregon Trail brought about Douglas.

Douglas experienced an immediate boom in population that reached 1,600 by the end of 1886. The first buildings erected in Douglas included five brick ones. A group of citizens worked to organize a municipal government, and in September 1887 the town of Douglas was incorporated. Douglas was selected as the county seat in 1887 when Converse County was separated from Albany and Laramie Counties. The federal land office established in Douglas in 1890 upon Wyoming achieving statehood made it easier to homestead and purchase land in the county. The railroad provided a means to ship livestock, and a cattle and sheep industry grew up in the area surrounding Douglas. Stagecoaches carried mail and passengers from the railroad line in Douglas to the regional towns of Buffalo, Sheridan, Rock Creek, and Laramie. Cattlemen and then sheepmen settling in and near the town, along with businesses related to agriculture, rescued Douglas from a major drop in population during the late 1880s and made it a thriving small town. A small commercial district grew up near the railroad line on North Second Street, the eventual home of the Hotel LaBonte. Douglas grew rapidly for the second time between 1900, when it had 734 residents, and 1910, when the population was 1,512.

Douglas acquired an additional railroad connection; the Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy (Burlington) Railroad reached Douglas in 1914. During the 1920s, the C&NW and Burlington lines ran six passenger trains daily supplemented by locals with passenger cars. Douglas had daily passenger train service from 1888 to the mid-1960s.

This additional railroad link and a location on the Yellowstone Highway contributed to the prosperity of Douglas through the 1910s and early 1920s. The Good Roads Club of Douglas, which was founded in 1910 and evolved into the Chamber of Commerce, lobbied for and promoted the Yellowstone Highway, a route that connected Denver with Yellowstone Park, and Douglas became a stopping place for motorists between the national park and Denver. The Yellowstone Highway, discussed as early as 1912 and celebrated with an official guidebook in 1916, was absorbed by the “Park to Park Highway,” which eventually connected all the major national parks in the west. During the mid-1920s, the Yellowstone Highway east of the national park became US 20. Thousands of tourists drove the gravel highway during the summer months.

Hotels and rooming houses were an important component of the commercial economy of Douglas, which was a transportation, local government, ranching, and shipping center. Ranchers visiting town for a few days needed accommodations and court sessions at the Converse County Courthouse were busy times in Douglas. The property known both as the Valley House and later as the Davis Hotel, located on the south side of Center Street next to the rail line, was opened for business in December 1886.

By 1913, Douglas needed an additional hotel and seven men met in early January in the office of E. T. (Edward T.) David to consider the challenge and ended up pledging $12,500 worth of stock at that initial meeting. The Douglas Hotel Company was incorporated in February 1913 to ensure that the community would have a first class hotel. The company raised $25,000 through the sale of shares in order to build the hotel, which it would lease to an operator. The company planned to erect a three-story hotel with at least 50 rooms costing at least $50,000. Within the month, all $25,000 worth of bonds were subscribed.

The Douglas Hotel Company engaged the architectural firm of the Baerresen Brothers, which had offices in Cheyenne and Denver, to provide plans for the hotel. Edward Reavill’s construction firm was at work on the new building by April 1913. Twenty-five tons of steel beams formed the trusses that supported the second floor above the open spaces of the lobby, dining room, and other public spaces. The local Douglas pressed brick plant supplied the brick for the hotel. By the time the hotel was opened for business on January 26, 1914, it was the Hotel LaBonte. The name refers to the LaBonte pony express and stage station on the Overland Trail, which was located southeast of Douglas and named after a hunter of a French father and mother from Kentucky who was raised in Mississippi.

The rooms in the Hotel LaBonte had all the modern technology and safety features of the era, as well as luxurious furnishings. Electric lights, steam heat, and hot and cold running water were available throughout the hotel and telephones were placed in each of the 54 guest rooms. Twelve of the larger rooms had full bathrooms; the rest had sinks. The rooms were furnished with brass bedsteads, heavy rugs, and leather-covered mahogany and oak furniture. A pair of fire escapes was attached to the north side of the building at the north ends of the side corridors. The Douglas Hotel Company’s ownership of the hotel made it as much a community project as a private business. The newspaper editor wrote of the new hotel as an important community asset and a testament to its supporters’ faith in the future of Douglas.

The size, materials, and architectural expression of the Hotel LaBonte are consistent with the construction that took place in Douglas circa 1915 and are the physical expression of the prosperity and aspirations for modernity, as well as the Douglas building boom of the time. Architects from Denver designed the more important projects of this era, and the Douglas Hotel Company engaged the Baerresen Brothers to provide plans for the hotel. The hotel design emphasizes the size and massing of the building and approaches the physical presence of a civic building. The neo-Classical form and detailing is consistent with the design preferences of the era and the civic and commercial buildings erected in Douglas. Despite the changes made to the ground floor level, the Hotel LaBonte still represents the increase in size and formality between the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century hotels erected in small Wyoming cities.

The Hotel LaBonte is eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places under Criterion A in the area of Community Development and Planning. The construction of the Hotel LaBonte in 1913 represents the maturation and modernization of Douglas as a commercial, transportation, and local governmental center in Converse County. The Hotel LaBonte, one of the largest of the new buildings erected in Douglas between 1913 and 1916, was the result of the resolve of a group of prominent Douglas citizens that the city would have a modern hotel. The Hotel LaBonte, financed by the wealth of the local cattle and sheep operations and related businesses, was a local project as much as a commercial venture. The hotel served businessmen associated with the local agricultural and energy operations and county residents, as well as travelers to the State Fair and was on one of the major routes to Yellowstone Park, contributing to the city’s tourism industry.

Constructed in 1916, the Jenne Block embodies both architectural and historical significance. The building was originally constructed and owned by pioneer Douglas citizen Jacob Jenne. Jenne was a successful and influential Converse County sheep rancher and businessman in the early part of the twentieth century. In 1915 Jenne purchased the lot at the southeast corner of Third and Center Street for $3,500, and in the following year he financed the construction of this ornate business block.

The profuse use of terra cotta design elements reflects the prosperity of its owner and enhanced the building's appearance as an edifice worthy of the financial institutions and professional offices it contained. The Jenne Block is historically significant for the important role it has played as a locus of business in Douglas for over eighty years. The Jenne Block served as a bank and office building as well as the home of the Douglas Enterprise newspaper for several decades in the early twentieth century. Many of the businesses contained in the Jenne Block were important participants in the economic affairs of Douglas and rural Converse County.

The Morton Mansion is a Late Victorian style, three story, wood frame house designed by prominent Wyoming architect William Dubois for pioneer sheep rancher John Morton. Built in 1903, the home was occupied for nearly five decades by the Morton family.

The North Douglas Historic District is adjacent to the north and east sides of the original commercial district of the city of Douglas. Douglas was a railroad town created by the Chicago and North Western Railroad (Fremont, Elkhorn and Missouri Valley Railway), which built through the region in 1886, so that its original focus was the rail yards and depot. The North Douglas Historic District represents the expansion of early residential needs to the north and east of the commercial district. It is comprised of an area containing portions of fifteen blocks of the Original Town plat of 1886 and a small portion of the Phillips Addition platted in 1906. The district is characterized by both large homes and small simply detailed houses set regularly along streets. The majority of the buildings are one-story, wood fame residences that date from the early 1890s to the early 1940s. Most were built between ca. 1903 and 1912, generally reflecting Douglas’ decade of greatest growth.

The District is important as a distinct and cohesive residential area integrally associated with and representative of the significant trends that contributed to the settlement and development of Douglas from 1886 through the 1950s. It contains a large concentration of the homes of “working class” citizens as well as the homes of a number of historically important and wealthier residents of early Douglas who played key roles in its economic, political and social growth. The pattern of homebuilding reflects the growth and development of Douglas from one of hundreds of railroad towns to a modern city and county seat with a diversified economy that today serves a regional ranching, energy, and industrial community.

The Officer's Club, located on the site of the former Douglas POW Camp, was constructed in 1943. The Camp, consisting of 180 buildings, was among the 155 base camps and 511 branch camps that were constructed throughout the United States during World War II to house enemy captives from Europe and Japan. The Officer's Club, one of only a few camp buildings still standing, features sixteen murals painted by three Italian prisoners-of-war during 1943-1944.

The murals are painted directly on the walls and depict icons of the mythical American west: cowboys, Indians, wagon trains, cattle drives, a stockade fort, and even the famous Old Faithful geyser in Wyoming's Yellowstone National Park. The Douglas POW Camp officially closed in 1946 and became the property of the War Assets Administration. A few local people, including members of the Douglas Lodge #15, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, fought to preserve the history of the Camp. The Odd Fellows purchased the Officer's Club in 1963, has maintained the building, and taken pains to protect the unique murals.