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Through the education of the communities young people, including many state and local celebrities, and its use as a public meeting place, the East Side School has made a significant contribution to the development of the city of Laramie. Constructed in 1878 it is the oldest school building in the state of Wyoming. Architect Peter Hanson described the original building as a handsome one fitting into what architectural historians term the Second Eclectic Period (c. 1860-1930).

In actuality, the period contained two main streams of design. The first related to a Gothic revival that evolved into a related Romanesque revival that was a spring board to the modern movement in architecture. The second main stream was more academic in character. Influenced by the Ecole Des Beaux-Arts in Paris, its architecture was inspired by great periods of centuries past. The East Side School was inspired by the villa designs of rural northern Italy and introduced to America by way of England in the 1830s.

By 1928 plans for a Gothic style addition to the school were complete. It would contain 67 rooms including a 5,635 square foot auditorium and a 5,310 square foot gymnasium. While the 1928 and a 1939 addition do not strictly adhere to the architectural style of the original 1878 building, sensitivity toward the original structure was demonstrated in the later additions.