View Full List of National Register: Wyoming Listings

Also known as the Sheep Hill/Capital Hill Historic District, the Rawlins Residential Historic District is adjacent to the north and east sides of the traditional commercial district of the town. The City of Rawlins is located along the first transcontinental railroad route, so that its original focus was the rail yards and depot. The city generally grew northward, and the commercial district lies to the north and west of the brick railroad depot. The residential district represents the natural expansion of early residential needs. Residences within the district share tree-lined streets, uniformity of setbacks, and continuity of vegetation. The district is characterized by both large homes and small simply detailed houses set regularly along streets. Houses date primarily from the late 1880s to the 1930s. The character of the neighborhood was well established by 1915, with a majority of the houses constructed in the first two decades of the twentieth century.

The Historic District contains the homes of many of the city's more affluent and influential residents of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Housing designs within the district reflect influences and simplified adaptations from a variety of design styles.

Through design elements taken from Stick, Italianate, Classic, Queen Anne, Greek and Shingle styles, many homes in the district demonstrate the Victorian talent for borrowing and combining to create a vital expression of the eclectic spirit. Residences are mostly one or one and one-half story wood frame with novelty siding and/or shingled exteriors, interspersed with a few brick homes with similar designs. Only one home is constructed of locally quarried stone. However, a large number of homes retain handcrafted stone retaining walls with ornamental caps and endposts that help unify the neighborhood.