View Full List of National Register: Wyoming Listings

Previously known as the Ten Sleep Mercantile, this two story commercial structure embodies the vernacular architecture of the frontier era and has acted as a community focal point since the turn of the century. The Ten Sleep Mercantile is representative of the detached retail store featuring tall, narrow and deep interior shop space that can be found throughout rural American towns and is a style of architecture particularly associated with frontier communities. As a significant component of community life, such structures generally served dispersed rural populations. In many instances communities derived what little identity they had from stores that served not only as the community supplier but social center. H. T. Church created the Ten Sleep Mercantile in 1902. The expansion of business led to the construction of the permanent Ten Sleep Mercantile building in 1905 which quickly emerged as one of the town's principal focal points. Local merchant and historian Paul Frison operated the Ten Sleep Mercantile between 1919-1943. Frison was a prominent figure in county politics serving as a justice of the peace, mayor of Ten Sleep, and state legislator. An avid avocational historian, Frison detailed the area's history and folklore in five published books and in assorted manuscripts and texts.