Douglas, Wyoming: Photographing a Working Western Town
There are plenty of places in the American West where the history has been cleaned up, packaged, and sold back to tourists. Douglas, Wyoming, doesn't feel like one of them.
Located along the North Platte River in Converse County, Douglas is a small Western town with deep roots in ranching, agriculture, and the railroad. It's also home to some remarkable old businesses, including a bar that's been operating in the same location for more than a century, a traditional shoe and saddle shop, and a downtown movie theater dating back to the silent-film era.
For a photographer interested in the working American West, there's plenty to see without ever leaving downtown.
The College Inn: More Than a Century of Wyoming History
The vintage entrance to The College Inn that originally opened in 1906 in Douglas, WY.
The College Inn is the kind of bar you could spend hours photographing without getting bored, because you can just feel the history.
Opened in 1906 by Theodore Pringle, it's the oldest business in Douglas still operating in its original location. The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and much of its original character remains.
The elaborate wooden bar was manufactured in Chicago and assembled on-site. There are carved wooden arches, decorative tile floors, old mirrors, mounted elk heads, and enough details to keep your eyes wandering around the room.
Vintage signs cover the wooden partition beside the bar, while mounted birds sit above the carved woodwork and red stools line the counter.
Two golden eagles sit on the carved wooden arch that frames the view into the back room, where a pool table sits beyond the row of bar stools.
The building's history is just as interesting as its appearance. Upstairs were once nine furnished sleeping rooms, along with a tenth room specifically designed for gambling. Drinks were delivered to the gambling room from the bar downstairs by a dumbwaiter.
According to the bartender, the second floor also operated as a brothel at one point. I haven't been able to verify that part of the story through historical records, but it's an interesting bit of local lore to add to a building that already has plenty of history.
An elk and Antelope mount hang above the dark wooden partitions separating areas of the bar.
Green light illuminates the bottles beneath a hanging Budweiser clock, with a painted landscape filling the space above the back bar.
The College Inn is a good reminder of why I enjoy photographing old businesses. You can read about a building's history, but standing inside it and looking at the things that have survived gives you a different appreciation for the place.
A Coors on Tap sign hangs from the second floor entrance of what was likely the brothel at the College Inn in Douglas, WY.
City Shoe & Saddle Shop: A Working Piece of the West
Photographs, calendars and local keepsakes cover the wooden wall beside shelves of Western boots at City Shoe & Saddle Shop.
Just down the street is City Shoe & Saddle Shop, a business that has been serving the Douglas area for more than 40 years.
The shop sells Western boots, hats, clothing, and leather goods, but what interested me most was the repair work.
A pair of embroidered cowboy boots sits among bottles, hand tools and worn work surfaces in the shop's repair area.
Wooden boot lasts line the wall above a pair of camouflage-patterned boots waiting on the workbench.
There's something satisfying about photographing a place where people still repair things rather than simply replace them. The tools, machinery, worn work surfaces, and piles of materials are interesting on their own, but they also tell you something about the business.
Boot repair isn't particularly glamorous, and that's part of what makes it worth documenting.
In ranching communities, boots are working equipment. They get worn, damaged, and repaired. A shop that can keep them going serves a purpose that has very little to do with nostalgia.
Scissors, pliers and other hand tools hang within reach, with labeled parts drawers filling the shelves above the bench.
Boot boxes and Western footwear fill the shelves beneath mounted animal heads, framed prints and rows of hats.
I've spent years photographing working cowboys and ranches throughout the West. Places like City Shoe & Saddle Shop are another part of that same world. They might not be as visually dramatic as a cattle drive, but they're every bit as relevant to the culture.
Corner Barbershop and the Everyday Life of Douglas
Another stop in Douglas was the Corner Barbershop.
I've been photographing traditional American barbershops for more than 15 years, documenting roughly 250 shops across all 50 states. It's a project that started out of curiosity and eventually became the book Barbershops of America.
What continues to interest me is how much personality these businesses have.
A barbershop can tell you a surprising amount about a town. The chairs, mirrors, photographs, signs, and things people have collected over the years all contribute to a place that feels distinctly its own.
Mirrors and barber chairs line the wood-paneled shop beneath a painting of a rider pursuing a bison.
The vinyl REST ROOM lettering on a door were painted over at the Corner Barbershop in Douglas.
The Corner Barbershop fits naturally into this larger body of work. It's another example of an ordinary American business that becomes more interesting the longer you look at it.
And that's really the point of the project. Not every worthwhile photograph needs an extraordinary subject. Here you can see the abandoned apartments above the barbershop, which the barber was more than happy to let me see during my visit. Interestingly, you had to go through the barbershop to get to the stairs which brought you up to the apartments.
Flower wallpaper covers abandoned apartments above the Corner Barbershop in Douglas.
The Princess Theatre and Historic Downtown Douglas
A short walk through downtown brings you to the Princess Theatre, another piece of Douglas history.
According to the city's historic downtown guide, the theater was constructed in 1917, when silent films were still a relatively new form of entertainment. Early screenings were accompanied by live piano music, and the theater originally seated around 300 people.
It was later renamed the Mesa Theatre before eventually returning to the Princess name.
It's interesting to think about the generations of people who have walked through those doors, watching everything from silent movies to modern Hollywood productions.
The building is also a reminder that the history of the American West isn't limited to cowboys, ranches, and rodeos. Small-town theaters, bars, barbershops, and repair businesses have their own place in that story.
The Princess Theatre marquee extends over the sidewalk in downtown Douglas, Wyoming, beside a storefront window decorated with American flags.
Photographing the America That Exists Between Destinations
A lot of my photography involves traveling across the country, often through places that most people have little reason to visit.
Some of those trips are for commercial assignments. Others are specifically to photograph cowboys, barbershops, landscapes, or whatever catches my attention along the way.
Douglas is a good example of how those different interests overlap.
The College Inn connects to my fascination with old American bars. City Shoe & Saddle Shop is part of the working Western culture I've spent years photographing. The Corner Barbershop belongs to a project that's taken me into shops across the entire country. And the surrounding landscape is part of the larger photographic study of America that continues to evolve with every trip.
There's no need to pretend that every small town is a hidden gem or that everything old was somehow better.
Sometimes a place is simply worth photographing because it's real, interesting, and has a story to tell.
Douglas, Wyoming, has plenty of those stories.
Rob Hammer is a Colorado-based commercial and fine art photographer whose work documents the American West, working cowboys, traditional barbershops, and the everyday landscapes of America.
Explore more from the Western photography, Barbershops of America, and Roadside Meditations collections.
These photographs of Douglas, WY are available for editorial and commercial licensing. Contact me directly for details.
