Jay Em Historic District
Encyclopedia
The Jay Em Historic District comprises the abandoned center of the village of Jay Em, Wyoming
. The town was planned and established by Lake Harris between 1912 and 1915 as a service town supporting ranchers in the surrounding area. The place was recognized as a town in 1915 when a post office was established.
. The land around the watering hole was claimed by Jim Moore in the 1860s. By 1869 Moore had the second largets cattle ranch in the Wyoming
Territory, under the brand "J Rolling M", leading to the naming of a small drainage "Jay Em Creek." Moore died in 1875, but his brand outlived him. In 1905 Silas Harris and his three sons took over the Jay Em Cattle Company. One of his sons, Lake Harris, established a post office in the Jay Em Ranch's bunkhouse, bringing the mail from Rawhide Buttes
. The Harris family also established a general store on the ranch.
Lake Harris filed a homestead claim on Rawhide Creek in 1912, where he planned and built a small town. He first built his own house, then a feed store, which housed the post office from 1915. The Harris general store moved in to Jay Em in 1918, and Harris built a lumber and general supply store shortly after. A newspaper, the weekly Jay Em Sentinel and Fort Laramie News (circulation 300), inevitably edited by Lake Harris, ran from 1917 to 1921. The Farmers State Bank was built in Jay Em in 1920. The town continued through the 1920s and 1930s as a regional center for commerce in northern Goshen County. In 1935 Lake Hariis established the Jay Em Stone Company, making tombstones and building products from stone quarried around the Rawhide Buttes. After the 1930s Jay Em declined as the automobile made it easier for local residents to travel to larger town. The general store lasted until the late 1970s. Lake Harris died in 1983 at the age of 96. The few remaining residents of Jay Em have moved to more modern accommodations scattered around the edge of town, leaving the center vacant.
The Jay Em Historic District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places
in 1984.
Jay Em, Wyoming
Jay Em is an unincorporated community in northern Goshen County, Wyoming, United States, just below the headwaters of the Rawhide Creek. It lies along U.S. Route 85 north of the city of Torrington, the county seat of Goshen County. Its elevation is 4,590 feet . Although Jay Em is...
. The town was planned and established by Lake Harris between 1912 and 1915 as a service town supporting ranchers in the surrounding area. The place was recognized as a town in 1915 when a post office was established.
History
Jay Em is located on the old Texas Trail, running north-south through Goshen County, and featured the last watering hole before reaching LuskLusk, Wyoming
Lusk is a town in Niobrara County, Wyoming, United States. The population was 1,447 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Niobrara County. The town was laid out in June 1886 by engineers working on the Wyoming Central Railway. It was named after Frank S...
. The land around the watering hole was claimed by Jim Moore in the 1860s. By 1869 Moore had the second largets cattle ranch in the Wyoming
Wyoming
Wyoming is a state in the mountain region of the Western United States. The western two thirds of the state is covered mostly with the mountain ranges and rangelands in the foothills of the Eastern Rocky Mountains, while the eastern third of the state is high elevation prairie known as the High...
Territory, under the brand "J Rolling M", leading to the naming of a small drainage "Jay Em Creek." Moore died in 1875, but his brand outlived him. In 1905 Silas Harris and his three sons took over the Jay Em Cattle Company. One of his sons, Lake Harris, established a post office in the Jay Em Ranch's bunkhouse, bringing the mail from Rawhide Buttes
Cheyenne-Black Hills Stage Route and Rawhide Buttes and Running Water Stage Stations
The Rawhide Buttes Stage Station, the Running Water Stage Station and the Cheyenne-Black Hills Stage Route comprise a historic district that commemorates the stage coach route between Cheyenne, Wyoming and Deadwood, South Dakota...
. The Harris family also established a general store on the ranch.
Lake Harris filed a homestead claim on Rawhide Creek in 1912, where he planned and built a small town. He first built his own house, then a feed store, which housed the post office from 1915. The Harris general store moved in to Jay Em in 1918, and Harris built a lumber and general supply store shortly after. A newspaper, the weekly Jay Em Sentinel and Fort Laramie News (circulation 300), inevitably edited by Lake Harris, ran from 1917 to 1921. The Farmers State Bank was built in Jay Em in 1920. The town continued through the 1920s and 1930s as a regional center for commerce in northern Goshen County. In 1935 Lake Hariis established the Jay Em Stone Company, making tombstones and building products from stone quarried around the Rawhide Buttes. After the 1930s Jay Em declined as the automobile made it easier for local residents to travel to larger town. The general store lasted until the late 1970s. Lake Harris died in 1983 at the age of 96. The few remaining residents of Jay Em have moved to more modern accommodations scattered around the edge of town, leaving the center vacant.
Contributing structures
- Restaurant-Feed Store-Post Office-General Store: The multi-purpose building consists of two 2½ story gambrelGambrelA gambrel is a usually-symmetrical two-sided roof with two slopes on each side. The upper slope is positioned at a shallow angle, while the lower slope is steep. This design provides the advantages of a sloped roof while maximizing headroom on the building's upper level...
-roofed fame buildings connected by a single story flat-roofed link. - Lumber Yard: The lumber yard building features a 2½ story false fronted building backed by a warehouse with a courtyard between. The sales building is of concrete block, while the warehouse is mostly wood frame.
- Stone company: A brick gabled building with shed roofed wings to either side. The front is distinguished by fifteen windows with concrete surrounds and ornamented lintels.
- Bank: A small one story frame building with a low corniced facade.
- Gas Station: A one story wood frame building with the front gable overhanging to create a sheltered drive-through.
- Repair garage: A one story building with a stepped false front, ornamented by globe finials.
- House: A one story frame house on a concrete block foundation.
- Water tower: A deteriorated structure now 60 feet (18.3 m) tall, its tank missing.
- Lake Harris House: An irregularly massed one and two story frame house. The house was built over the original dugoutDugout (shelter)A dugout or dug-out, also known as a pithouse, pit-house, earth lodge, mud hut, is a shelter for humans or domesticated animals and livestock based on a hole or depression dug into the ground. These structures are one of the most ancient types of human housing known to archeologists...
, with an "owl wall" still in evidence.
The Jay Em Historic District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
in 1984.
External links
- Photographs of Jay Em at the National Park Service's NRHP database
- Jay Em Historic District at the Wyoming State Historic Presevation Office