Plaza Hotel building turns 100

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the building that is currently home to the Best Western Plus Plaza Hotel. General Manager Harley Miramontes said the occasion will be marked with a celebration on Aug. 25, including a bounce house, music, food and a variety of clothing.

The hotel represents the beginning of commercialization in Hot Springs State Park, which started in the early 1900s. At one time there were over six facilities to provide the sick and ailing access to the healing waters of the Big Spring.

James McLaughlin, United States Indian Inspector, reported to the Department of the Interior in 1896 his findings and opinions on what is now known as Hot Springs State Park. "The water of this spring is said to possess wonderful and curative properties and to be very beneficial for rheumatic and other ailments, and although the temperature is 132 degrees it is not unpleasant to drink, and with salt and pepper added tastes very much like fresh chicken broth," according to Senate Document No. 247, 45th Congress, 1st Session. The park was purchased from by the government from the Shoshone and Arapahoe Indians in 1897, and the Hot Spring State Reserve was formed.

Commercial development of the reserve began soon after a small settlement located at the mouth of Owl Creek moved to the hot springs. Thermopolis - Greek meaning "hot city" - sprang to life with tourist activity when a series of hotels were constructed in the new state park, the last of which was built by James Callaghan.

According to information from the Hot Springs County Museum, in November 1917 Callaghan, a master bricklayer with brick yards in Cheyenne, Lander and Thermopolis, began construction on a two-story brick apartment house located in the park. He obtained a 98-year lease at a rate of $500 per year for the first two years.

Callaghan built firing kilns on the site along the banks of the Big Horn River. The bricks were made of soft mud and clay from the surrounding area and formed into rectangles using wooden molds. The clay baked in the sun four days and the bricks were fired in the kilns for 28 days.

By June of 1918, the Callaghan Apartments were open and ready for guests, with 70 rentable rooms available, divided into 14 sections, with each hall containing a common bathing room at the end of each corridor. Rates for the Callaghan were $1.50 to $2 per day, including baths, chiropractors and masseurs. There were no bathrooms in the rooms, Miramontes said, and there were no showers in the rooms. "Basically, everyone shared."

Miramontes further added the hotel recently had a couple celebrating their 70th anniversary who met at the hotel and described it, in those times, as more dorm style than anything. Miramontes was aware the masseuse did acupuncture as well.

Callaghan and his wife, Hazel, ran the business for a short time, employing several nurses and a masseur. Percy W. Metz bought the property from the Callaghans in 1921 and renamed it the Plaza Apartments and Hotel. Since that renaming, it has always been referred to as simply "the Plaza."

In 1927 another change of ownership came about when Metz sold the building to William and Katherine Omenson. Under their management the Plaza and the Carter Hotel, located south across the street and also owned by the Omensons, remained a "hallmark of pleasant accommodations in the state park."

Miramontes noted in 1927 the building was boarded up and considered, at one time, for demolition.

After Katherine Omenson passed away, her daughter Martha and Husband Dan Healy owned the hotel, later selling it to Eddie and Wanda Norquist in the 1950s. In 1959, Eddie and Vera Hausauer purchased the Plaza from the Norquists. They operated it for 30 years, selling to Marvin and Nancy Jacobs in 1989.

In 1993, the building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places, but by 1998, the Plaza was in need of extensive repair. John Powers purchased it and did major renovations to the inside, being careful to keep the original appearance on the outside.

Andy Layton joined John Powers in 2008 in the partnership, Wyoming Resorts, LLC. It remains the only building in the park that looks virtually the same on the outside as it did in 1918.

Miramontes said the building was originally a 72-room property with mineral water and hot tubs located in the basement, as well as a bell at the front desk people could pull if assistance was needed. Currently, the general manager said, they are in the process of a remodel of the floor and furniture.