National Register Listing

Brooklyn Lodge

a.k.a. Mountain Meadow Guest Ranch

WY 130, 7.5 mi. W of Centennial, Centennial, WY

Brooklyn Lodge is being nominated to the National Register of Historic Places under criteria A and B. The lodge is significant under criterion A because of its association with the development of dude ranching and the tourist industry. The lodge was built during 1922 and 1923. At this time, dude ranching was in the process of evolving into guest ranches and resorts where visitors no longer participated only in day to day ranch work, but also in activities catered to their interests. Brooklyn Lodge provided quiet solitude, fishing, and horseback rides into the surrounding mountains much as it does today.

The period of significance begins in 1922 when construction began. Although the building is still a central figure in the guest ranch activities, 1939 was chosen as an arbitrary ending date for the period of significance. This is to avoid including dates within the past fifty years as the property is not judged to possess exceptional significance. The year of construction, 1922, and the year that first paying guests arrived, 1924, were selected as significant dates.

Although tourism has only recently captured the attention of those seeking to improve the economy of Wyoming, visitors have been contributing to the financial health of the region since territorial days. Prior to the establishment of actual ranches, the first dudes to visit the west came as early as the 1830s when European royalty took guided tours of the wilderness of the North American continent. They wanted to see for themselves what life was like in this strange new land. However, these early dudes were too attached to their luxuries and quite often brought silver, china, crystal, bedding and other conveniences of home with them.

According to extant secondary sources, dude ranching in the northern Rocky Mountains originated with the Eaton brothers who ranched in Dakota Territory in the late 1800s. They hosted visitors on their Custer Trail Ranch near Medora, North Dakota as early as 1879. Guests were included in daily ranch activities, and by 1882 the Eatons were charging regular fees for these activities. Over the years, the Eaton operation expanded to include pack trips to Yellowstone and other activities that were not directly tied to daily chores. The guest operation became an integral part of the ranch business. In order to meet the needs of their paying guests, and to escape the encroaching dryland farmers, the Eatons decided to move their operation westward into Wyoming. In 1903 they established a ranch on Wolfe Creek west of Sheridan. Here, on the eastern edge of the Big Horn Mountains, the Eatons established the foundation for dude ranching in Wyoming.

Other ranchers soon saw the benefits of hosting cash-carrying guests and went into the business as well. No one knows the number of working ranches that were saved during hard times by the cash brought in through their guest operations. Even a few of the guests saw the potential for dude ranches or guest resorts and began to purchase land for their own businesses. Industrialization and urbanization had created a middle class with money to spend on recreation and vacations. They looked automatically to the romanticized west. With the expansion of railroads, access to the west was made possible to many people. This accessibility was increased even more with the advent of the motorized vehicle.

World War I spurred a boom era for dude ranches and guest resorts. With Europe closed to vacationers, they looked once again to the west. Dude ranch owners paid more attention to the desires of the visitors, bringing about a change in the various operations. Early visitors had come for extended stays of one week to a whole summer. With the new mobility created by the automobile, people began to look for a place where they could stay for a day or a night and go on to a new location.

It was at the beginning of this boom that a handful of Albany County residents became active in the tourist business. Brooklyn Lodge was built in 1922 and 1923, and received its first paying guests in 1924. It was one of three ranches located near Centennial that took in paying guests. The other two were Libby Lodge and the Vee Bar Ranch, both of which were located at lower elevations closer to Laramie. Brooklyn Lodge was perhaps the most successful of the three and has been in continuous operation since it began. Three other guest ranches were founded during the same period near Encampment, on the western side of the Snowies, while by 1936, ninety similar operations had been established in northwestern Wyoming.

A listing of these dude ranches, noting their locations, the number of references found for each business, and the means of accessibility was published in 1936 in a Union Pacific publication. The entry for Brooklyn Lodge stated that the Union Pacific Railroad Company could bring guests to Laramie where they would switch to the Colorado-Wyoming Railroad for the ride to Centennial. There they were met by someone from Brooklyn Lodge for the drive into the mountains.

In 1926 a number of guest ranch operators united in forming the Dude Rancher's Association. They held their first convention that year in Bozeman, Montana, and later established their headquarters in Billings. In 1934, the Dude Rancher's Association conducted a survey providing statistics to document the economic importance of the industry. It indicated that visitors spent twelve million dollars in Wyoming that year. The ranches the dudes visited were worth six million dollars. The visitors arrived in Wyoming at a rate of ten thousand persons per year, and 214 former dudes had permanently settled into Wyoming and Montana, taking up properties now worth an estimated $4.3 million.

Even the great depression failed to halt the interest in dude ranches. People did not go as far or stay as long, but some still had money for vacations. The 1930s saw another development in dude ranching. During the 1934-35 academic year, dude ranching moved to the campus of the University of Wyoming as the College of Agriculture offered its first Bachelor of Science degree in Recreational Ranching. It seemed a natural step to adapt ranches to accommodate visitors in light of the success of the past forty to fifty years. The program lasted nearly a decade. The industry saw some lean times during World War II, but once again became popular when money flowed and people were anxious to move around and see the country after the restrictions of the war years.

Brooklyn Lodge has experienced the highs and lows of the industry, yet it survives to contribute to the region's economy still today. In 1936 the Jones family sold the property to Mrs. Clara H. Craig. In 1940, Jerry Skinner Senior. purchased the business and later turned it over to his son, Jerry Junior. Ron Wells bought and operated Brooklyn Lodge during 1970 and 1971. He then sold it to Harold Kissell on May 26, 1972. Kissell operated the business as the Mountain Meadow Guest Ranch for fifteen years before Gloria and Chuck Bell purchased the operation on January 1, 1987. Thus, this link to the old west has survived uninterrupted these many years.
Dude ranching grew out of the hospitality of ranchers who accepted guests into their homes, who then discovered it could be profitable as well. The guests gained an appreciation for a different life-style and also for the wilderness areas of the west. More interest in the wilderness led to the establishment of national and state parks, so that more natural and cultural resources were preserved for the benefit and enjoyment of all.

Dude ranching, and the tourist industry in general, are today perhaps even more important to Wyoming's and the west's economy. Modern tourists have evolved from the early dudes to play a significant and necessary role in the economy of the west. Brooklyn Lodge is an excellent representative example of an early Wyoming dude ranch. It is significant as a symbol of dude ranching's initial era, and still operates today as a reminder of the continuing importance of the tourism industry.

Brooklyn Lodge is significant under criterion B because of its association with Harry D. "Hoot" Jones. Jones was born March 26, 1882, on a ranch near Horse Creek northeast of Laramie. During his childhood he learned a variety of ranching skills, and by his teens had begun performing at rodeos. He soon established himself as one of the most skilled rodeo performers in the Rocky Mountain Region. He was a renowned performer at the Cheyenne Frontier Days rodeo, where in 1910 he successfully rode the notorious bronc Silver City. Spectacular photographs of Jones's famous ride were reproduced to promote Frontier Days publications for many years to come. Photographs of the ride were also copied onto postcards, and have been copied in paintings and murals. Jones's ride, preserved on film for posterity, captured the essence of the true western cowboy, and of Wyoming, the Cowboy State.

In 1909, a year prior to his famous ride, Jones hired on with a wild west show produced by Earl Gandy of England. He joined a large cast of other cowboys, Indians, and an impressive array horses and cattle, for a performance at Earl's Court in southwest London. The troupe apparently traveled by train to New York City before crossing the Atlantic. Brochures featuring performances show that Jones participated in "Bronco Busting" An Exhibition of Steer Roping by Four Cow Boys From Wyoming U.S.A.", "Fancy Rope Twirling", and a number of other exhibitions. Europeans were fascinated with the American west during this time and the show was a great success. Although Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show is probably the best remembered of this genre, there were a number of other notable shows, including Gandy's London production. Buffalo Bill came to symbolize the west on both the national and international levels. By using his naturally learned ranching skills in the performance arena, Hoot Jones also managed to bring the spirit of the west to the rest of the world.

After experiencing international travel, Jones was back in his native environment when he recognized the potential of the tourist industry. The limelight failed to hold Hoot Jones who returned to the quiet life around Laramie. He usually had a ranch in his life somewhere, but Hoot also liked to explore new possibilities. He was a partner in a mining operation near Centennial when in 1921 he decided to join the work crew constructing a new road over the Snowy Range. , Hoot's wife Hattie, whom he had married in 1914, also joined up, serving as cook for the crew.

This new job led to a new opportunity for Hoot Jones. When the crew got as far as the beautiful open knoll west of Centennial, Jones found what he had been looking for. Inspired by Libby Lodge, a guest ranch which had opened in 1919 a few miles closer to Centennial, Jones selected this spot for his guest ranch and obtained the necessary permits to build on federal lands.

That first summer, 1922, Hoot and his family and friends worked on the room that would become known as the dining room. It was 20 feet by 40 feet, with a 10 by 40 foot addition on the north elevation. The logs for the structure were felled on the nearby mountainsides. The Jones family occupied a bedroom on one end of the addition, while girls hired to help cook for the guests lived in the other bedroom at the opposite end. A large kitchen was situated in between. Heat was provided by a huge kitchen cook stove. The family lived on a ranch near Lake Hattie during the winter months, and came back in late April or early May to begin digging out the road to the lodge. in 1923 the second room, known as the lobby, was completed. Hoot eventually added twenty-two cabins for his guests to stay in when they were not listening to his stories, fishing, hiking through the mountains or horseback riding.

The first paying guests arrived in 1924 and continued to come thereafter, enjoying the personal touch the Jones family gave to the operation. Brooklyn Lodge rang with the laughter and enjoyment of long-term guests and Sunday dinner visitors who enjoyed the family style chicken dinners served by Mrs. Jones to upwards of 125-150 people each Sunday. In addition to the hearty meals and outdoor activities, weekend dances were also held at the lodge many times each year.

While the Jones family operated Brooklyn Lodge, Hoot continued to explore new grounds, serving as deputy sheriff among other jobs. In 1936, as Hoot's health was beginning to fail, the Joneses sold the lodge to clara Craig. Two years later, in 1938, Hoot died at age 56. During Hoot Jones life, Brooklyn Lodge was the property with which he was most closely associated. The lodge obviously had great meaning for him, as it represented the fulfillment of his dream of building and operating a dude ranch in the Snowy Range of Wyoming. His relatively brief lifespan cut short the number of experiences and opportunities that otherwise might have been attributed to him. However, during his life he epitomized the rugged individualism of the west and of the true Wyoming cowboy. He was also a person of daring and vision who was willing to invest and stake his life on the tourist industry in Wyoming. The fact that Hoot's dream still functions some sixtyseven years later reflects on his keen foresight and intuition.

Local significance of the building:
Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 1989.