National Register Listing

Vee Bar Ranch Lodge

a.k.a. Vee Bar

2087 WY 130, Laramie, WY

The Vee Bar Ranch served as ranch headquarters for Lionel C. G. Sartoris, a cattle baron, and Luther Filmore, a stockgrower and division superintendent for the Union Pacific Railroad. The Wright family also raised stock, ran a stage and freight station, and entertained dudes at the ranch. Their daughter Agnes Wright Spring became a noted regional historian. The ranch is directly associated with the ranch, rail, freight, and tourism industries, all important components of the area's economic history. The ranch is 3 typical but exceptionally well-preserved examples of the evolution of such operations. It features a rare Victorian addition to the original simple log structure and a concentration of notable vernacular structures which serve as a functionally dependent complex with strong cohesion and unimpaired visual integrity. This complex was constructed to meet the increasing demands of the ranch as its role and function developed into a successful tourist operation. The ranch is being preserved in a sensitive manner by the present owners, and consequently, it retains a high degree of integrity in the areas of setting, design, location, workmanship, materials, feeling, and association and is deserving of enrollment in the National Register of Historic Places.

These five buildings and two corral structures are excellent representatives of the rough vernacular traditions of Wyoming's early settlement architecture. Constructed with available native materials their texture and construction patterns often serve as the only ornamentation. Though all are constructed of basically the same types of material, their structural variety clearly demonstrates the influence of function on vernacular form and style in the rural environment. Additionally, the addition of Victorian elements to the original log stage station is representative of a desire to utilize newer architectural attitudes in updating earlier structures. While this has long been a tradition in Wyoming, the Vee Bar is an exceptional representative, accomplished in a sensitive manner.

The relationships between the buildings and corral structures also serve as a physical accounting of the ranch's functional development over time. The location of the main lodge away from the barns and corrals is typical of the trend of early cattle barons who lived on their ranches. They built their homes somewhat removed from the main ranch activity, thus enabling them to entertain lavishly without the noise and smell that could otherwise interrupt important social occasions. The addition to the house became necessary for accommodating guests when the ranch served as a stage station.

Local significance of the building:
Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 1986.