Union Pacific Athletic Club

The rustic architecture of the Quadra Dangle Clubhouse as outlined in the Description portion of the nomination is in itself important enough to qualify it for the National Register of Historic Places. The beautiful craftsmanship, use of native logs, and structural design set the building apart from most log structures.

However, the justification of the enrollment is also based on its historical significance. It relates directly to the activities of persons connected with the Union Pacific railroad, the advent of which was more responsible than any other single historical event in the development of the townsite of Laramie. In 1926, a group of Union Pacific employees formed a group known as the Union Pacific Athletic Club whose purpose was to further the athletic ability and physical welfare of the employees, both young and old. There were athletic clubs in nearly every town of any size along the entire Union Pacific routes from Omaha to Los Angeles and Portland. There was much competition between these clubs in basketball, track, and rifle team matches and golf tournaments. Meeting first in a rented machine shop the original group of about 250 men incorporated under the State Law of Wyoming on January ii, 1928. They set about finding land for a new building and were fortunate to be given four acres of land by William Isberg on a slight hill overlooking the nine-hole golf course which the members had already leased from the Union Pacific Railroad. The deed for the transfer of land was registered on January 28, 1928. The club members designed the building among themselves and purchased the logs from the Neil Roach Timber Company. The planned hall was to house an area for dancing, a roller-skating rink, a dining and assembly hall, card rooms, billiard rooms, an indoor small-bore rifle range in an adjacent building, a large-bore rifle range, an archery range, tennis courts, a trap shoot, croquet lawns and golf course and children's playground. It was also created with the idea of being a recreation facility for the Laramie Youth. Provision was included that no intoxicants be served by members or guests on the premises.

In the period when the club was formed, Laramie was a center for the dispatch of train crews. A large engine roundhouse was located here, as well as a huge machine shop. Laramie was also a division point for trains going south to Denver. It was located geographically at the foot of the Pole Mountain area and the grade up the winding steep roadbed leading over the highest point of elevation on the entire Union Pacific line necessitated switching to the huge Big Boy Engines used to pull over steep grades in Laramie.