Mills, Wyoming - History

History

rooming house, owned by W. I. Lewis, one saloon, a billiard hall, a restaurant, one blacksmith shop, a livery stable, a school house, two wool warehouses, railroad depot and section house, stock yards, sheep shearing pens and numerous substantial residences.

The town of Mills, located about two miles west from the city of Casper, is the second largest town in Natrona county and was the third town in the county to be incorporated. The land upon which it is situated is described as the northeast quarter of the southeast quarter of section 7, township 33 north, range 79 west of the sixth principal meridian, and was homesteaded by Charles M. Hawks on December 21, 1906. Mr. Hawks sold the land to the Mills Construction company in 1919, and this company put up some buildings on the land where headquarters were established for their construction works. It was then known as the Mills-Baker addition to the city of Casper. Engineering work preparatory to the platting of the land into town lots was commenced on April 3, 1919, by John B. Cleary, under the direction of James Mills, William Mills, Thomas Mills and Floyd E. Pendell, who were the officers of the Mills Construction company.

On account of the desirable location, it being situated immediately north of the Platte river and on the Northwestern railway line, many people bought town lots and established for themselves homes, and in the fall of 1920 the village had a population of about 500. Then a petition for the incorporation of the town of Mills was filed with the board of county commissioners of Natrona county. Favorable action was taken on the petition, and an election was ordered by the county commissioners, to be held on May 10, 1921. At this election George E. Boyle was the successful condidate against Clyde Riley for mayor, and Fred Hunter, Fred Shackleford, G. W. Lindsay and Michael Kennedy were elected as councilmen. At the first meeting of the new town council, held on May 14, 1921, officers were appointed as follows: Wm. Mills, clerk and treasurer; Floyd E. Pendell, attorney; Luke M. Wilkinson, marshal; W. R. Hunt, police magistrate. No other business was transacted at this meeting.

The first school to be established in Mills was in September, 1920, with Miss Gladys Tharp and Miss Nora Essenpries as teachers. There were about seventy pupils in attendance. During the fall of 1921 a modern six-room brick school building was erected, and during the 1921-22 school year there was an average attendance of 130 pupils, with the following named teachers: R. E. Robertson, princi- pal;Miss Florence Fowler, grammar department; Miss Gladys Tharp, intermediate; Miss Lillian Larsen, second grade; Miss Nora Essenpries, first grade. The town has two churches, the Free Methodist, with Mrs. Hattie Lambert as pastor in charge, and the Presbyterian, with Rev. James S. Mclnnes in charge. In connection with each of these churches there is a Sunday school, which is largely attended. The Presbyterians completed their tabernacle, located on the corner of Fifth street and Midwest avenue, in March, 1922, and the church was formally organized and dedicated April i, 1922. The elders ordained and installed at this meeting were John S. McKnight, John Husted and E. A. Mason. Rev. James S. Mclnnes of Ouray, Colorado, who was the first regular minister in charge, entered upon his duties September 4, 1922.

The Mills postoffice was established August 13, 1921, with Thomas J. Bassett as postmaster. The mail is delivered in the town daily by special service from Casper. At the beginning there were about twenty-five pounds of mail each day, but within a year's time it had increased to more than 100 pounds daily.

The Mills Volunteer fire department was organized in January, 1922, with Walter Stewart as chief; H. B. Brakebill, financial secretary; Julian Hanson, recording secretary, and G. W. Lindsley, treasurer. It was provided that any man living in the town should be a member of this organization.

The Mills Booster club was organized October 9, 1921, with the following named officers: John McKnight, president; Mrs. Edith Elliott, secretary; D. McDaniels, treasurer.

The town hall and town jail, a two-story concrete building, was finished in April, 1922. Town council meetings and other meetings of a public nature are held in the upper rooms of this building and the ground floor is used for obstreperous violators of the town ordinances and those who do not conform to the laws of the state and nation.

The regular town election held on May 9, 1922, was of particular importance and interest to the residents of the town of Mills, for the proposition was submitted of voting bonds in the amount of $70,000 to provide a system of water works for the town. Mayor Boyle and his associate councilmen favored the bonds, but there was some opposition, as there usually is in such matters, and Mrs. Florence E. McKane was the opposition's candidate for mayor, and G. L. Elmore and R. J. Beaver were the candidates for the council who were opposed to the bonds, while George E. Boyle, G. W. Lindsley and Fred T. Shackleford were the candidates for mayor and councilmen who favored the bonds, the latter being re-elected by a vote of more

Teapot Town 239

With the splendid advantages and the progressive spirit of a majority of the people who have made the town of Mills their abiding place the town is destined to become a city that Natrona county may well be proud of. On May 7, 1922, the ^70,000 bonds were sold and on June 15, bids were opened for the construction of the water system. Nine bids were received, the highest bid being $96,000 and the lowest $62,900, the latter bid being by the Mills Construction company. Work was commenced on the system in the summer of 1922 and was completed in December.

On May 25, 1921, the Mills Construction company was granted a franchise to supply the town of Mills with electric lights and power but the franchise was turned over to the Natrona Power company of Casper and light and power, both day and night, was furnished the new town at once.

The Mountain States Telephone and Telegraph company on October 26, 1921, was granted a franchise to erect poles, string wires and do all other things necessary for the establishment of telephone service in the town, and during the month of June, 1922, service was established in the business houses and residences, connections being made from the central office in Casper.

R. E. Wertz of the Producers and Refinery company on October 27, 1921, was granted a franchise to furnish the town with gas for heating purposes, and during the early fall of 1922 this company extended its pipe line through the town and supplied gas to those who desired it. The Producers company has built a large reducing plant along the Yellowstone Highway, just north of the town of Mills.

During the first three years the town enjoyed a very substantial growth in population and many creditable business buildings and modern dwellings have been erected, among which may be mentioned a splendid three-story hotel, an up-to-date moving picture house, concrete block postoffice building, McGillivery's store building, Boyle's store building, the Brakebill store building, McKnight's store building, and many others. There is also a splendid swimming pool in the town, with 135 dressing rooms in the building. The pool is 126x143 feet, and is liberally patronized by the people of Casper.

Teapot, located on section 3, township 38, range 79, about thirty-six miles north of Casper, on the Casper-Salt Creek highway, was added to the map of Natrona county on August 11, 1922, when the Teapot Development company placed on the market 1,040 town lots, which had been surveyed and platted as a townsite. The land comprising this townsite, consisting of 160 acres, was originally filed upon by John Beaton as a homestead, and is one of the very few pieces of land mside of the Teapot oil structure upon which a patent had been issued with no royalty restrictions. The officers of the townsite company were C. M. Elgin, president; V. E. Stanley, vicepresident, and George F. Stenberg, secretary-treasurer. The oil structure surrounding this townsite is being developed by the Mammoth Oil company for the naval reserve of the United States government, and during 1922 a number of producing wells were brought in, the quality and quantity of oil being equal to any of the producing wells in the Salt Creek field.

An office for the Teapot townsite company and several other buildings were erected during the month of June, 1922, but the sale of the town lots did not commence until August 11, and after the first three days of the sale the company reported that 275 lots had been contracted for, and three months later a total of 903 lots had been disposed of, with 137 remaining unsold. A supply store and several other business houses were established at once, and the town of Teapot is now a substantial and flourishing oil camp town.

The town of Evansville, on the Yellowstone highway, three miles east from Casper, is the newest town in Natrona county, but by no means of the least importance. The sale of Evansville town lots was commenced in March, 1922, and on August 10 the entire group of lots, consisting of 222, had been sold, with the exception of one. The demand for lots in the new town was so great that an addition of 137 lots were platted adjoining the original townsite on the west, and placed on the market. This addition is to have all the utilities of the original townsite extending to it. The prospects for the town to further expand soon became so encouraging that in the fall of 1922, addition number two, with eighty-two lots, was platted immediately north of the original townsite and put on the market.

The tracks of the Burlington and Northwestern railways pass immediately by the town, and each of these railway companies have promised that passenger and freight depots will soon be erected, and that Evansville shall be a station where all the trains will make a stop. The Evansville Water company, with a capitalization of $100,000, with L. H. Sennett, H. G. Taylor and E. H. Banta as incorporators, was organized in September, and arrangements have been made with