A savior has come forward for the iconic sign for the historic Hitching Post Inn, and it’s going to find a new home at the Paul Smith Children’s Village at the Cheyenne Botanic Gardens.
Cheyenne Historic Preservation announced on Facebook that it will be involved in efforts to restore the Hitching Post Inn sign, which was the last remnant of a hotel known for decades as the Second Capitol of Wyoming.
Cowboy State Daily reported last week as the Hitching Post’s iconic sign was taken down.
A worker at the scene had told passersby that they would “try to take her down easy” but that the sign is “just made of tin” and was likely to just “crumple.”
Unbeknownst to him, however, there actually has been a city committee working for the last two or three months on a plan to save the sign.
Judy Weickum, who is on that committee, told Cowboy State Daily she’d been asked by Cheyenne City Councilman Pete Laybourn a few months ago to work with him on saving the Hitching Post sign.
The committee had been seeking a source of funding to take the sign down, Weickum said, and was still in the process of that when Weickum got a call from a construction site coordinator telling her the sign had been taken down already.
“They had the pieces that we were wanting stored under a trailer at the site,” Weickum told Cowboy State Daily.
The sign has since been retrieved and it’s in storage at the Paul Smith Children’s Village.
“Paul was my dearest friend,” Weickem said. “Loved by many. Anything I and others can do to keep his legacy alive is worth everything. Since all his land was sold, we still can keep a part of him alive.”
Someone Was Living In The Sign
Something else Weickem was told about the Hitching Post sign is that someone had been living in the concrete base that was holding the sign up.
“It was, like, a 7-foot-tall concrete thing,” Weickem said. “A big tall thing. And the person, when they pulled up with their construction equipment to tear it down, one of the guys driving the truck saw a foot sticking out. I mean this can’t be made up.”
Weickem said the foot made her think immediately of her friend Paul Smith, who had owned the Hitching Post.
“It was like the spirit of Paul in there saying, ‘Hey, I’m still here,’” she said.
Mayor Patrick Collins told Cowboy State Daily he, too, had also been told the there was someone living in the sign. Not much is known about who it was.
“We do have some homeless folks in town,” Collins said. “And they’re pretty ingenious in their ways of finding cover and shelter. Apparently, one of them was hiding underneath the sign.”
Collins said he was told it was a comfortable, roomy space.
“I wasn’t there, so everything I know is secondhand,” Collins said. “But I understand that they were underneath the sign.”
Saving The Sign
Weickum said there will be a fundraising effort to rise money for restoring the sign, which will eventually be displayed at the Children’s Village.
Those interested in helping with the effort can send their donations to Friends of Cheyenne Botanic Gardens in care of Aaron Sommers, 710 S. Lyns Park Drive, Cheyenne, WY 82001.
Questions may be addressed to Jill Lovato, executive director of Cheyenne Botanic Gardens, at either 307-637-6396 or 307-760-4149.
Don Herrold with Cheyenne Historic Preservation told Cowboy State Daily that the nonprofit would be involved in helping to save the sign, whether through labor or fundraising.
“The Hitching Post was kind of the back room for the state Legislature,” he said. “That’s where a lot of deals and compromises were made for the Legislature, a lot of elbow-rubbing happened there.”
Herrold at one time worked for city government, he added, and so did a fair share of elbow-rubbing of his own at the Hitch.
He also remembers as a student doing musical performances at either the Hitch or Little America once or twice a week.
“Everyone has memories of the Hitch,” he said. “The loss of the building is the real tragedy, and the sign is kind of the only physical reminder of the building.”
Cheyenne Historic Preservation was formed after the destruction of Cheyenne’s Carnegie Library to save pieces of the city’s history, and make sure its story continues to be told, Herrold said.
Appropriate Location
Ward III City Councilwoman Michelle Aldrich told Cowboy State Daily she couldn’t think of a better place for the Hitching Post sign to live once it’s restored than the Paul Smith Children’s Village.
“I’m thrilled that it is going to be saved,” she said. “There was a big fear that it was going to be destroyed, and it’s such a big piece of our history. The Paul Smith Village will be a perfect place for the sign, because a lot of people will be able to see it and enjoy it.”
Aldrich was among those who felt a little panicked to see the sign come down last week and not know for sure what was going to happen to it.
“It is kind of an icon in Wyoming,” she said. “And in Cheyenne specifically.”
Aldrich remembers going to her high school prom there on a $20 bet that turned out to be a good investment. She eventually married her date, and they’ve been together now 48 years.
“It was like the place to go then,” Aldrich said. “It’s where all of the legislators stayed during the legislative session, and it was really heartbreaking for a lot of us Cheyenne residents to watch it really just disintegrate.”
Renée Jean can be reached at renee@cowboystatedaily.com.
