A Hidden Gem: The Oldest Building in Cody

Every building tells a story. And in Cody, they often hold the history of this town. Robyn Cutter with the Park County Archives recently shared information on the oldest building in Cody. In fact, it was the first building built in Cody. It currently resides on 17th Street (the Greybull Hill) and now provides office space for Dr. Kalkowski.

Beginnings

“The Green Front Building,” built in 1896 by “Uncle” George F. Russell for George T. Beck (the Beck the street is named after) first served as an office and commissary for the Cody Canal Company. It stood where the Silver Dollar Bar (Pioneer Building) now stands.

George Beck wrote in his memoirs:

“We had constructed a real commissary in connection with the ditch camp, but aside from that, the first four houses in their brand new town I built, not that I actually did the work. That was done by George Russell and Jerry Ryan. Russel did the log work and Ryan the stonework, for logs and native stone were our only available materials. Using one or the other we put up a combination hotel-boarding house for the workmen called the Cody Hotel, a schoolhouse, a two-room frame office building now known as the Green Front (it’s still my office even if it has degenerated into a pretty fair gentleman’s bridge club), and a small stone residence, part of my present home.”

The Cody Canal truly started the town. The founders of the town, Mr. Bleistein, Col. W.F. Cody, George T. Beck, H.M. Gerrans, and Bronson Rumsey, knew water was the greatest need in this high-altitude desert and focused on that first. The first buildings constructed centered around basic needs.

In 1898, the building served as the Forbes Trading Company that soon became the Cody Trading Company, operated by J.M. Schwoob, a young man from New York (how he ended up in charge of this business is a story unto itself). The Cody Trading Company regularly freighted goods for the store from Red Lodge, the closest railroad at the time.

A Cody Enterprise article from 1949 tells us the building also served as a community center for dances and other social gatherings in the town’s early days.

Moving the building

Rather than tearing down and rebuilding, people commonly moved a building as needed back then – which is one reason so many of our main street buildings do not have solid foundations. In 1904, when the Pioneer Building was constructed, The Green Front building moved to 1023 13th Street – where the Eagle’s Club now resides, right on the front corner by the alley. There, it served as the office of the Shoshone Power and Light Plant. This shows the founders’ priorities: first water, then electricity. It also served as the office of George Beck, the Director’s Club, the Post Office, and the Green Front Poker Club.

Harley Smith, owner of the Cody Radiator Shop, used the building as his base of operations for five years until he purchased it from George Beck in 1949. The Eagles planned to build, and Harley moved the building to its current location on the Greybull Hill. He decided to turn the building sideways when he put into place.

Home for more Cody History

At some point, likely in the early 1950s, the building was purchased by William McCarter, who ran Mac’s Refrigeration there. This could be when the green front was removed.

The building again sold in 1954 to the Church of Christ and later showed as The Outpost in the County Assessor’s office records. The Outpost sold hunting and fishing supplies. In 1966, David Smiley purchased the building for State Farm Insurance, where Smiley operated until 1999. Smiley sold the building to Dr. Vincent Kalkowski, who continues his chiropractic business in the building today.

Many Thanks

Many thanks to Robyn Cutter at the Park County Archives for supplying us with such great information so we could bring you this Hidden Gem of Cody.

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