The Hanger. Rock River, Wyoming

 

I have no idea how old this hanger is, but it's been in this field just outside of Rock River as long as I can remember, and that goes back to the 80s.

I dimly recall, and perhaps inaccurately, that back then there was an airplane in it. If there was, that plane has long since departed forever.

The Hanger. Wardell Field, Bar Nunn, Wyoming.

This is, and isn't, what it appears to be.

This is "The Hanger", a restaurant in Bar Nunn, Wyoming.  But originally it was what it looks like, an aircraft hanger.

Radial engine on display in The Hanger.  A decommissioned small airplane hangs from the roof.

Wardwell Field was Natrona  County's second airport (the first sits down in what is now Evansville).  The field served from 1927 up until the early 1950s when what had been the Army Air Force's training base west of Casper was turned over to the county. That latter facility, with its much larger runways and much flatter surface was obviously superior, so Wardwell was abandoned in favor of what is now the Natrona County International Airport.  During the boom of the 1970s the old runways were developed into streets and the town named in a playful fashion after the developer.

The fact that it was built on what had been runways was never forgotten and the town uses it as its symbol.  The old central hanger remains, but its now this restaurant.