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View Full List of National Register: Wyoming Listings

Grant Street Grocery and Market

 

 
 

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Grant Street Grocery and Market is eligible under Criterion A due to its association with the development of Casper and the stores survival through changing economic climates during the 1920s and continuing oil boom, the Great Depression, World War II, and post-World War II. Established in 1921, Grant Street Grocery served as a family owned grocery and meat market. Over the years, it retained its local neighborhood atmosphere, during varying economic conditions and changes in ownership. Each successive owner adapted the store to fit the needs of the time, yet maintained the store as an essential and integral part of both the immediate neighborhood and the community.

Grant Street Grocery and Market sits in a residential neighborhood on the corner of Grant Street and Divine Avenue. The west façade, which serves as the primary entrance for the store, has changed little from its original construction in 1921. In contrast, the rear or east elevation contains multiple additions. These alterations, while appearing somewhat haphazard, expanded the store and allowed the owners to provide additional services and products.

The one-story building has a parapet, which hides a gable roof and bears the name Grant Street Grocery. The name, decorative elements, and much of the rear additions are in a dark brown. The majority of the remaining building is tan stucco covering a wood frame that rests on a concrete foundation and is centered on a recessed entrance. Both the north and south side elevations are relatively unadorned; each is tan stucco interrupted by pilasters.

The east elevation, which is the rear of the store, underwent multiple additions since construction in 1921. The various changes obscure much of the original construction. According to county records, the only major additions occurred in 1937; however, the appearance of this elevation indicates multiple, somewhat jumbled alterations, which seemed to occur over time.

The integrity of the store remains, as the alterations occurred within the period of significance. The additions illustrate the changes required to maintain a business for over eight decades. Sitting in the same location, surrounded by the neighborhood it maintains the same feeling and association of a small community business.

The interior of the store also maintains both the feeling and association of a small neighborhood market. The basic size and shape of the store remains from construction in 1921. Only the depth has changed as owners added, altered, or expanded the rear of the store and the back rooms to fit their needs. According to current owner, Bill Wayte, a few of the store’s older fixtures still remain. The refrigeration unit, currently holding imported cheese, dates from the mid-1930s and the original butchers block still survives, now used to serve gourmet sandwiches. Although interior display arrangements and layouts may have varied over the past 87 years, the overall feeling is retained. It is a local market serving the surrounding neighborhoods.

Casper experienced an oil boom period that began in 1913-14 and continued well into the next decade. The major oil companies established their headquarters in Casper, providing employment and injecting capital into the local economy. The population of 2,639 in 1910 nearly doubled in the next five years to 4,040. Casper transformed during the decade and a half boom as the population continued to increase at a staggering rate.

The rising population and the sudden prosperity accelerated community development and the construction of new buildings. This expansion demanded additional local services within walking distance of people's homes. As the city expanded, the neighborhood grocery store became a common sight; in 1923, 60 neighborhood grocery stores existed in Casper.

Among these 60 was the Grant Street Grocery and Market, which is south of downtown Casper in a residential neighborhood. E.R. Williams owned several neighborhood grocery stores including Central Grocery and Market, established in 1915, Blue Front Grocery, established in 1916, and the Grand Grocery, established in 1921. In 1921, Williams built the Grant Street Grocery as a small local market. A severe depression following World War I left E. R. Williams struggling financially. He chose to lease Grant Street Grocery and Market to Arthur L. LaClair in 1926. Six years later, Arthur ''Art'' LaClair and his wife, Mary, purchased the store from E. R. Williams. As an established store, the market never closed during the transfer of ownership.

In order for the business to succeed, the LaClairs expended great effort to make Grant Street Grocery and Market the best in both products and service. Arthur traveled to meat markets south of Buffalo, Wyoming to procure quality pork, while ordering butter from Sheridan, Wyoming and cottage cheese from Seattle, Washington. During the holidays, he drove 100 miles east of Casper to Lusk and hand picked turkeys, which he then delivered. The LaClairs not only delivered during the holiday season, but also offered deliveries six days a week. Striving to continue the best service to their customers, fresh flowers were also available. Adding to the personal service, neighborhood children always received a cookie when they entered Grant Street Grocery; Arthur LaClair became known as the ''Cookie Man.''

According to local residents, the store expanded as LaClair, who insisted on selling the best meats, built a chicken house at the back of the store. In this building, he fattened, butchered, and dressed his own chickens, turkeys and other small poultry. With the addition of the chicken house, the store then had access to fresh eggs.

In an effort to increase economic viability during the Great Depression, the LaClairs again altered the building and increased the services offered. They enlarged the store to include a bakery, the first in-store bakery in Casper. According to county records, in 1937 the LaClairs built an addition at the rear of the building into which they relocated the chicken house. The new bakery then moved into the old chicken room. These changes proved to be an advantage to the store as the economic instability required different avenues of revenue.

The current owners wanted to maintain the local market tradition. Bill and Nancy Wayte purchased Grant Street Grocery and Market in 2004. They still have charge accounts and a regular clientele of 250 customers, most of whom they know by name. In order to increase business, they now offer a selection of specialty items and gourmet sandwiches, added an imported cheese line, and still have the best meat in town. As a local resident stated, this is ''not a store - it is a market with a little bit extra.''

Grant Street Grocery and Market was established in 1921 during the oil boom and expansive growth of Casper. It continued to serve the neighborhood through various financial climates. The owners sustained the market by maintaining a local atmosphere, providing quality service and products, and adapting to the changing economic environment. Grant Street Grocery survived and remains the sole neighborhood grocery store in Casper.

Grant-Street-Grocery

 

Date Added to Register:
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
 
Location:
Casper
 
County:
Natrona County
 
Smithsonian Number: 
48NA4723  

 

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