The first shovel went into the ground on September 1, 1917. The work was orchestrated, intense and on schedule, with the construction crew missing the June 1st deadline by a couple of months. The “Grandest Hotel” in Wyoming opened on August 4, 1918.
The Noble Hotel was the first of its kind in Fremont County, and only the Teton in Riverton, built two years later, could rival its luxurious offerings.
The three-story brick icon on the corner of Main and Third Streets in Lander has transitioned over the intervening century but remains the most impressive building in the downtown.
As they said in the popular TV series Dragnet, “The names have changed to protect the innocent.” But there wasn’t ever anything sinister about the Noble Hotel.
If you’re walking in front of the building on either side, you can still spot small signs, and placards from the Pioneer Museum informing you of the history of the present-day headquarters of the National Outdoor Leadership School. (NOLS)
In the early 20th century, Lander was a growing community, striving to become any more of an influence in the foothills of the Wind River Range.
The arrival of the Chicago North Western railroad in October 1906 set Lander as the western terminus of a vast inland web of railroads stretching back to the Great Lakes. Soon after the arrival of the first passenger train someone came up with the motto, “Lander, where the rails end and the trails begin.”
It was in reference to a growing tourist trade between Lander and Fremont County rival Riverton for a growing number of people, both American and European that were chartering motor coach rides west to Dubois and over Togwottee Pass to Yellowstone. It was a business that began during the days of the Rawlins to Ft. Washakie stagecoach era and blossomed with the arrival of rail service.
Two pioneer businessmen joined forces to build the Noble Hotel. H.O. Barber founded Poposia Coal in nearby Hudson in 1911. The railroad changed the mine from a small coal producer for local distribution to a company shipping 1200 to 1400 tons of coal east daily. With a payroll of 200 men, it was the largest employer in Fremont County.
Fred Noble, brother of Nowood sheep magnate Worden Noble, was a banker, store owner and, entrepreneur in Lander and Ft. Washakie.
When the railroad arrived, the best hotel in Lander was the Fremont. Noble and Barber set their sights not quite as high, but with many other enticing features.
“It will be the swellest hotel west of the Mississippi,” Barber said.
The Wyoming State Journal of March 29, 1918 eagerly anticipated the completion of the hotel later that year.
“The Noble Hotel, corner Third and Main streets, is rapidly nearing completion. It Is a thoroughly modern three-story tapestry brick structure, with full basement, and would do
credit to any city. When finished. It will give Lander visitors a first-class hotel, something that has long been needed and much desired.”
Construction began with the excavation of a 100×134 foot basement. Both Barber and Noble knew the value a first-class hotel had for the Lander economy and they did their best to include local businesses and suppliers in the construction.
Barber, with his extensive mining background, garnered contracts to Lander Lime, owned by fellow businessman J.P. McKenna of Lander and Hudson. The lime was used in the mortar and was already highly regarded across Wyoming. The rival Lapeyre Hotel in Riverton, already in final phases of construction, used Lander Lime, and it was used at the Hudson Elementary School as well. Lime was mined and then converted in kilns between Lander and Wyopo, then hauled to the Chicago North Western loading dock. It was delivered in bulk to the Standard Oil Company in Casper where it made its way to lumber yards in Casper, Douglas and Western Nebraska.
A building of this magnitude was beyond the skill set of local carpenters and masons so the Noble Hotel Company contracted with companies from across the west. The plumbing contract was taken by W.H. Cox and Company of Omaha and Lincoln, Nebraska and was the most advanced of the day, offering hot and cold running water in 50 of the 61 rooms.
The tile work was completed by McElheiny Tile and Marbel of Denver, and the brick facing was contracted with Sunderlin Brothers of Omaha.
Wentz Brothers of Hudson was another brick contractor.
Electricity, a recent arrival in Fremont County, was wired to every room. Electric lights and electric outlets in individual rooms represented the cutting edge of technology in the World War I era.
Electricity was provided by the Lander Electric Light and Power Company through its hydroelectric plant about five miles southwest of the hotel on the Middle Fork of the Popo Agie in Sinks Canyon.
Another innovation of Noble and Barber was the installation of telephones in every room. The Lander Telephone Exchange offered extensive local service, but only one long-distance line connecting to the outside world. Hotel guests could call free locally, but for a long-distance call they had to contact the operator, who put them on a waiting list. When the line opened, the operator called the room and connected the guest, often in the wee hours of the morning.
The phone and electric wiring were done by Casper Electric Supply with a combination of open and conduit work.
The hotel was named after Fred Noble’s son, Everett Werden Noble who died of an appendicitis rupture on May 24, 1918, at a United States Army Hospital in Chelsea, Massachusetts. Everett was a private awaiting deployment to France.
The original estimated opening date was June 1, 1918, but winter delays slowed construction, as did delays in supplies. During the winter months, the workers built open fires on the three floors under construction and in the basement to ward off the cold.
Finally, opening day arrived with much fanfare.
J.R. Chambers was hired as manager in July. Chambers had nine years of experience as the assistant superintendent of the dining car department on the Chicago North Western, with further experience as the manager of the Thropp Hotel in Topeka, Kansas, and the Colonial Hotel in Springfield, Missouri.
Despite his expertise, the grill wasn’t ready until August 23, and the dining room a week later. Some hotels, such as the Shawver Hotel in Shoshoni followed the “European Plan” which meant guests had to find meals at neighboring restaurants. The Lapeyre, Noble and later the Teton all offered dining on site in their own restaurants.
The final cost of construction was $200,000, roughly $4.2 million in 2025.
The hotel opened and soon, the Lander State Bank, the Lander Evening Post, a barber shop, several physicians, attorneys and accountants rented space.
The Noble Hotel originally had 65 guest rooms, which were later expanded to 70. On the first floor, there was a full kitchen, check stand, grill, and a dining room large enough to accommodate 100 guests.
Four other large first-floor rooms were open for business leases.
The basement had six more rooms for merchants, a modern laundry, a boiler room, and a trunk storage room.
The lobby was decorated with a 24-foot-high ceiling highlighted by a large glass skylight. This created an airy, outdoor feel for the mezzanine.
The August 2, 1918, edition of the Wind River Mountaineer practically gushed with excitement.
“The beauty of the exterior of the new hotel, an ornament to the business district, is even surpassed by the elegance of the interior. On the first floor is the commodious lobby of marble, mahogany and art glass, with a touch of coziness in a big fireplace. The floor is art tile. The main dining room, which has a seating capacity of 100 persons, is a gem of artistic beauty, with ivory beams, cream finish ceiling, mahogany and marble, and floral mural decorations. The big plate glass windows are edged at the top in art colored design, and the lighting fixtures are ground glass set in hammered brass. In the center of the room will be a beautiful fountain.
Just above the lobby is the mezzanine floor finished in mahogany and art glass. The tonsorial department is finished in marble and is one of the finest equipped in the state. It will be in charge of Bert Wheeler.”
Chambers said in an interview with the Wyoming State Journal on August 30, 1918, something that is still heard in businesses across the nation, “It’s almost impossible to procure competent help.”
On September 13, the Lander State Bank, with Fred Noble as vice-president, opened on the southwest corner of the Noble Hotel.
The Noble Hotel was a hit, not just in Lander but in the entire Rocky Mountain region.
Silent films featuring cowboy movie star Tim McCoy and his friend, Arapaho Chief Goes in Lodge, were frequent visitors to the Noble during the production of films such as “The Covered Wagon” shot on location at the nearby Wind River Indian Reservation in the 1920s.
The Noble Hotel had an impressive exterior, but the real magic came once a visitor stepped inside. A large fish tank, filled with trout highlighted the lobby.
In a process preceding Red Lobster by nearly a century, guests were able to select the trout they wanted for dinner and a hotel employee would net the unlucky fish.
In 1930, Barber fell ill and died. Harold Del Monte, who worked for the Lander State Bank, purchased the hotel.
Del Monte was an avid historian. His desire was, as he said. “To give a brief but true synopsis of some of the exciting events of the early west as they influenced the town of Lander and the surrounding Wind River Country.”
With that in mind, Del Monte began decorating the rooms in western themes. Some featured Lewis and Clark, Sacajawea, Pony Express Riders, stagecoaches, and mountain men. Many featured images of legendary Eastern Shoshone Chief Washakie.
J. K. Ralston of Montana was hired by Del Monte to paint a series of 23 paintings of Chief Washakie’s life, including the infamous battle between Washakie and Crow King atop Crowheart Butte.
Rooms were labeled with western themes. The Noble featured the Indian Room, the Coal Mining Room, the Railroad Room and the Stagecoach Room. The Indian Grill had Del Monte’s collection of Native American artifacts on the walls.
Western-style furniture, made of tanned cow and buffalo hide added flair to the lobby, dining room, bar and individual rooms. A huge fireplace, Native American artifacts and dozens of elk, bison, moose, deer, pronghorn, bear, cougar and Big Horn Sheep mounts filled the walls.
A guest in 1945 wrote, “As you step inside you are immediately in the spacious living room of a motion picture mountain lodge.”
Paul Hindman of Cody designed the western-themed furniture that adorned the public spaces of the hotel, along with 10 rooms specifically set aside for western décor.
One of the more popular exhibits was a full Eastern Shoshone teepee in the hotel lobby.
The tourist trade flourished in the post-World War I years and into the late 1920s, but the specter of impending economic doom hit Wyoming a few years before the stock market crash of 1929.
Tourism fell off and reduced to just a trickle during the Great Depression. A brief boom in arriving guests came as World War II began in 1941, with oil men, government agents interested in the Atlantic City Iron Mine and coal production in Hudson traveled to Lander.
That boom ended in 1943, when the Chicago North Western ended passenger service from Casper to Lander.
Improved highways from Denver, Rapid City, and Western Nebraska brought more cars west with families on vacation. In the 1950s, the roadside motel began to replace the former elegance of traditional hotels.
The Noble Hotel suffered from a lack of guests, with many choosing to stay at the many newly opened motels in Riverton and Lander.
In 1969, the Noble Hotel closed.
But, like the Phoenix, the Noble Hotel rose from the ashes four years later when the National Outdoor Leadership School, founded by Paul Petzoldt, purchased the building.
Centerbrook was hired to renovate the old hotel as a residence hall for students and for guest accommodations for alumni and staff.
NOLS carries on the tradition for the Noble Hotel as an embarkation point for wilderness adventures. Once slated for bus rides to Yellowstone National Park, the Noble now serves as the face of NOLS on Main Street in Lander. Their International Headquarters building is a block away to the north.