Living in a 100-Year-Old Mercantile
Former True West editor Marcus Huff's home in Ten Sleep, Wyoming.
By: Candy Moulton 06/01/2009
You might say the nesting instinct drew Lori Huff and her family back to Ten Sleep, Wyoming (population 304), but their journey was also motivated by a desire to restore a piece of the past and give back to a community steeped in history.
While Lori had grown up in the Ten Sleep area, husband Marcus, a former True West editor, had never experienced life in such a small town.
Not content to move into a standard Wyoming home, they purchased a century-old mercantile store that was a National Historic Landmark. Although it needed major renovation, the 1903 structure had been solidly constructed by the owner of the local lumber mill. Over the years, the building had served Ten Sleep as a mercantile, liquor store, hardware store and series of restaurants.
For the Huff family, including children Kahle Kuronen, 20, Morgan, 15, Elias, 13, and Hawkeye, 11, it has become both a home and a business. The family lives on the upper floor and operates the Big Horn Mountain Stage downstairs, selling items reflecting the early pioneer days (they have barrels of toy cowboys and Indians) and hosting concerts and historical programs on the stage. Next door, in a log cabin built to replicate a homestead house, they operate Sackett’s Fork, where they serve pizza baked in a wood-fired oven.
“When we purchased it, it had been abandoned for about a year,” Marcus says of the mercantile building. Restoration took a year and a half. Now that it is finished, the Huffs have a place to showcase their antiques.
“We tried to incorporate a little bit of everything it has always been,” Marcus says. “In the old days it was a dance hall, mercantile, offices for the Ten Sleep rodeo. Some of the old guys tell me it was a bordello at one time.”
The restoration extended from the original wood floors to the 1,800 square feet of pressed tin ceilings on both floors. The tin, made at St. Louis Tin Works, was transported by train to Sheridan and then hauled over the Bighorn Mountains by wagon. “It’s really miraculous,” Marcus says of the condition of the ceiling. “We only had about 10 feet that we had to repair in the whole building.”
As a historian, Marcus wanted to restore a national landmark. “The beauty of it is it is right here in Lori’s hometown.” Ten Sleep is a small ranching community, and Marcus, who grew up in a community of 20,000 people in Oklahoma, says, “The small town has been a larger challenge to get used to than the old building.”
“One of our best-selling products is a bumper sticker: ‘Ten Sleep, Wyoming, 300 people and 600 opinions,’” he says. “I’m related by marriage to a whole auditorium full of people. It gets interesting, it gets real interesting.”
The town is a “great environment for kids.” As Marcus notes, “There’s so few kids, when the 15 year olds go out, they don’t mind taking the 11 year old with them.”
Marcus arrived in town three months before his family, camping out as he began the building restoration. “The roof had literally not been maintained in years, so this place was taking on water like a ship; it was unbelievable,” he says. Fortunately the original owner was a lumber man, who used truly beautiful wood in the construction.
When Marcus and Lori stripped the 1970s-era wood paneling from the walls upstairs in the area that is now their home, they found original wood trim still in place, which they removed, refinished and reinstalled. They based the home on a turn-of-the-20th-century design for an apartment from Sears and Roebuck.
Comments (7)
So very cool to see a dream come true. I remember our talks Marcus about your wanting to get out of Phx, and now look at you. The place looks truly amazing, and hey that paint looks pretty good too. Good for you and Lori!
From your brotha from anotha mutha!
Don
Had a pizza finally, it was wonderful! it is a very positive and delightful priviledge to get to know you and work with you and I sincerely appreciate the talent and knowledge you bring to our area.
Linda Abell
This is awesome you two! I can't wait to fly my plane up there just for Pizza! You are my "how to live life" mentors!
Super Job, I have no idea how hard you worked to get to this point, but it has got to feel good, preserving a part of history. You are looking good also, thanks Menno
Congrats! Lori & Marcus!!
It has been fun to see the transformation of your store! See you guys over the 4th, cna't miss a famous celebration in Ten Sleep! Love you guys!
Dave & Sandi Lyman
Marcus Man!
greetings from the Heart of Dixie. congratulations to you and Lori. great looking place and i am sure you are living a lifestyle you have always wanted. patti and i moved to Decatur, AL on the Tennessee River about three years ago. big change from Phoenix. not as much Western history here as much as Civil War and Indian history. although Rube and brother Jim Burrows did waylay a few trains in AL.
gus
I am so grateful to work at The Stage! Thank you Marcus and Lori, for all you do!
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