Powell House

George Powell, a second-generation American, married a Swedish immigrant, Margaret Skogland, at Fort Fetterman in the Wyoming Territory, in 1878. At the time, he was hauling freight and supplies to forts—including those of Steele, Fetterman, Laramie, and Casper—that lined the Wyoming frontier, and she was at the first-named, acting as maidservant to a military family. Soon after marrying, they built a house of adobe on the banks of LaPrele Creek, and lived there for the following 15 years—until 1903, when Powell built the Douglas house on North 5th Street. It is a matter of conjecture, but the unusual styling of the house, which reflects European influence, may have materialized at the behest of the Swedish Skogland. And indeed, the many intricate details incorporated at the exterior suggest what might be considered as a feminine taste at work: the slender (purely ornamental) window shutters, the gracefully-curved trim boards over the main entrance, the subtle arching of the masonry window lintels, and even the roof lines—which, however, are not Swedish, but vaguely French, in the Tudor style—suggest some taste decidedly different from what might reasonably be expected of a pioneer American freight-hauler. Finally, the textured stucco across the exterior yields a finish that harks back to that first house, fashioned of adobe, that the Powells had built on the LaPrele Creek.