Parco/Sinclair Museum
PO Box 247
315 Lincoln Avenue
Sinclair, WY 82334
307-324-3058
parcowyo@aol.com
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places #250
The room in which the Museum is presently located was originally the First National Bank of Parco, Wyoming. The bank opened at 10:00 am on July 5, 1924 and closed on June 1, 1933 after transferring all business to the First National Bank of Rawlins. The next occupant of this room as the Parco Federal Credit Union. The Credit Union conducted their business for many years in this room, and it looks much the same as it did in the early 1920's. Beyond the inner door (that is now the town clerk's office) was once the Parco Mercantile Company, that sold groceries and general merchandise. Also, tucked in one corner was the Parco Post Office. All of the upstairs rooms of this building were the offices of the Producers and Refiners Corporation. The was one of the first buildings to be built and occupied. The name PARCO was taken from the first letters of the corporation name.
The founder and builder of the town and refinery was Frank Emerson Kistler. Earlier, Kistler had explored for oil in the area of what is now Bairoil (north of Rawlins) and brought in large producing wells in the Lost Soldier Oil Field. By pipeline the crude was pumped to a siding on the Union Pacific Railroad called Lakota, that was located about half way between Parco and Fort Steele. However production far exceeded what could be shipped by tank car, so he build a refinery at a location (along the Union Pacific Railroad) call Grenville. To operate the refinery required workman who needed a place to live, so he built a town next to the refinery (on the west side) and name it Parco. With the help of Denver architects William E. and Arthur Fisher they laid out the town and designed the building in accordance with Kistler's conception of how he thought the should look. The result was an early Spanish Colonial architecture that you see in the public buildings today.
With the exception of a few (13) private houses, all of the town was owned and maintained by the corporation. During the depression, Kistler fell on hard times and in May of 1935 the Sinclair organization bought all of the properties of Produces and Refiners Corporation. By a vote of the people, the name of the town was changed to SINCLAIR on January 1, 1943. The Sinclair Refining Company held these properties until the fall of 1967 when Sinclair gave the business building to the town of Sinclair and sold the house to those who were living in them.
The Parco Community Church was donated to the people of the town by Mrs. Kistler and is in use today. The fountain on the plaza in from of the hotel was a memorial gift to Kistler by the people and businesses of the town. The eight carved figures in the centerpiece of the found are "Bear-Cats" which was the name of the gasoline that was being marketed by the company.
All the utilities in the beginning of the town were provided by the refinery. The are now supplied by utilities companies and billed to the users. The water system is still owned by the town and maintained by the refinery. The major town building that have been razed are the Parco Club, Parco Garage, Freight Depot, Passenger Depot, Brick Plant, Hotel Annex and Union Hall.
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