ADAMS-HERON BUILDING - 1908
The history of the building begins with an early pioneer, William T. Adams.
In 1898 President McKinley appointed William T. Adams as Register of the U.S. Land Office in Lander. He held this position until about 1910.
In 1908, he partnered with Mr. Heron and, as reported, in the Wind River Newspaper, “ erected the Adams & Heron Building in record time.”
The Adams and Heron partnership lasted a couple of years. In 1910 Robert Bragg bought out Heron’s interest in the building for $8,500.00. Bragg was a successful sheep rancher. As early as 1881 and was known as a “Pioneer Sheep Man.”
The building was an investment for the owners of the building. They rented office space to individuals and businesses. In 1911, surveyors working on the Louis Lake Irrigation project rented four rooms.
The tenants who were in building the longest were the merchants, Walter Oswald and Leslie Read. In 1908 they leased the east side of the building and opened up their Oswald & Read “gents furnishing goods.” It was an upscale men’s clothing store.
By 1915, both Fred Bragg and William Adams moved from Lander. It then became the Oswald & Read building. The store was open until the mid-1930. In 1930 J. H. Watson bought out Oswald and Watson and Read operated the business until Read’s health failed. He died in 1940.
