The Streets of Bar Nunn, Wyoming, Are Insanely Wide Because They Used to Be Runways
My introduction to the most bizarre streets of any town in America came after some aviator friends of mine said that I had to try The Hanger Restaurant in the town of Bar Nunn, Wyoming.
Anyone driving past Bar Nunn on interstate 25 might think, 'What a dump. Who would live there?' But as with most towns, what you see from the interstate does not represent what is not seen from the interstate.
3 WIDE BOUVLEARDS
As I drove up one of Bar Nunn's 3 main roads (Antelope Drive, Sunset Boulevard, and Sunset Avenue) I could not help noticing how wide it was, and how long. Off to the right was a green area, almost like a highway median, with a smaller road on the other side and homes.
These 3 wide boulevards did not run parallel to one another. They all began at the same point but angled out in different directions. Each of the 3 boulevards had the same odd grassy tree-lined median and a smaller road on the other side are where the homes were built.
The odd layout was something I had seen before. I knew it as soon as I looked at this map that you can view here. I then looked at this satellite image and sure enough, these roads look like airport runways and taxiways.
THE REASON WHY
The town's roads are laid out like airport runways and taxi ways is because, before it was a town, Bar Nunn was an airport, the Wardell Airport, which served the Casper area before being abandoned in favor of the Casper-Natrona County International Airport.
The Hanger Restaurant that my aviation friends had told me about was, at one time, actually the main hanger at the airport.
The airport was constructed in 1927, just north of Casper as the Natrona County Airport. The airport was later closed and relocating to the former Casper Army Air Base.
That left a bunch of paved taxi ways, service roads, and runways.
Seeing an opportunity Mr. Romie Nunn purchased the land and began building a subdivision. He named it The Bar Nunn Ranch Subdivision. This is now the town of Bar Nunn.
Inside the old hanger hangs a biplane flown by Jim Good, a famous American aviator that lived in Casper. There is a museum dedicated to Jim at the new Natrona County Airport.
You'll also find at the website for The Hanger Restaurant a series of photos from what the place looked like back when it was actually a hanger. You will also find more history on the airport that became a town.
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