Quirk Drugs - 553 North Front Street

The 1920’s building on this corner was first occupied by the Heitz Hardware Store, later Quirk Drugs, and then Parker Brother Drugs.

Turn the corner and walk north on K Street.

The entrance at 19 K Street was to Hudak’s Department Store. Both stores in this building have unique corner entrances, suspended embossed awnings, and interior balconies typical of this period.

The corner of the parking lot across the street was the site of the St. James Hotel and later the Belmont Hotel. The Belmont rented space to one of the city’s early newspapers, the Independent, which later became the Rocket. The Rock Springs Miner began in 1881 and claimed to have a larger circulation than the combined circulation of all other papers published in Sweetwater County. The Rocket’s first publication was in 1907 in hopes of “launching a rocket boosting Rock Springs and the resources here.” The present name of the Daily Rocket-Miner was adopted in 1965. Rock Springs even had an Italian language newspaper, Il Grido del Popolo.

The North Side State Bank built a three-story building at this site in 1924. That structure was demolished in 1992, but the ornate marble carving above the door is now on display inside the newer structure.

Also located in the bank parking lot was the Sweetwater Provision and Supply, a meat market owned by Otto Schnauber and William Gottsche in the 1890’s. In 1891 they employed Robert LeRoy Parker who became the well-known outlaw, Butch Cassidy. A biography written by Parker’s sister claims he received the nickname “Butch” while working in butcher shops in Rock Springs.

While in Rock Springs, Butch was arrested for stealing a drunkard’s money but was released due to lack of evidence or witnesses. Upset at having been falsely incarcerated, he “cursed the officers, the judge, the town, the county, and the entire state of Wyoming.” Shortly thereafter, Cassidy returned to his outlaw lifestyle.