Old CRA Airport Terminal turning into "arts, culture and aviation history facility"

View of the terminal, view facing north - Optopolis

Local organization, Arts Cheyenne, received a grant from the NEA to begin renovation of the old Cheyenne Regional Airport Terminal into an "arts, culture and aviation history facility." They will be holding an open house at the terminal soon that will also serve as a celebration of the restoration of the airport fountain!

A glance at the history

Cheyenne's airport dates back to at least the 1920s, as reflected in a Facebook post from the Cheyenne Historic Preservation Board. CHPB has shared several images of Cheyenne Regional Airport, including this one:

Many changes have occurred over the years, and the previous terminal location along East 8th Avenue (the main topic of this article) dates back to about sixty years ago (around the 1960s) as reflected in an article from The Cheyenne Post.

As reflected by a post from Airport Improvement, ground broke on the new CRA terminal in 2017, and it would relocate fully by 2019. A new pizza place called Billy Jack's had even opened a location inside of the new terminal, although it is currently temporarily closed.

"WE'VE MOVED" sign posted in a window at the old CRA terminal - Optopolis

According to Arts Cheyenne's website, discussion of a potential partnership with the Cheyenne Regional Airport began actively coming about in 2022. It lists four grants they've gotten which total $969,978 although $20,000 of that has gone to projects in Jackson, WY; according to the page, it appears the rest (a total of $949,978) is intended for the airport terminal project.

What's to come next for the old CRA Terminal

For quite some time, there's been at least some interest in the Cheyenne community (Optopolis included) in the idea of seeing the old terminal be fixed up and reused, and it appears things for that might just have taken a positive turn.

A Hertz, Thrifty sign hanging on the outside of the terminal building - Optopolis

As shared on both Wyoming News Now and directly from Arts Cheyenne, the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) has granted Arts Cheyenne $50,000 to "conduct a visioning/design initiative for renovating the Old Cheyenne Airport Terminal into an arts, culture, and aviation history facility." This investment is part of the NEA's Our Town grants, and Arts Cheyenne was one of the chosen recipients of this year's fund.

Wyoming Tribune Eagle's Will Carpenter shared further details on the project; Bill Landstrom, executive director of Arts Cheyenne, says that for now, unofficially, the name of the project is called the "Arts and Aviation Center." According to Carpenter, Lindstrom also mentioned desire of making it a place that people could "hang out." Carpenter mentions that, "Arts Cheyenne and other organizations intend to host multiple events for public comment...on what residents would like to get out of the location."

View of the overhang covering the main entry of the terminal - Optopolis

Open house: Tours of the terminals!

On August 23rd, Arts Cheyenne posted an event on Facebook in collaboration with the Cheyenne Historic Preservation Board. The event is an open house scheduled to begin at 10 AM on Saturday, September 9th.

According to Arts Cheyenne's website, the event will celebrate the completion of the airport fountain and also serve as an open house to the airport terminal. It notes that the "event will include an Airport Fountain dedication, food trucks, terminal tours, and more!"

The historic airport fountain at Airport Fountain Park on E 8th Ave - Optopolis

Update 09-08 - According to a Facebook post from the City of Cheyenne's Facebook page, the fountain dedication ceremony will occur at 10:30 AM. This can also be found in their press release.

Fun fact: if you've kept up with the Cheyenne Historic Preservation Board, you'll recall that the Airport Fountain and the land it sits on was even named Airport Fountain Park!

Update 09/01 - According to an article from Cap City News, E 8th Ave between Warren Ave and House Ave will be blocked in accommodation for the event.

This leads us to a great spot to begin thinking now: What would you like to see made of the old Cheyenne Regional Airport Terminal? Are you excited to see what Arts Cheyenne and Cheyenne Regional Airport will do with the old terminal building? Let us know your thoughts of this update in the comments!

Originally published: 08/24/2023 at 3:45 PM MT

Updated: 09/01/2023 at 11:45 PM MT to add new info about the event.

Updated: 09/08/2023 at 2:52 PM MT to add new info about the event.

Location: Cheyenne, WY, USA

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