Powell, WY

Mountain Views and Local Owners

A Powell, Wyo., businessman describes how, as a boy in a flatland state, he plotted an escape to the West and its mountains, and a local doctor recounts planning—back in medical school—for a rural practice that would let him live somewhere like this picturesque town between the Bighorn Mountains and the Rockies.

A stroll through Powell (pop. 5,373) makes clear why they and others have determined to remain or relocate here. The town, which took root in 1909, has scenic views of both the Bighorns and the Rockies, while the splendors of Yellowstone National Park lie less than two hours west.

Wyoming’s traditional cattle and oil industries are close at hand, but formerly arid sagebrush flats immediately surrounding the town were transformed into irrigated croplands producing sugar beets, barley, and pinto beans. William F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody first proposed irrigation here, and a nearby reservoir named for him makes farming possible and keeps Powell’s surroundings more lush than much of Wyoming.

Powell’s Bent Street is just as attractive as the surrounding mountains and green fields, in many eyes. Bent looks like a vital small-town Main Street from a couple of generations ago, before giant chains and easy commutes to urban retailers. The tree-lined, three-block street is home to mostly locally owned businesses, including restaurants and bars, a drugstore with a soda fountain, a movie theater, and shops selling jewelry, books, office supplies, appliances, and hardware.

Just a decade ago a quarter of downtown stores sat empty. Then, Powell launched a campaign to revitalize 40 storefronts and stress the community benefits of shopping locally.

“Now, Powell looks at its downtown as something that must be a viable resource,” says Frank Roling, owner of Discount Appliance on Bent Street. “Being in business here is great, because people have decided they won’t have empty stores, and they’ve told us they’ll keep us busy.”

When a store next to Frank’s became vacant recently, Powell citizens banded together and hatched a plan for a family clothing business there, backed by local stockholders as a for-profit enterprise.

Erin Lineback, who will graduate from Powell High School this spring, says downtown feels as warm as it looks. “People smile and talk to you, no matter whether you’re an adult or a teenager,” she says. She adds having a movie theater where the shows change twice weekly isn’t something young people in small-town Wyoming take for granted. Nor do they take for granted nearby higher education. Lineback plans to enroll at Powell’s Northwest College, one of Wyoming’s seven community colleges.

Around the corner from Bent Street, in the cozy Parlor News Coffeehouse, people joke that elk in the nearby mountains and trout in area streams have ensured Powell has good medical services. The town has recently enjoyed an influx of young physicians drawn by hunting, fishing, and other outdoor recreation.

Oklahoma native Dr. Mike Bohlman says hunting, hiking, and skiing were factors in his setting up practice here in 1994. He and two colleagues in his clinic accomplished impressive outdoor feats last fall when each, individually, bagged elk by archery. But there are other reasons why Bohlman, his wife, Kristi, and their three daughters live in Powell.

“I wanted a general practice, but I also wanted to be able to do procedures, like certain surgeries, that I might not get to do in bigger medical settings due to turf issues,” Bohlman says. “I think most people are comfortable having people they know take care of them.”

Comfortable is a good description of Powell. Wyoming values the frontier tradition of individual action, more than one Powell resident notes. But, they add, there’s also something to be said for townspeople banding and plotting together for common good.

Paul Higbee is a freelance writer in Spearfish, S.D.

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