The Alliance for Historic Wyoming Watch List brings statewide attention to historic properties in
Wyoming that are currently threatened with demolition or neglect. Properties listed on the
Watch List are significant to Wyoming at the local or state level and have local support for their preservation.

Significance and Threat

Saints Cyril & Methodius Catholic Church has long been a cornerstone of north-side Rock Springs. Its tall bell tower and century-old craftsmanship make it one of the community’s most recognizable landmarks, shaping the city’s skyline. The church and the rectory were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2015. Now, the Diocese of Cheyenne is moving to relegate the church, removing the building from sacred use. With the building’s future suddenly uncertain, residents are rallying to save a place that has meant so much to the community for generations and continues to serve as a local soup kitchen.

With this decision, we believe that more Catholic churches across the state are at risk of relegation and disposal, in direct contradiction to the desires of local parishioners. In particular, Our Lady of Sorrows, another Catholic church in Rock Springs, may face a similar fate.

History

By the early 1900s, Rock Springs had become home to a growing number of Eastern European immigrants who worked long hours in the Union Pacific coal mines and sought a place to worship that reflected their own languages and traditions. In 1910, after years of feeling out of place in the town’s existing parish, these families received permission to form a new congregation of their own.

The church began humbly. With limited funds, parishioners first built only the foundation and basement, roofing it over so Mass could be held there while they continued saving money. The cornerstone was laid in 1912, and for more than a decade, this underground space served as the community’s spiritual home, built on volunteer labor and small donations. 

By 1924, the congregation had finally gathered enough to construct a full church. They hired local architect Daniel D. Spani and, once again, parishioners stepped in to do what they could themselves: digging the expanded basement by hand, unloading brick, and pitching in wherever labor was needed. The Romanesque church that opened in December 1925 was the building the community had dreamed of: tall, beautifully crafted, and unmistakably theirs. Its 125-foot bell tower, stained glass windows donated by church families, and bells representing the parish’s four major ethnic groups made it a landmark from the moment it opened.

The church quickly became the heart of Rock Springs’ Slavic community. Services were offered in multiple languages, holiday customs from the old country continued inside its walls, and parish events kept cultural ties strong. It hosted plays, bazaars, and traditional food celebrations. For decades, the church was not only a place of worship but a gathering place and a symbol of the hard-won stability these families found in Wyoming. Today, the church is home to the Loaves and Fishes Soup Kitchen, a vital community resource whose future is now uncertain.

Saints Cyril & Methodius remains one of the most visible and meaningful testaments to the immigrant history that shaped Rock Springs. Its story is woven into the lives, memories, and identities of generations who built and sustained it, brick by brick and year by year.

Community Efforts

Local Rock Springs resident Mary Hamilton is leading the charge to preserve this important part of the city’s history. She and a large group of committed people wrote an appeal to the Bishop’s Decree. Within a very short period of time over 360 signatures were received on a petition to save the church.  Some non-Catholics signed it as well, stating “This building is too important to this community to lose it.” Supporters have also created a public Facebook page, Preserving Our Sacred Sts. Cyril and Methodius Catholic Church, to coordinate updates, share information, and grow the preservation effort.

As the situation has unfolded, local news outlets have followed to congregation’s call to save their sacred space:

• Parishioners fight to keep historic church open – Buffalo Bulletin
• ‘Not just buildings’: Parishioners fight to keep historic church open – Rocket Miner
• 100th anniversary celebration turns somber due to church’s unknown future – Laramie Boomerang
• Bishop suspends the Relegation Decree for Saints Cyril and Methodius – Wyo4News
  

Contact Information and Call to Action

• Join Preserving our Sacred Sts. Cyril and Methodius Catholic Church on Facebook for updates
• Contact Mary Hamilton at: 307-389-4026 or straiturban@gmail.com
• Save Rome of the West
• Write to the Cheyenne Diocese to make your voice heard  
• Watch for advocacy alerts about this site from the Alliance for Historic Wyoming.

Photo attributions to the Wyoming State Historic Preservation Office, The Rock Springs Historical Museum, and Wyo4News.

Support the Watchlist

You can help the Alliance for Historic Wyoming in our efforts to preserve historic places and spaces across the state of Wyoming through advocacy, awareness, and action. The Watch List is meant to bring attention to historic locations in danger, and the work necessary to attempt to save them. We have established a Watchlist Fund to ensure we are able to stand up and advocate for our most vulnerable historic places and spaces.

Subscribe to our Newsletter to keep track of advocacy alerts and other ways you can help in our mission, and please consider donating to our Watchlist Fund so we can continue this work. You can also become a member or volunteer to get involved in the historic preservation of Wyoming’s buildings and sites that connect us to the past.