This place is one of those old abandoned buildings with a story. For a photographer, I loved every minute of it. It would be the perfect backdrop for senior pictures. I wish I would have visited when I had a bag full of better lenses and more skill. So, yes, this place is CLOSED. It's not a business at all. It's an old building with tons of graffiti and it's cool! You can see the mountains in the background and trains run along as well. It's really a pretty place.
The Midwest Oil Refinery was mentioned in the July 28, 1920 Laramie Republican as being ready to begin operations "soon". The plant closed in April 1932. The metal parts were taken for another refinery or sold as scrap during WWII. Much of the refinery was located on the west side of the street in the area now fenced off. According to former Albany County Sheriff Vern Breazeale, the refinery closing was the "best thing that ever happened to Laramie", because it meant the end of the stink that blew over town, smelling of rotten eggs when the wind came from the west. The ruins next to the old company offices were once the cement ovens for making coke (a pure form of carbon) from oil.
Today the site is remarkable for the graffiti that decorates its dilapidated walls. read more