From the Piney Inn to the Wagon Box: More Than a Century of Story History

Long before generations of Story residents knew it as the Wagon Box, the familiar property along North Piney Road was known as the Piney Inn, a place where visitors came for meals, dancing, fishing, horseback riding, mountain vacations and the kind of hospitality that helped shape Story’s early identity.

Local historian George Lunbeck, 10 years ago, shared the history of the property, tracing its story from the early 1900s through its years as the Piney Inn, Piney Ranch and eventually the Wagon Box.

The history begins with Charlie and Minnie Lobb. Charlie came west from Iowa as a young man around 1885 and later married Minnie. The couple purchased property on North Piney from the Kilborn family and had local builder John Buckingham construct the Piney Inn in 1906. The business opened the following year.

A Destination From the Beginning

The Piney Inn was more than simply a place to stay. According to Lunbeck's research in early Sheridan newspapers, it quickly became a destination for people traveling from both Sheridan and Buffalo.

A June 1907 newspaper announcement reported that the Piney Inn was open to the public, with a single meal costing 50 cents, weekly board at $12.50 and monthly accommodations at $40.

Its formal opening came on July 4, 1907, during Story's Independence Day celebration.

Visitors from Sheridan made the Piney Inn their headquarters for the festivities. The newspaper described the property as an ideal resort among pine trees near Piney Creek. That evening, approximately 200 guests were served a fish dinner, while about 130 couples attended a dance that continued until around 3 a.m. Before beginning the long trip back to Sheridan the next morning, guests were served hot coffee.

Those accounts paint a picture that still feels familiar more than a century later: people leaving town, coming into the mountains and gathering in Story for food, music and community.

The Piney Inn continued holding dances and attracting vacationers. Some guests stayed for weeks at a time, and Charlie even provided transportation between Sheridan and the Inn to encourage people to make the trip.

The Piney Ranch Years

The property entered a new chapter in 1924, when it was purchased by the Peters family and became known as the Piney Ranch.

Laurel Peters and his mother, Myra Peters, purchased the property, and the ranch developed into a popular dude ranch. The Peters family's holdings eventually encompassed approximately 318 acres, stretching along both sides of North Piney and including land extending toward what is now the Wagon Box campground.

The original inn had nine bedrooms and two bathrooms upstairs. On the main floor was a large dining and living area centered around an old river-rock fireplace, along with a screened porch wrapping around two sides of the building.

Guests were served three meals a day.

Over time, six cabins were added to the grounds, along with a mountain cabin near Penrose that became part of the ranch experience. Guests could stay at the inn or in the cabins and ride horseback into the Bighorn Mountains. The mountain cabin also served as a headquarters for fishing and hunting pack trips.

Lunbeck recalled stories of guests being transported into the mountains by horse-drawn sleigh during the winter, spending the night at the mountain cabin and returning the following day.

By 1950, a week at the Piney Ranch, including meals and horseback riding, cost about $75.

Although it operated as a dude ranch, Lunbeck explained that the property remained open to local people as an inn as well. It was never entirely separated from the community around it.

Becoming the Wagon Box

Another major transformation came in 1969, when Bill Moore purchased the property and renamed it the Wagon Box Inn.

Lunbeck remembered returning to Story in the spring of 1970 and seeing what seemed like every available carpenter in the area working on the building.

The renovation was extensive.

The aging upstairs guest rooms were gutted and rebuilt, and the property was transformed for a new generation. Despite all the construction, one feature apparently remained important throughout the remodeling: the bar stayed open.

Moore formed the Wagon Box Inn Corporation, and the property operated as a supper club while continuing to make use of the cabins and campground.

Lunbeck listed numerous people who became owners or part-owners through the years, illustrating just how many Story families and personalities became connected to the property.

The building itself changed as well. The original dining room was smaller than today's facility, and later additions created more room for the bar and dining areas. The upstairs bedrooms from the Piney Inn era were largely beyond saving by 1969 and were reconstructed during the renovation that preceded the Wagon Box's reopening in 1970.

More Than a Building

One of the most striking parts of Lunbeck's presentation was not simply the chronology of owners and renovations. It was the number of people in the room who had their own Wagon Box story.

Some remembered working there.

Others remembered their parents working there decades earlier.

There were stories of bartenders, dances, dinners, cabins and nights when the building was packed.

One person recalled that in 1970 a steak-and-lobster dinner at the Wagon Box could be purchased for about five dollars, with a glass of wine included.

Another recalled moving to Story in 1991 and spending a snowy night in one of the Wagon Box cabins, only to discover that snow was actually blowing through a gap between the logs. It was the kind of experience that becomes funnier with the passing of time and another entry in the property's long collection of local stories.

Those memories help explain why the Wagon Box is difficult to describe simply as a restaurant, inn or commercial property.

It has been part of people's lives.

Built by One of Story's Early Craftsmen

The history of the Piney Inn is also connected to one of Story's prominent early builders, John Buckingham.

According to Lunbeck, Buckingham built the Story School in 1904, the Piney Inn in 1906 and, years later, the Tunnel Inn in 1931, in addition to numerous houses around Story. He had come to the community as a child and spent most of his life in the area.

More than a century later, buildings associated with his work remain part of the physical landscape of Story.

And remarkably, much of the original Piney Inn structure remains at the heart of today's Wagon Box.

A Living Piece of Story History

The Piney Inn began during an era when traveling from Sheridan to Story was an undertaking. Guests came to fish Piney Creek, dance late into the night, eat dinner beneath the Bighorn Mountains and escape into the pines for a few days or weeks.

Then came the Piney Ranch, with horseback rides, dude-ranch vacations, cabins and mountain pack trips.

Then came the Wagon Box.

Names changed. Owners changed. Buildings were remodeled. Generations passed.

But the property remained a gathering place.

That may be the most important part of its history.

For approximately 120 years, people have traveled down North Piney Road to essentially the same place, to eat, visit, celebrate, work, vacation and enjoy Story.

The Wagon Box isn't simply occupying an old building.

It is continuing one of Story's oldest traditions.

This information is based off George Lunbeck’s presentation in 2016. You can watch the video here

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