Augur Building Purchased
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: On Monday, Wyoming Catholic College (WCC) took another step towards a consolidated presence on Lander’s Main Street, when the College’s administrators completed the purchase of Central Wyoming College (CWC)’s former branch location, The Augur Building. “We’ve been leasing the building since last year,” said Dr. Glenn Arbery, the College’s president, “and it’s already had a significant impact on our ability to offer our students a more centralized experience. But we’d always hoped and planned for a more permanent arrangement. And now, through the extraordinary generosity of an anonymous benefactor who lives right here in Wyoming, we are able to do just that.”
The College has been utilizing the Augur Building since the beginning of October 2017, but the lease agreement it had reached with CWC at that time included the option to purchase the building outright by the completion of the initial contract, which expired at the end of July 2018. The one-time CWC classroom building, found at 427 Main Street, significantly increases the academic space available to the College, adding five more classrooms, several study rooms and offices, and a large common area with couches and desks. “Recognizing how well Augur fit with our needs,” Dr. Arbery said, “my staff and I were determined to find the funds necessary to bring it into the WCC family. We’re incredibly grateful to both the leadership at CWC and to our benefactor for helping us to make this step.”
In the earliest years of its existence, the College’s long-term plan had centered around the construction of a permanent (and expensive) campus on the donated Broken Anvil Ranch some 20 miles outside Lander. Now, however, the College is seeking to develop a campus that is integrated into the town itself. “Over the years we’ve spent in town,” Dr. Arbery said, “we’ve come to appreciate what a positive impact the community has on our students and on the very fabric of our institution. It grows increasingly difficult for us to imagine the future of Wyoming Catholic College without seeing it in Lander.”
The College has several other locations in Lander, including Holy Rosary Church (which serves as its chapel and where it houses a number of its students in seven residence halls); the Baldwin Building in the 300 block of Main Street (which includes classroom, library, and study space, a small, auxiliary chapel, and the majority of its administrative and faculty offices); Frassati Hall on North Third Street (which includes the College’s dining facilities); and St. Joseph’s Hall (which houses its outdoor program, and its maintenance and fleet departments). All are within easy walking distance of one another.