Happy Hour The Capitol Grille - Cheyenne, Wyoming

Happy Hour Twice a Night!

 

 The Capitol Grille and Lounge at The Historic Plains Hotel

is now offering Two Happy Hours a day!

 

 

 

5:00 pm to 6:30 pm

&

9:00 pm to 10:30 pm

 

Monday Through Saturday

  

 

 

 

Happy Hour

 

2 for 1 on all draft beers

 

 

 

 

Show your movie ticket and get 25% off select appetizers

 

 

 

 

The Capitol Grille and Lounge features the finest, fresh, Wyoming local ingredients, including the best, naturally tender, Wyoming beef products and signature drinks by our property mixologist.

 

All items prepared with care by our Gourmet Chef, and his staff.

 

Welcome to the Historic Plains Hotel

Cheyenne, Wyoming

The Historic Plains Hotel is a charming 1911 National Historic Landmark Hotel located in the heart of Downtown Cheyenne where tourists and locals enjoy entertainment by local artists, shopping and art galleries - all with that alluring Western edge. The Plains has played host to notable guests of the past and is designed with Western High Style decor.

Walk through our doors and you'll be greeted by Cheyenne's most willing and friendly staff - trained in the art of Western Hospitality.

 

1600 Central Ave. Cheyenne Wyoming 82001 map • Phone: (307)638-3311 • Toll Free: (866)2-PLAINS • Professionally Operated by Providence Hospitality Partners

 

 

 



Capitol Grille Offers Sunday Brunch

Capitol Grille and Lounge at

The Historic Plains Hotel

Announces

Sunday Brunch

1600 Central Ave - 307-638-3311

 

 

Join us for Sunday Brunch

11:00am to 1:30pm

$2 Mimosas

 

 

$3 Bloody Mary’s

 

Featuring all Your Favorite Breakfast Items

3 Entrees to choose from

Assorted Salads

Chilled Salmon

 

Carving Station

 

Cooked to Order Omelet Station

and

Table of Sweet Delights

Valet Parking Available

The Capitol Grille
Our award winning, is known for culinary specialties prepared with fresh and seasonal ingredients. Our award- winning chef brings a wealth of experience to Cheyenne ranging from historic hotels to concept restaurants, with emphasis on community involvement.

Professionally Operated by Providence Hospitality Partners

 

 

The Lobby Ceiling at The Plains Hotel

In 2002 The Historic Plains Hotel underwent a renovation and restoration, with the main lobby ceiling taking on a stain glass feature honoring the galaxy in which we live.  All Cowboys would follow sun rise and sun set bearings from East to West and then off set their bearing North to South opposite the sun through the day.  This would play a role in cross country travel, wagon trains and primitive maps of the time.  The ceiling layout of the solar system keeps in mind our cowboy heritage with travel as well as the spirituality of the stars and planets from the Native American Indians living among Wyoming Plains in the late 1800’s.

Looking closely at the cross beams you will see various sayings honoring hospitality and those whom have served her before us. 

In the Crossbeams of the stain glass can we found the following sayings?

SOLI DEO GLORIA = ONLY IN GODS GLORY

In the early days of settlers heading out west this was a saying used, “all was done in the glory of God”, Today can be found throughout the Christian Community and has been used by many scholars over the years and in composer Johann Sebastian Bach appended the initials "SDG" to the musical manuscripts of each of his cantatas and many of his other works.

THE PLAINSHOTEL - CHEYENNE WYOMING = Your Current Location

HOSPITALITY – COMPASSION – TOLERANCE = All qualities of The Historic Plains Staff

VERITAS = MEANING TRUTH

In Roman mythology, Veritas (meaning truth) was the goddess of truth, a daughter of Saturn and the mother of Virtue. It was believed that she hid in the bottom of a holy well because she was so elusive. Her image is shown as a young virgin dressed in white.  Veritas is also the name given to the Roman virtue of truthfulness, which was considered one of the main virtues any good Roman should have possessed.

VENUSTATIS / FIRMITATIS / UTILITATIS = Beauty, Firmness, and Convenience

The three conditions of architecture the earliest surviving written work on the subject of architecture is De architecture, by the Roman architect Vitruvius in the early 1st century CE.   According to Vitruvius, the architect should strive to fulfill each of these three attributes as well as possible.  We know you will find these within the Plains Hotel.

WELCOME PARDNER = WELCOME PARTNER

Code of the West Welcome, Cowboys looks upon each other as equals and no one was better than the next; they tipped their hat and extended a welcoming hand, as we do here at The Historic Plains.

PAYING IT FORWARD = A good deed given is to be paid to the next folks coming your way

This was a unwritten code of early settlers heading out West, as they all struggled to reach their destination, a helping hand and paying it onto the next group was a unwritten lifestyle, be it on the plains, in the rocky mountains or on the various wagon train routes through our country, this was all part of the lifestyle. 

 NOTHING BUT THE BEST – HARRY P HYNDS MOTTO

One of the First General Managers of The historic Plains Hotel would say this to all guests and employees of The Historic Plains.

DEO JUVA = GOD HELP US

Again a saying used by early settlers heading west, as storms, hostile Indians and robbers would always be a treat they would all use this as a saying in route to their destination, some making it and some not. 

Cheyenne Meetings At The Historic Plains Hotel

Meetings At The Historic Plains Hotel

The Historic Plains Hotel Meetings

Meetings - Event FacilitiesPlains Hotel in Downtown Cheyenne creates professionally designed banquets for any event.

1600 Central Ave. Cheyenne Wyoming 82001 map • Phone: (307)638-3311 • Toll Free: (866)2-PLAINS • Professionally Operated by Providence Hospitality Partners

Award winning Catering
Our Creative, professional catering and banquet staff will design exquisite custom menus to suit your tastes and budget. Whether you wish to plan a plated, buffet reception, or themed banquet, we will assist you in planning the perfect menu and individualizing your set-up while offering the following services:      

Customized menus that work within your budget

Customized decor

Artistic food presentations

Themed banquets and weddings

Catering services liaison

Professional wedding reception assistance

The Plains Hotel offers

• Six elegant meeting rooms
• 9,000 square feet, of meeting and mingling space
• Signature banquet menus * Pleasant surprises.
• High-tech infrastructure in meetings spaces
  --including high speed internet and phone connections
• Full service business center for all of your copying and business needs
• Regional entertainment events

Whether your meeting repuirements are small or large, we stand by our reputation of providing the finest reception or meeting on the northern front range of the Rocky Mountains. A dedicated Meeting Services Liaison will assist you through every step of your meeting arrangement, menu planning and facility coordination.

Nowhere else in Cheyenne blends the historic western charm with the friendly familiarity of home.

Walk through our doors and you'll be greeted by Cheyenne's most willing and friendly staff. Step into your room, close the door to the outside world and wake up refreshed - to a brighter, more peaceful morning.  

Dining at The Historic Plains Hotel - Cheyenne Wyoming

The Capitol Grille Cheyenne Wyoming - The Historic Plains Hotel

Dining at the Plains HotelThe Captitol Grille features the finest, fresh, Wyoming local ingredients, including the best, naturally tender, Wyoming beef products. All items prepared with care by our Gourmet Chef, and his staff.

The Capitol Grille
Our award winning, is known for culinary specialties prepared with fresh and seasonal ingredients. Our award- winning chef brings a wealth of experience to Cheyenne ranging from historic hotels to concept restaurants, with emphasis on community involvement.

The Capitol Grille is open for Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner: 

The Historic Plains Hotel Cheyenne Wyoming

The Plains opened in 1911 as Cheyenne, Wyoming’s premier full service hotel. Distinctive features such as the Range Room Banquet Facility, Wigwam Lounge and two-story lobby mezzanine with stained glass skylight, and finely appointed guest rooms, made The Plains Hotel unequaled in the Intermountain West.

Before the era of the “West” with its cowboys and cowgirls, this land gave hospitality to man and beast. In those days, the nearby creek was wide and shallow with fertile banks and clear water. Game was plentiful and buffalos wallowed in their chosen spot. Native Americans passed through here as they followed a trail south to the chalk bluffs in quest of materials to make arrowheads. This land may have provided lodging for migrating tribes who camped on this site. It was always a haven for the trader.


The “West” came with white men from the East. In the fall of 1867, they chugged west in iron horses on iron rails and erased the pastoral landscape. The newcomers needed a place to rest that winter. A tent town, then a village, quickly sprouted up where only buffalo grass once grew. The crossing at Crow Creek was loud and rowdy, a real “Hell on Wheels.” Many of the buildings came from towns to the east on the rails, and they would be moved on again as more track was laid in a continuous ribbon to the Pacific Ocean. However, at this place named Cheyenne, people stayed. They quickly formed a government in the fall and winter of 1867-68. They built churches and established newspapers. The Union Pacific Railroad built a hotel and eating-house for sojourners. The city was on the map and from its beginning offered comfort and a touch of elegance.


Once it was known how mild the winters were and abundant nutritious short grass made it possible for animals to remain on the range all year, the cattlemen arrived. By 1878, a thriving cattle industry had developed making Laramie County considered the wealthiest county per capita in the United States. The wealthy built homes in the most lavish Victorian manner, and proper social decorum was in order. Many of these elegant mansions exist today.


A young blacksmith, Harry P. Hynds from Morris, Illinois stepped off the train in 1882 and immediately found employment. He was genial, hard working and blessed with a fine physique. Boxing was his hobby and he quickly became champion of the area in the 165-pound class. After two years, he opened his own smithy and in two more years abandoned his trade for the liquor business. By 1886 he was listed as proprietor of a saloon and gambling hall. The Capital Bar and Grill. Always amidst the action, he wisely invested in gold mines and the emerging petroleum industry.


Not surprising, when the construction of a new hotel was announced, Hynds would be involved with it. He was never an investor in the building itself, but he was one of the lessees of the separate company that operated the hotel. “Nothing but the best” was his motto and he furnished the hotel in that manner. Both Hynds and his wife, Nellie, took a deep interest in maintaining “their” hotel as one of the finest between the coasts.


The Plains Hotel was ready for business by March 9^th, 1911. The building was five stories tall with a full basement. The public rooms were enhanced by mahogany in colonial style with plush carpets and finished in time and marble. The newspaper stated that the new hostelry “Impresses one as a Palace.”


The lobby was the center of the ground floor and received its daylight through a skylight of stained glass. At night, softly shaded electric lights spread brilliance from heavy brass fixtures.


The front desk was solid marble guarded by an expensive bronze figure, stated to be an art masterpiece. The dining room was equipped with windows of art glass, a mahogany buffet and tables and chairs for 85 guests. The sleeping rooms were arranges with the comfort of the guests in mind. Each had colonial furniture or massive brass beds and access to a bathroom, if desired. All were well ventilated and each room had a telephone.


The walkway that connects the lobby of the hotel to Capitol Avenue was christened “Peacock Alley” and has been used for many things, i.e.; this spacious area had lounge chairs and the ever-present spittoons.


The logo of the Plains Hotel that appears on the letterhead, china, the long outdoor sign and the tile inset on the street features Chief Little Shield, an Arapaho. In 1915, Little Shield brought some of his people to Cheyenne for Frontier Days. He was an Indian guest of the The Plains Hotel, but his friends stayed in tepees at Frontier Park. Chief Little Shield always washed up and dusted off at the horse trough across the street before coming inside The Plains to visit with his friends. So handsome was the young chief that Hynds had noted photographer J.E. Stimson take his photograph and that image has always been associated with The Plains Hotel. Sitting in regal style in the lobby, Chief Little Shield caused quite a stir among the other guests. He has never left his place as the symbol of The Plains Hotel, and the current owners are now the keepers of the tradition.

Each year during Cheyenne Frontier Days, The Plains Hotel, is honored by continued visits from Chief Little Shield’s descendants.


Appearing on scene in the mid-1930’s was a furniture maker in Cody, Wyoming, names Thomas Molesworth. He used polished native woods with American rugs, and motifs were also used to create handsome chairs and couches. He designed bars incised with tomahawks and chandeliers of wrought iron with silhouettes suggesting Indian villages. The lampshades were stretched hide colored with Indian designs.


In 1933, Mrs. Hynds redecorated the old hotel using a full complement of Molesworths finest creations. Today, pieces of Molesworth craftsmanship are highly sought after by collectors and that style set the theme for the 2002 renovation.


In late 1937, the hotel became the ‘place’ to host weddings, club events, dances, legislative parties and more.


When United Airlines established a stewardess school in the 40’s, the stewardesses-to-be would come to the Plains for relaxation in the Wigwam Lounge just off the “Alley.” Young swains gathered to strut their stuff and socialize with the never-ending supply of young women. There is no record who named it in 1911, but the well-used space has lived up to its name.


Some of our celebrities over the years have included President Harry S. Truman, Presidential candidates Tom Dewey, Richard Nixon, Ronald Regan and Ted Kennedy. Movie Stars such as Carroll Baker, Karl Malden, Pat Wayne, Gilbert Roland, Sal Mineo, Ricardo Montalban Jimmy Stewart, Barbara Eden, and Debbie Reynolds to name a few.


Since the ‘face lift’ in 2002, The Plains Hotel has been brought back to its former glory. And along with that, the traditions of fine Western Hospitality still exist today. The elegance of the Old West awaits you at The Historic and Colorful Plains Hotel!


History of the 1911 Opening Recalled
Editors note: Dazee Bristol, pioneer woman of Cheyenne, who died in 1983 at the age of 105, writer of the following feature story of the Plains Hotel grand opening was one of the guests present at the occasion on March 11, 1911. She recounts how the hotel came into being and some of the highlights of the grand opening. This is repeated in her own, colorful language.

By Dazee Bristol
 The history of the building of the Plains Hotel, though short, is interesting. At the annual $1 dinner of the Industrial Club (now Chamber of Commerce) in December of 1909 - Thomas Heaney, President of the club, interrupted the regular business trend to give his opinion, in a joking way, that Cheyenne was in need of a new up-to-date hotel - that the Inter Ocean was outmoded and had its day as the leading hotel of our city. He appointed Dr. H.N. Bennett to see that the city should have a new hotel and the physician accepted the task.

During the month of February 1910, an announcement was made that the Cheyenne Securities Company had been organized for the intention of erecting a new hotel. The officers of this company were Senator Francis E. Warren, T.A. Cosgriff, Dr. H.N. Bennett, Fred Warren and William Duboise, the architect. William Duboise made several sets of plans for the hotel from which those of the present building were chosen.

One month later the contract was awarded for the erection of the hotel at a cost in the neighborhood of $200,000, which together with the furniture installed raised the cost to more than a quarter of a million dollars. Construction started June 1910.

March 9, 1911, scarcely more than a year after the Industrial Club dinner, the Plains Hotel - one of the most elaborately furnished hostelries in the entire West - opened to hotel patrons.

Grand and imposing in appearance, magnificent in its appointment and furnishings. Modern to the smallest detail.

Men in full evening dress and gorgeously gowned women. Also gallant Army Officers and their handsomely gowned ladies - all tripped the light fantastic until wee hours of the morning, in the lobby, to the strains of the Plains Trio - composed of Susan Cahill, at the piano, Marie Buchanan, violin, and Roy Henderson, drums.

Frank Gore was chosen Chief Clerk of the hotel - J.D. Pruitt, Auditor; Mr. Nicodemus, manager, famous for his catering ability, having received his training with the Harvey House System and was instructed by them with the opening of the Union Station Hotel in St. Louis.

The Plains Hotel is full five stories high with full basement. This includes hotel proper, and offices and first floor storerooms. There are three entrances - one on 16th Street, one on Central, and one on Capitol Ave., also three elevators.

The lobby is in the center of the grand floor and receives its day light through a mission art panel skylight. Brilliantly lighted at night by numerous lights shedding soft rays of light from heavy brass fixtures. The floor is tile and mahogany and genuine leather furniture graces the room. The stairway leading from the lobby is of marble and steel. A roomy alcove on Central Avenue side is the Cigar Stand, managed by Clara Frey. The bar of the lobby is regal in its gleaming plate glass and mahogany. Across from the bar is the famous Indian Grill Room and Cocktail lounge - a mecca for the unconventional.

There's a Mezzanine Floor where the Plains Orchestra holds forth and comfy lounges and seats where guests may rest and enjoy themselves. Off the Mezzanine Floor is the Tea Room with its lovely drapes and dainty tables, awaiting mi-lady. Also off the Mezzanine is a huge Ladies Rest Room.

The hotel boasts 100 sleeping rooms with gorgeous velvet carpets, exquisite draperies, comfy chairs and colonial style furnishings. Nearly all rooms have baths and ALL have telephones.

The basement features public toilets, ten sample rooms and storage. The new hotel will be conducted on European Plan.

Happy Hour Daily at The Capitol Grille

Capitol Grille & Lounge

Now Offering Happy Hour

 

Located at

The Historic Plains Hotel

1600 Central Ave

307-638-3311

Featuring Twice Daily
Not Once, but Twice The Happy Hour

 

5:00pm to 6:30pm & 9:00pm to 10:30pm

Monday through Saturday

 

Enjoy Happy Hour All Day on Football Sundays Starting at 11:00am

Happy Hour Specials include 2 for 1 on all Draft Beers, House Wines and Well Drinks

Show your movie ticket and receive 25% off selected appetizer menu items. 

Dining at the Plains HotelThe Captitol Grille features the finest, fresh, Wyoming local ingredients, including the best, naturally tender, Wyoming beef products. All items prepared with care by our Gourmet Chef, and his staff.

1600 Central Ave. Cheyenne Wyoming 82001 • Phone: (307)638-3311 • Professionally Operated by Providence Hospitality Partners