Wyoming’s Historic 117-Year-Old Mountain View Hotel Cafe Is Open Again

In the mountains of Wyoming’s Snowy Range, a slice of American history awaits, served alongside a cup of steaming hot coffee and a choice of breakfast specials like Dutch babies, oatcakes, scrambles and such.

The 117-year-old Mountain View Historic Hotel’s cafe has been re-opened for about six months now under Elizabeth Williams and her three daughters, a team that seems dedicated to both great food and hospitality.

The mother and daughters are also helping out with housekeeping at the historic hotel, which now operates primarily as an Airbnb.

“The hotel started out because of the gold mining and then the railroad coming through,” Williams said. “They thought it was going to become, you know, a booming town and that the railroad was going to go on over through Saratoga (to Encampment).”

But the promise of a rich vein of gold in the mountains was never realized, and Centennial ultimately became the end of the line for the Hahns Peak and Pacific Railroad Co.

It would never make it to Encampment, but for a time the passenger train would come in from Laramie loaded with tourists headed out to Centennial for rest and relaxation or a day of fishing.

The train would let people off along the way at any likely watering hole a passenger wished. Then, at the end of the day, it would come back through and collect everyone to take them home again.

A Monument To What Could’ve Been

Undoubtedly, some of those passengers ended up at the Mountain View Hotel, where the proprietors were well-known for their culinary skill with trout.

Newspaper accounts and other historical records say that they would cook up a nightly feast that included fresh-caught trout.

That eventually fell by the wayside thanks to automobiles, but Centennial did ultimately find gold in its hills of a sort. Each year it hosts thousands of people for hiking in the summer and then for its world-class snowmobiling in the winter.

Snowmobilers told Cowboy State Daily they love the Snowy Range for both its beautiful scenery and challenging backcountry hills, and that it’s their favorite place to go whenever white, fluffy powder finally begins to arrive in winter.

Williams believes summer may actually be Centennial’s busiest time, though, at least from the standpoint of businesses in town.

“Based on what we’ve observed living here, people have said that there will be a lot more traffic in summer,” Williams said. “People who are going up to hike don’t necessarily stay up all day long and then come down at dinner. They’ll be in and out a lot more.”

A Breakfast That Hits The Spot

The Mountain View Historic Hotel’s newly re-opened cafe has quickly created a niche for itself in Centennial as a great breakfast spot, and Williams has put a lot of effort into making a creative morning menu.

While they do have a few grab-and-go things like burritos and breakfast sandwiches for those in a hurry to get to the mountain, Williams and her crew have put some extra effort into items that people will want to sit down to enjoy.

Some of the favorites on this menu are things Williams has perfected over the years for her own family, like the cinnamon rolls.

“My husband just loves those,” Williams said. “And I have had a recipe that I like, and we have kind of tweaked it for high altitude, so it’s working well.”

Williams is not afraid, however, to experiment with new ideas as well.

“We just kind of play around a bit,” Williams said. “And sometimes the girls come up with things they want to try as well.”

That’s led to a pretty fun idea inspired by some leftover oatmeal for something called oatcakes.

Williams said she had thought oatmeal would be a popular breakfast item, but no one bought it.

“I didn’t want to just throw it away,” she said.

She started googling for ideas to make something out of the oatmeal. That’s when she found the idea for oatcakes, which has become a popular staple on the menu.

“People who have come in as tourists from out East know about this and really like it,” Williams said.

And, while baked oatmeal is not really a Western thing, Williams said those who have tried it are usually pleasantly surprised by the dish and want to have it again.

A Community Nerve Center

When Williams was a young bride, she often dreamed about doing a bed and breakfast one day.

“That idea kind of fell away and I hadn’t thought about it in a long time,” she said.

But when the owners of the hotel put out the word that they needed new managers for the cafe and hotel, the old dream started bubbling back up again. It didn’t hurt that Williams also has a daughter who might be interested in a culinary career one day.

“I had six kids that I homeschooled and our last three are in high school, so it’s kind of an easier time for me to do something like this,” Williams added. “And when I reached out to them, they were like, ‘Yeah, we just want to have something that’s available for the guests and our community.’”

Since taking on the role managing the hotel and cafe, Williams has seen how vital a small cafe can be in a community like Centennial.

“It’s already starting to be a bit of a meeting place for small groups,” she said. “And that’s kind of one of the things that I envisioned it would be. We have Wi-Fi here, and I know some of the locals don’t have great Wi-Fi, so it can be a place where people and even guests, because some of the hotels don’t have Wi-Fi, can come and enjoy good food and the view and just hang out.”

Putting History Front And Center

Williams plans to continue evolving the cafe’s menu to create something that hits the spot for Centennial residents and its guests in winter, spring, summer and fall.

Right now, she’s been spinning out creative ideas for St. Patrick’s Day, including a pretty key lime pie, pistachio pudding flavored cookie sandwiches and shamrock tartlets.

But she’s also working on a little side project that has nothing to do with food, but is nonetheless satisfying. She’s been bringing out more of the hotel’s history and placing it on the walls for all to see.

“I found a lot of stuff up in the attic about when (the hotel) was built, and that it started out because of the gold mining and the railroad coming through,” Williams said. “And I’ve been putting those things out on the wall so people can see and learn a little about the history.”

She plans to continue seeking out more historical artifacts for the cafe to tell the story of the Mountain View Historic Hotel.

It opened in 1907, right alongside the railroad line, which also began operation that same year.

The hotel was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2007 as an integral part of the settlement of the Centennial Valley in Wyoming. It has remained in service as a commercial enterprise for more than 100 years, most of that time as a hotel.

“It went through a couple of changes,” Williams said. “For a while it was apartments, and then it came back to being a hotel.”

Renée Jean can be reached at renee@cowboystatedaily.com.