SHERIDAN — Hidden behind 110-year-old, 6-foot hedges stands a brick home described as one of Sheridan’s historic gems.
Original owner Lyman H. Brooks christened it “Mount View” because it sits on top of a hill that offered both a view of the Big Horn Mountains and the city’s cemetery.
The more than 6,000-square-foot home boasts more than 15 rooms overall and was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1997.
Owner Susan Brayton has owned the brick home at 610 S. Jefferson St. twice, most recently since 2003. She said she’ll put it up for sale in the near future as she plans to travel more during retirement.
It wasn’t an easy decision. Brayton still enjoys waking up every morning to the history, beauty and sense of peace embedded in the home’s walls.
“I grew up in Sheridan and never knew this house existed, and that’s probably true for a lot of people who lived in Sheridan because it is off the beaten path,” she said. “It’s a happy house. I have never encountered anything negative in this home.
“And the other thing that impresses me is there is not a person who walks through her that does not love this house.”
The house boasts three floors above a three-quarter basement and all original woodwork from a lumber business owned by the original owner, including quarter-sawn oak and Honduran mahogany. The electric wiring has been redone, along with the kitchen and some plumbing. But much of the rest of the house retains original light fixtures, wallpaper, wood flooring and charm.
The home, along with a carriage house and chicken coop, was completed in 1912. Designed by architect Glenn Charles McAlister of Billings, Montana, it boasts prairie-style architecture with Italian Renaissance details and Tuscan stone pillars that support the entry porch roof.
It’s not on the market yet, so there’s no list price.
Businessman Extraordinaire
Biographical information on Brooks in the National Historic Registry application shows he was born May 5, 1856, in Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada, and moved with his family to Vermont in 1862.
He became a naturalized citizen and moved west in 1880, working for cattle companies. In the early 1880s, he formed a partnership with a man named Frank Kilburn and brought 100 head of cattle from Colorado to Wyoming. The partners acquired a former homestead to ranch, and by 1889, Brooks bought out his partner.
The business-minded entrepreneur would go on to invest in a hardware store, expand his ranch, divest himself of the hardware store and help found the Bank of Commerce of Sheridan in 1892.
At 33, Brooks found the love of his live in Catherine Ruth Ivey, a Wisconsin native who had come west to visit her uncle. She and Brooks met at the fair and he asked her to marry him before she returned home. They married in Wisconsin on June 11, 1889. They had two children, Lyman Brooks Jr. and Ruth, the National Historic Registry information states.
Brooks promoted the city’s electric light plant in 1894 and served as Republican member of the State House of Representatives from 1895 to 1897. In 1903, Brooks became president and general manager of the Sheridan Lumber Company and in 1907 became vice president of the corporation that opened the Monarch Coal Mine. He was also a director of the Sheridan Railway Company, according to his obituary on the Find A Grave website.
He also served as president of L.H. Brooks Realty and was involved with Irma Mines and Gilt Edge Mining Corporation.
Additionally, he was named to the University of Wyoming Board of Trustees in 1912 until his death.
Mount View owner Susan Brayton stands in the more than 6,000-square-foot home’s living room. (Dale Killingbeck, Cowboy State Daily) 
The mansion’s sunroom features radiated heat, just most rooms in the house. (Dale Killingbeck, Cowboy State Daily) 
Beautiful woodwork on stairs and walls leads up from the first to the second floor. (Dale Killingbeck, Cowboy State Daily) 
A secret drawer in the pantry held the Brooks family’s silver. (Dale Killingbeck, Cowboy State Daily) 
The spacious second-floor entry area has room for a desk with doors to bedrooms accessible off of it. (Dale Killingbeck, Cowboy State Daily) 
The bedroom built for Catherine Lyman features original wallpaper and its own bathroom. (Dale Killingbeck, Cowboy State Daily) 
The master bedroom where the original owner Lyman Brooks slept. (Dale Killingbeck, Cowboy State Daily) 
Mount View owner added a modern bathroom off the master bedroom in a room that once was Lyman Brooks’ dressing room. (Dale Killingbeck, Cowboy State Daily) 
The original chandelier in the dining room of the Mount View home. (Dale Killingbeck, Cowboy State Daily)
City Living
The rancher-businessman and politician at least tested city living before building his own home. An article in the Nov. 5, 1891, Sheridan Post reported that he and his family “have moved to town and occupy the H. N. Robinson residence.”
Brooks was 55 when he commissioned the $20,000 house ($650,000 in 2024 dollars) at the corner of South Jefferson Street and College Avenue for construction. McAlister had already designed the Sheridan County Courthouse and in 1908 worked to design the historic Kendrick Mansion called Trails End which wouldn’t be completed until 1913.
“They were very humble people,” Brayton said. In 1988 she purchased the house from Ruth Brooks-Yonkee’s children. Brayton and her husband at the time were living in California and looking for a “small bungalow” to vacation in. Her uncle, the realtor, brought them to Mount View last on the list of houses to ponder.
“When we walked inside the door, all we had to do was take a look at the woodwork and the grandeur of the place, and we asked the agent how long it had been on the market,” she said. “And it had been on the market for four years, and we just looked at each other and made an offer. The next day and the family accepted.”
They intended her parents to move in — but that did not work out. They sold the house after a few years. In 2003, Brayton learned it was available again and purchased it only after the former owners separated off the carriage house and turned it into their retirement home.
Brayton lived in the home and worked for a Sheridan mining company for a few years, until the mining economy took a dip. She then moved to Dallas to work, but kept the house, moving back in recent years.
Oak Pocket Doors
Visitors to the home will find a spacious front entry room. To the right is a den with oak pocket doors. To the left, a living room with a large fireplace. That room, too, has oak pocket doors to separate it from the reception area. All the floors are hardwood. Next to the living room to the south is a sunroom with windows, brick walls and French doors.
Upstairs are two master bedrooms — one for Lyman and one for his wife — both have bathrooms. Brayton converted Lyman’s dressing room into a large modern bathroom. There are also separate bedrooms once used by their daughter, Ruth and son, Lyman Brooks, Jr. Additionally, a sleeping room was added above the front porch of the house on the second floor and allows breezes from the several windows to flow through.
The house boasts original wallpaper in bedrooms and an antique bed curtain in Lyman Brooks’ bedroom.
“I love the whole house, but there are two rooms that are my favorite,” Brayton said. “One is the sunroom, in the winter it’s a haven for warmth and beauty and reflection on the snow and green pine trees outside. The other is the sleeping porch. It’s a three-sided porch for sleeping … It’s like my little treehouse.”
On the third floor is a ballroom, where the Brooks family entertained with dances and community gatherings. A door off the north side of the room leads to the “fainting room” where the women could go in and loosen their corsets after all the exercise.
Original 100-year-old hedges provide privacy for the 112-year-old Sheridan mansion at the corner of College Avenue and South Jefferson Street. (Dale Killingbeck, Cowboy State Daily) 
A large ballroom tops the three-story structure. Owner Susan Brayton has had the ceiling painted with murals honoring Leonardo da Vinci art. (Dale Killingbeck, Cowboy State Daily) 
The kitchen of the Mount View home has been updated, but still retains the original cabinets and cupboards. (Dale Killingbeck, Cowboy State Daily) 
French doors lead from the living room into the sunroom. (Dale Killingbeck, Cowboy State Daily) 
The large entry room into the house features classic woodwork. (Dale Killingbeck, Cowboy State Daily) 
The office and den on the main floor offers built-in wooden bookcases and shelves – and its own working fireplace. (Dale Killingbeck, Cowboy State Daily) 
An elevated breakfast nook off the kitchen is a modern addition to the home. (Dale Killingbeck, Cowboy State Daily)
Ceiling Artwork
As her own embellishment, Brayton commissioned her son’s girlfriend who is an artist to paint the four-quartered ceiling of the ballroom. She patterned it after Leonardo da Vinci artwork, separating the four sides into the four seasons.
Any secrets to the house?
“I am still looking for that pot of gold somewhere in the wall,” Brayton said. “In the pantry there is a secret drawer where they kept their silver. You can’t see that drawer until you remove the other drawer.”
The house also had laundry chutes, a cabinet for ice in the kitchen and a special button to buzz the butler and maid that was kept underneath the dining room table. The maid had a bedroom on the second floor. The butler had a room in the basement and part of his job was to feed the coal-fired furnace. That furnace was converted to natural gas. But the basement still offers a coal bin room for storage.
As part of her updates, Brayton redid the basement floor to make it more user friendly.
Brayton said she loves to entertain at the home, just like the original owners.
The Casper Daily Tribune reported on Aug. 7, 1922, that “Mr. And Mrs. Lyman H. Brooks at their lovely home on Residence Hill, entertained a small company at luncheon yesterday noon in honor of Congressman and Mrs. Frank. W. Mondell. Informality was the keynote and appreciated by the guests who included besides the honor guests Judge and Mrs. Charles E. Winter of Casper and Mr. And Mrs. C. Watt Brandon.”
Brayton has used the home over the years for a special Memorial Day flag raising ceremony. Brooks had a wooden flagpole that eventually rotted. So, Brayton took a welding class and made her own that still stands on the north side of the home.
Outside, she also added a deck area for summertime guests.
The home with the nearly foot-wide basement walls still commands a presence at the top of hill. She hopes for someone in the future who will appreciate it as much as she does.
“I’ve loved maintaining it and making my own little upgrades,” she said.
Dale Killingbeck can be reached at dale@cowboystatedaily.com.
