Campbell County has purchased a piece of land that will soon be home to the area's new visitor center.
The county paid $294,030 for five acres of land northeast of Gillette near I-90 and Garner Lake Road.
Mary Silvernell, executive director of the Campbell County Convention and Visitors Bureau, said the current visitor center is located in a truck stop parking lot and has limited space. The new center will have its own public restrooms and provide more services for visitors.
"We'll have the space outside for the motor coach groups that stop by for information, space for the large RVs to park. We'll have a designated area for our mine tour bus for loading and off-loading that'll be in a safer location," she said.
Silvernell said they determined the location after a study showed where tourists are traveling to Gillette.
"The study came out and showed that most of the people coming through Gillette or to Gillette are coming from the East to the West heading to Yellowstone and Cody and the Tetons and so forth. So the best place to capture people at the visitors center would be off Interstate 90," she said.
Silvernell said the county has been saving for the construction by taking 10 percent of lodging taxes and placing them into an account for the past four years. That account now has $186,000. She said they'll also be looking for more funding through grants and other opportunities, and there's no established timeline for construction.
