Cheyenne: A Sesquicentennial History

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CHEYENNE 

A Sesquicentennial History 

by Rick Ewig 

A publication of the City of Cheyenne 

HPNbooks 

A division of Lammert Incorporated 

San Antonio, Texas

First Edition 

Copyright © 2017 HPNbooks 

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, without permission in writing 

from the publisher. All inquiries should be addressed to HPNbooks, 11535 Galm Road, Suite 101, San Antonio, Texas, 78254. Phone (800) 749-9790, www.hpnbooks.com. 

ISBN: 978-1-944891-31-2 

Library of Congress Card Catalog Number: 2017941157 

Cheyenne: A Sesquicentennial History 

author: Rick Ewig 

editor emeritus: Bill Dubois 

contributing writer for “Sharing the Heritage”: Scott Williams 

cover artwork: James Ehernberger Collection, American Heritage Center, 

University of Wyoming 

HPNbooks 

president: Ron Lammert 

project manager: Bart Barica 

administration: Donna M. Mata 

Melissa G. Quinn 

Lori K. Smith 

book sales: Joe Neely 

production: Colin Hart 

Evelyn Hart 

Glenda Tarazon Krouse 

Tim Lippard 

Tony Quinn 

Christopher D. Sturdevant 

2 ✦ C H E Y E N N E : A S E S Q U I C E N T E N N I A L H I S T O R Y

CONTENTS 

4 LEGACY SPONSORS 

6 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 

9 PREFACE BY MAYOR MARIAN ORR 

10 CHAPTER 1 Cheyenne: Converting the Desolate and Sterile Plains 

20 CHAPTER 2 A Complex and Cosmopolitan City 

34 CHAPTER 3 All Say It Is An Ideal Fort 

44 CHAPTER 4 Good Fun and Good Money 

54 CHAPTER 5 Now We Spin About in Fast Trains, Automobiles, and Airplanes 

64 CHAPTER 6 One of the Best Shaded and Most Attractive Towns in the West 

73 EPILOGUE 

74 BIBLIOGRAPHY 

76 SHARING THE HERITAGE 

162 SPONSORS 

163 ABOUT THE AUTHOR 

C o n t e n t s ✦ 3

Legacy 

Sponsors 

These companies have made major contribution to the book as part of our Legacy Program. 

We could not have made this book possible without their leadership and participation. 

Blue Federal Credit Union 

114 East 7th Avenue 

Cheyenne, WY 82003 

800-368-9328 

www.bluefcu.com 

Capitol Roofing, Inc. 

805 East Fox Farm Road 


307-638-7724 

www.capitolroofinginc.com 

Cheyenne LEADS 

One Depot Square 

121 West 15th Street, Suite 304 


307-638-6000 

www.cheyenneleads.org 

Downtown Cheyenne 

Downtown Development Authority 

1601 Capitol Avenue 


307-433-9730 

www.downtowncheyenne.com 

First Cheyenne Federal Credit Union 

3485 Converse Avenue 


307-632-8111 

www.firstcheyenne.com 


Greater Cheyenne Chamber of Commerce 



307-638-3388 

www.cheyennechamber.org 

Laramie County 

Laramie County New Courthouse 

309 West 20th Street 


307-633-4260 

www.laramiecounty.com 

Reiman Corp. 

2400 West College Avenue 


307-632-8971 

www.reimancorp.com 

Visit Cheyenne 

One Depot Square 



800-426-5009 

www.cheyenne.org 

Wyoming Lottery Corporation 

1620 Central Avenue 


855-995-6886 

www.wyolotto.com 

L e g a c y S p o n s o r s ✦ 5

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 

When writing about Cheyenne history one must first acknowledge those who have come before. Robert Hanesworth and Dr. J. S. Palen need 

to be thanked for preserving the history of Cheyenne Frontier Days, such an important part of the city’s past and present. We are fortunate to 

have their papers preserved and accessible at the American Heritage Center (AHC) at the University of Wyoming. Also at the AHC are the papers 

of James Ehernberger. I have used his collection at the AHC and Jim has been extremely gracious in allowing me to use his private collection. Jim 

is still actively researching and collecting the history of railroads, Cheyenne, and Wyoming and I want to thank him for all he has done for the 

city’s history. 

I also want to express my appreciation to Bill Dubois. I think of Bill as the expert in the history of Cheyenne. I cannot think of anyone who 

has contributed more to the study of Cheyenne’s history than Bill. One of Bill’s colleagues was Shirley Flynn, who also should be mentioned when 

discussing those who have actively written about Cheyenne’s history. 

During my time researching this book I have been fortunate to work with great people and their wonderful institutions. Mike Kassel at the 

Cheyenne Frontier Days Old West Museum spent time with me explaining many facets of the history of Cheyenne Frontier Days and provided 

some wonderful images for the book. 

I have known Paula Taylor for several decades and her work at the F. E. Warren Air Force Base Museum is impressive. She spent several 

afternoons with me answering my questions and directing me where else to look for information. Also helpful at the base was William 

McLaughlin, the historian for the 90th Missile Wing History Office. He provided some images which, perhaps, have not been seen by the general 

public before. 

The University Libraries and the American Heritage Center at the University of Wyoming have been especially helpful. Tamsen Hert of the 

Emmet Chisum Special Collections area in the UW Libraries received that 1867 map of Cheyenne which is the first image in the book. I am so 

thankful that she allowed the image to be used in this book about Cheyenne. I also need to thank many at the AHC for their professional 

assistance with this project. The reference area, led by the incomparable Ginny Kilander, is a wonder to behold. John Waggener and Hailey 

Woodall handled my large photo requests expertly and expeditiously. The other faculty who assisted my research were Leslie Waggener, Molly 

Marcusse, and Amanda Stow. 

I also want to thank the many staff of the Wyoming State Archives (WSA) who assisted me for months and were always willing to help. Carl 

Hallberg, Cindy Brown, Laura Blair, and Kathy Marquis all were so helpful and I also want to express my appreciation for all Mike Strom has 

done as the state archivist. Also at the WSA is Suzi Taylor. She went above and beyond the call of duty in helping me as when I told her a number 

of times I only need one more photograph. 

On a more personal note I want to thank Kristi Wallin, who read all of the chapters and offered suggestions how to improve my prose and better 

explain my points. She was a big supporter and advocate even when I would tell her “I am writing a book.” Of course, any errors in the book are 

strictly my own and I am grateful to the city administration for allowing me to write this book in honor of the Magic City’s 150th anniversary. 

- Rick Ewig 


The Tivoli Building on West 16th 

Street, c. the mid-2000s. 

COURTESY OF ERIC DABNEY. 

A c k n o w l e d g e m e n t s ✦ 7

Cheyenne Depot Plaza, c. the 

mid-2000s. 



PREFACE 

B Y M A Y O R M A R I A N O R R 

Dear reader: 

As mayor of Cheyenne, I am honored to introduce you to a story that has long been in the 

making—150 years! In the pages that follow, you will learn of Cheyenne’s many “firsts,” and I am 

humbled to be one of those—having taken the oath of office as Cheyenne’s first female mayor on 

January 3, 2017. 

My Cheyenne roots run deep. Our family ran one of the city’s earliest stores on the corner of 

Carey Avenue and 17th Street in the early 1920s, Kassis Dry Goods, and my great uncle John 

Murray served as mayor from 1901-1903. 

I was pleased when I learned Rick Ewig had been tapped to author this book. I’ve known Rick 

for many years, and first met him when while he was serving as associate director of the American 

Heritage Center at the University of Wyoming. I believe him to be one of our state’s best resources for all things history. You are in for a treat! 

And if you think you know Cheyenne, I’m willing to bet there will be some new gem you will treasure. 

A special thank you to all the individuals, families, and our business community for making this book possible. If you don’t know it already, 

Cheyenne is best known for its community and volunteer spirit. Not unlike 150 years ago, we are a “get-er-done” kind of town. If there is an 

expressed need, it is met, and often by the numerous service and faith-based organizations in our community. Our military community has been 

with us from the beginning, and it is a special relationship. 

In the words of a resolution presented by the State of Wyoming Legislature in celebration of the city’s 150th anniversary: “That the members 

of the Wyoming Legislature recognize the 150th Anniversary of the City of Cheyenne and hereby commend the efforts of those involved to 

strengthen local pride and ensure that Cheyenne continues to be a wonderful place to live where families can grow and prosper.” 

Indeed, may we grow and prosper, Cheyenne, for another 150 years. 

Cheers! 

Marian Orr 

Mayor, City of Cheyenne 

P r e f a c e ✦ 9

This is probably the first map drawn 

of the future location of what would 

become Cheyenne. It shows the 

confluence of Crow Creek and Dry 

Creek in what then was Dakota 

Territory. It is not known who drew 

the map, although it may have been 

Grenville Dodge and probably 

sometime in 1867 before June. The 

“C.C.L. Co. D.T.” probably stands for 

Crow Creek, Laramie County, Dakota 

Territory. Plots of land are shown and 

most are owned by high-ranking 

employees of the Union Pacific 

Railroad. Some of them shown on the 

map are J. M. Eddy, F. M. Case, 

S. A. Seymour, P. T. Browne, Ja. A. 

Evans, S. B. Reed, W. Snyder, and J. 

E. House. The map is from the 

collection of Henry Harding, an 

Union Pacific engineer. 

COURTESY OF EMMETT D. CHISUM 

SPECIAL COLLECTIONS, UNIVERSITY OF 

WYOMING LIBRARIES. 

1 0 ✦ C H E Y E N N E : A S E S Q U I C E N T E N N I A L H I S T O R Y

CHAPTER 1 

C H E Y E N N E : C O N V E R T I N G T H E D E S O L A T E A N D S T E R I L E P L A I N S 

As the rails of the Union Pacific Railroad (UPRR) moved westward in the late 1860s, Grenville Dodge, a civil and military engineer and chief 

engineer of the UPRR, selected the site of Cheyenne in Dakota Territory along Crow Creek and where the railroad would soon begin to advance 

over the Rocky Mountains. Dodge and his associates, UPRR directors, surveyors, and civil engineers along with members of the military, arrived 

at the site of the future city on July 3. The following morning Dodge left the camp with a group of surveyors, but while they were away those 

remaining celebrated July 4 by naming the city Cheyenne in honor of the Native American tribe and they also made a toast to the “The Embryo 

City of Cheyenne.” Embryo was an appropriate term since at that time there was nothing to indicate a city, “not a house, not a piece of lumber 

with which to construct one, to be found within fifty miles of the locality,” according to Col. Silas Seymour, a consulting engineer for the UPRR. 

As mentioned, Dodge missed the toast that day, although he did write to his wife about it that evening. “Their party with mine had a Fourth 

of July Celebration while I was out on line. Speeches, made toasts, drank &c. I learn it was quite a time. They named the town at the east base 

of the mountains Cheyenne.” 

The passage of the two Pacific Railroad acts of 1862 and 1864 by Congress and signed by President Abraham Lincoln led to the construction 

of the transcontinental railroad. The UPRR was to build from the east and eventually meet the Central Pacific Railroad building from the west. 

Both railroads received millions of dollars in government loans along with sections of government land for each mile of track laid. The construction 

of the UPRR across the southern part of what soon would become Wyoming Territory can be considered the most important event in 

Wyoming’s history, as it created settlements that led to the creation of Wyoming Territory and evetually statehood. 

The future city of Cheyenne and the territory and state of Wyoming were not definite until the UPRR selected the route which would cross the 

southern part of what would become Wyoming territory. Routes through Denver, already an established city, and one following the Oregon Trail, 

which would have taken the railroad through South Pass, were also considered. The UP selected the route through Wyoming because of the better 

coal deposits (coal was an important fuel for the trains) and it was forty miles shorter. 

Shortly after the July christening of Cheyenne, residents of Julesburg, Colorado, the most recent end-of-track town along the UPRR, soon began moving 

to the new town soon to be known as the “Magic City.” Dodge wrote to his wife saying “the people are already flocking here and like Julesburg, at 

first it will be a second hell. I have got Gen. Augur to throw his protecting Army over it to keep them from owning town and all.” At the same time this 

influx of businessmen and construction workers along with the many UPRR surveyors, graders, track layers, and bridge and train crews built Cheyenne, 

the military established Fort D.A. Russell, named for a general killed during the Civil War, to protect the railroad from attacks by Native Americans while 

also providing assistance maintaining law and order in Cheyenne. The military also created Camp Carlin, a supply depot just outside of the city. 

One of the early Cheyenne settlers was construction worker J. Jordan, who during those first few months of fevered activity worked for the 

government supervising carpenters constructing barracks at the fort. In a letter to his sister in Erie, Pennsylvania, dated November 24, 1867, he 

described his arrival in the city: “One tent of canvas stood alone to warn us that we had reached the Magic City, the Chicago-of-the-West, the 

wonder of this progressive Age.” He also wondered at the progress provided by the railroads: “What an improvement are those Railroads. 

Converting the desolate and sterile plains into beautiful and commercial towns. Into the Garden of Eden.” 

Cheyenne grew quickly. Dodge had supervised the survey of the area in July and soon wooden buildings replaced the many tents first set up 

in the city. The sounds of saws and hammers could be heard everywhere according to Louis L. Simonin from France, who spent a day in Cheyenne 

C h a p t e r 1 ✦ 1 1

Above: This 1865 Johnson’s Nebraska, 

Dakota, and Montana map published 

by Johnson and Ward shows the route 

of the Union Pacific Railroad going to 

Denver instead of Cheyenne and 

southern Wyoming. 

COURTESY OF THE AMERICAN HERITAGE CENTER, 

UNIVERSITY OF WYOMING. 

Right: Sixteenth Street in Cheyenne 

in 1867. 

COURTESY OF THE ROBERT D. HANESWORTH 

COLLECTION, AMERICAN HERITAGE CENTER, 


on November 1, 1867. He wrote “everywhere wooden houses are 

going up; everywhere streets are being laid out….” Simonin also 

described Cheyenne as “the magic city, the wonder of the desert, as 

the pioneers have already called it,” although he did remark that 

one person who was leaving the city used the term “windy” to 

describe Cheyenne. 

At first lots sold for $250 to $500, but the prices quickly escalated. 

M.E. Post, who had come to Cheyenne from Julesburg shortly after the 

town was founded, purchased two lots for $600. After he built a store 

on part of his property he sold the remaining lot for $5,600. 

Even with the hot pursuit of town lots and the construction of 

buildings, some still wondered about the long-term viability of 

Cheyenne. However, the recently established Cheyenne Leader, the 

town’s first newspaper which began publishing in September 1867, had 

a more positive view. The newspaper reported that with the junction of 

a branch road to Denver and “the rich valleys to the south of us” and 

the necessity of “immense and growing trade” with Montana would 

greatly benefit Cheyenne. The Leader also stated: “Let any one attempt 

to secure a lot in the business centre of town: he will find them held at 

firm prices and steadily rising. Besides, men do not invest in buildings 

unless good cause for confidence exists. You who hesitate must march 

with the van or be left behind, with the poor satisfaction of seeing 

others win the prizes and make the money.” 

Great excitement built among the city residents as the Union Pacific 

tracks neared Cheyenne. The residents realized the importance the 

railroad would have to the future of the city. The first train in Cheyenne 

arrived on November 13, 1867, the day “auspicious, cloudless and 

genial” according to the Cheyenne Leader. The newspaper captured the 

event, stating the arrival of the UP “filled our city with rejoicing and 

enthusiasm.” The Leader went on to report: “Our citizens swarmed 

along the grade, and watched with most intense delight and 

enthusiasm, the magic work of track-laying. The hearty greeting we all 

gave this gigantic enterprise, so rapidly approaching, was too deep and 

full for expression. There was no shouting and cheering, but one full 

tide of joy that sprung from the deep and heartfelt appreciation of the 

grandeur of the occasion and the enterprise, and that bright future now 

dawning on the remote regions of the far west.” 

Besides commenting on the bright future of Cheyenne because of the 

coming of the UPRR, the Leader also noted some other changes 

resulting from the building of the iron tracks. “Farewell, ye roaming 

herds of bison and antelope, your green pastures are passing into the 

hands of tillage and husbandry.” J. Jordan, in his letter to his sister, also 

lamented the changes the railroad brought to the Native Americans: 

“Where the poor Indians wigwam stood unmolested three months 

since, now stands a city. The hostile war whoop of the Red Man is no 

longer heard. The Shrill whistle of the Locomotive has frightened him. 


Left: Tents were first used in 

Cheyenne until more stable wooden 

buildings were constructed. 

COURTESY OF THE WYOMING STATE ARCHIVES. 

And like the deer he has fled. He has left his lands, his country. He takes 

nothing with him….” The various tribes, including the Sioux, 

Cheyenne, and Arapaho, who had roamed this area, were being 

replaced. Overall, the building of the railroad across Wyoming and the 

West had a dramatic effect upon the Native Americans in the region. It 

brought settlers who wanted their lands as well as soldiers to protect 

them. It divided the bison herds on which the Indians relied and 

quickened the slaughter of the herds. 

Besides his description of the effect of the UPRR on the lives of the 

many Native Americans who had lived in the area, J. Jordan also wrote 

about the growth of Cheyenne. He described the burgeoning city: “Today 

Cheyenne is nearly as large as Erie, and growing fast. It is a pleasant and 

beautiful City on the prairie 200 miles from any settlement. Lots are 

selling from $500 to $3000 each…. The Iron Horse reached here one 

week ago, and today is puffing the Mountain Air far west of here. And 

Cheyenne is bound to her Sister Cities of the East, by an Iron band the 

Railroad.” He also mentioned he planned to stay in Cheyenne through the 

winter. “I will stay here this winter I think. It is the most healthy climate 

in the country here, no one ever known to die here. Some are talking of 

sending East for dead men, to start a grave yard, we have none here, we 

have everything else….” It is highly unlikely Cheyenne ever followed 

through with this idea of importing “dead men,” although this comment 

does make one wonder about the rough and tumble time in the early 

history of Cheyenne. 

Despite Jordan’s comments, Cheyenne did experience a brief time of 

violence and vigilante justice, which was not uncommon in the UPRR’s 

end-of-track-towns, also known as hell-on-wheels towns. These 

Below: An A.C. Hull photograph of 

Cheyenne in 1868. The Rocky 

Mountain Star Printing House 

claimed to have the largest circulation 

of any daily paper in the territory 

with the Rocky Mountain Star. 

The newspaper lasted a relatively 

short time. 

UNION PACIFIC MUSEUM PHOTOGRAPH, 

COURTESY OF JAMES L. EHERNBERGER. 

C h a p t e r 1 ✦ 1 3

Above: The original Union Pacific 

Depot and eating house in Cheyenne, 

1868-1869. 


Right: A sketch of several buildings in 

1868 Cheyenne on 17th Street 

between Eddy (Pioneer) and Ferguson 

(Carey) Streets. 


communities followed the construction of the UPRR. Some, like 

Benton and Bear River, did not survive long, while others such as 

Cheyenne, Laramie, and Rawlins are still with us today, while others, 

like Carbon, although not an end-of-track town but a coal mining 

community created because of the need of coal for the UP, survived for 

a while and then disappeared. 

At first, the railroad and troops from the fort provided law and 

order, but there was a need for law enforcement. In August 1867, 

James R. Whitehead led the effort for civil rule. Interested citizens 

accepted a city charter drafted by a committee chaired by Whitehead 

that month which was followed by the election of city officers. 

Whitehead became the city attorney and H. M. Hook, an owner of a 

stable, was elected mayor. Civil and criminal laws of the Colorado 

Territory were first accepted as the laws for Cheyenne although 

Dakota’s laws later replaced them. After Dakota Territory created 

Laramie County and granted Cheyenne a charter, a legally constituted 

government was elected in Cheyenne. The main focus of the new 

council was to maintain law and order. 

Efforts to maintain law and order took several forms. The first 

police force counted two policemen although the force later expanded 

to twelve policemen along with a city marshal and constable in each of 

the three precincts. A small force was reasonable at first when the town 

held about six hundred citizens, but was inadequate once all of the 

constructions workers and others entered Cheyenne during the fall of 

1867. The Leader provided two estimates of total population in 1868, 

one being 4,000 and the other 7,000. By early fall 1867, a special 

police force formed with fifty-five members deputized. This force later 

became a secret vigilance committee and was most active in January 

and March 1868. 

Cheyenne, like other end-of-track towns, filled with a large male 

population and many saloons and houses of prostitution, had its share 

of thievery and violence. During early January 1868, two hundred 

vigilantes seized three thieves who reportedly stole nine hundred 

dollars. The vigilantes recovered five hundred dollars and bound the 

three and placed a sign on them which read “$900 stole/Thieves/$500 

Recovered. F. St. Clair, E. De Bronville, W. Crier. City authorities please 

do not interfere. Until 10 o’clock A. M. Next case goes up a tree. Beware 

of Vigilance Committee.” The following day the Leader warned against 

vigilante action and stated law enforcement in Cheyenne had mainly 

been effective and finally warned the vigilantes to “beware of 

yourselves.” The newly formed council also spoke against vigilante 

action and passed an ordinance against such “unlawful Combination of 

individuals” which has “for sometime past infested this City to the terror 

of all good Citizens and to the injury of the reputation of our City 

abroad.” However, the vigilantes were active again a few months later. 

The Chicago Tribune sent a reporter to the frontier town, who reported 

on the latest activity of the vigilantes in late March 1868. The 


newspaperman first described the activities of what he designated as “the 

floating population” of Cheyenne. “Our amusements are varied and 

entertaining. We have a museum, theatre, dance houses, gambling halls, 

dog fights and man fights—the latter very prevalent, and I think closely 

allied to the former. Two hundred of the ‘fair, but frail,’ persuasion occupy 

quarters here. Take it all in all, it is a very gay place.” On March 20, the 

vigilantes hanged two men in the city and left them hanging for the 

authorities to find. The vigilantes apparently hanged others outside of 

Cheyenne. The reporter mentioned the excitement, “not loud but deep,” 

running through the city the following day and wrote: “the roughs are 

visibly panic-stricken, not known how soon another blow may be struck. 

The respectable citizens are divided in opinion regarding the action of the 

Vigilance Committee, some commending it, (with a subdued kind of 

protest, of course, against mob law,) which others denounce the ‘Vigies’ 

as midnight assassins.” 

Many in Cheyenne at that time had become disillusioned with the 

extra-legal activities of the vigilantes and as the “floating population” 

moved westward during the summer of 1868 to the next hell-onwheels 

town, Laramie, there was no longer justification for such 

activity. This time of such violence and thievery was relatively shortlived, 

but the image lived on and the residents of the Magic City found 

that image to be harmful to their efforts to bring more residents to 

their community. Reverend H. C. Waltz, a resident at the time, 

recognized that the hell-on-wheels time would continue to affect 

Cheyenne: “However, when this great trans-continental railway took 

up its course toward the setting sun, this burdensome soubriquet, 

however applicable then, was put on iron wheels and rolled westward. 

Yet travelers will not stand upon our grand depot platform, and, 

prejudiced through the exaggerated reports of our past wickedness, 

will think and say nothing but evil of use, and that, too, in sight of the 

five noble church edifices which reverently greet their view.” 

Law and order was not the only problem facing the fledgling city. 

The streets were muddy and filthy and sometimes covered with dead 

animals lying around for days. The city did not have any sidewalks. 

Also, the buildings were constructed mainly of wood, which led to the 

possibility of fires. One fire did occur in early January 1870 which 

destroyed two city blocks. Apparently there also were a large number 

of hogs running free on the streets. This must have been a problem 

throughout the territory because the territorial legislature in 1877 

passed a law forbidding “swine” from running at large. Law 

Left: The original Union Depot hotel 

and eating house which was destroyed 

by fire in 1869. 


Right: The second hotel and eating 

house after the 1869 fire. 


C h a p t e r 1 ✦ 1 5

A bird’s-eye view of 1870 Cheyenne. 


enforcement officials were to give written notices to the owners of 

swine running free in the cities, but if the owners were not known the 

officer could impound the hog(s). If the owners of the impounded 

hogs did not claim their animals the hogs were to be sold at public 

auctions with the proceeds going into the public school fund, certainly 

a creative way to fund schools. 

Even with these issues facing Cheyenne’s residents, the city boomed. 

Frenchman Louis L. Simonin noticed during his short visit in early 

November 1867, that “Already stores are everywhere, especially of readymade 

clothing, restaurants, hotels, saloons.” Cheyenne’s first business 

directory, published in early January 1868, listed nearly two hundred 

businesses, such as wholesale and retail grocers; clothing and gents 

furnishing goods; dry goods; news dealers and stationers; wholesale and 

retail druggists; jewelers, watchmakers, and diamond dealers; bankers: 

fruit dealers; boot and shoe dealers and manufacturers; attorneys at law; 

physicians and surgeon; soda fountain; tobacconists; blacksmiths; corrals 

and livery stables; hotels and restaurants. 

Entertainment in Cheyenne varied quite a bit. The city did have nearly 

seventy or so saloons, but the ratio to the number of residents was not that 

different in the large eastern cities. Besides the saloons, theatrical 

entertainment flourished in the city. Theaters such as the Theater 

Comique, the Concert hall, and the Gold Room drew substantial crowds. 

James McDaniel created the most innovative entertainment establishment. 

He called himself the “Barnum of the West” and “Professor McDaniel” and 

his business included a saloon, theater, and museum. The museum 

included animals from around the world, including a grizzly that once 

escaped, but was quickly recaptured. Nationally known speakers gave 

presentations at McDaniel’s theater. Ned Buntline gave a talk on 

“Mormonism” and “The Curse of Chinese Immigration.” Tom Thumb also 

appeared as did William Kelly, a gifted musician. McDaniel also brought 

in an acting troupe which performed in such plays as Othello and Lucrezia 

Borgia. Other theaters also presented a variety of plays. 

Even with the influence of that “floating population” and its inherent 

issues, the residents, including four hundred women and many children, 

formed a government along with establishing many businesses and the 

first churches and schools in the city. The Methodists were the first to 

form a congregation followed by the Roman Catholics in 1867, while the 

following January the Episcopalians organized. By October 1867, 125 

children lived in the Magic City and three months later the citizens 

dedicated the first school building. By early 1868, a Literary Association 

formed. The Leader on March 5, 1868, asked for the community to 

support this association: “To be consistent, our citizens, while crying 

down the allurements of gaming halls, dance houses and grog shops, 

should also encourage every enterprise having for its aim the elevation of 

the moral and intellectual status of the community.” 

During this boom time perhaps up to seven thousand people lived 

in the Magic City. However, as with all booms there is always an 

inevitable bust. As the UPRR entered Laramie in May 1868, many of 

the railroad workers and others, including some business owners, left 

Cheyenne. One such businessman, I. A. Banker, believed that 

Cheyenne would fail as Laramie grew. He wrote to his wife from 

Laramie on May 4, 1868: “Cheyenne people are here in numbers 

getting lots and building to move their businesses to this point. Many 

have already come[.] I think Cheyenne will be nearly depopulated in 

30 days time.” Banker was wrong, although by 1870 the city’s 

population had decreased to 1,450. The Cheyenne Leader, as one might 

expect, believed in the longevity of the Magic City. In December 1869 

it wrote about the city’s future: “her future is founded on durable 

prospects.” The newspaper stated the city would remain the capital of 


Wyoming, thereby drawing federal officials and expected farms would 

be cultivated in the area as well. The city would experience a few years 

of stagnation, but then were assisted by the gold boom in the Black 

Hills as well as by the growing cattle industry. 

The slowdown in Cheyenne did not affect the creation of Wyoming 

Territory and the much needed government. The Territory of Wyoming 

was created by the organic act signed by President Andrew Johnson on 

July 25, 1868. Not quite a year later, President Ulysses S. Grant 

appointed John A. Campbell of Ohio as governor, Edward M. Lee of 

Connecticut as secretary, and Joseph M. Carey of Pennsylvania as United 

States attorney. The elected legislative bodies consisted of a council with 

nine members and a house of representatives with thirteen members. 

Governor Campbell designated Cheyenne as the territory’s temporary 

capital. The first election was held September 2, 1869, with the council 

and house, made up entirely of Democrats, convening on October 12 in 

two separate buildings on 16th and 17th Streets. The legislature 

accomplished quite a bit during that first session, including providing 

for protection of miners, selecting Laramie as the location for a 

penitentiary, and increasing the pay for the three federal judges. The 

importance of education was also a topic discussed. Territorial Governor 

Campbell, on the second day of the legislative assembly, addressed the 

assembled lawmakers about the importance of schooling: “The subject 

of education will doubtless receive your early attention. In laying the 

foundation of a new State, this should be the corner stone, for without 

it no durable political fabric can be erected. It matters little how great 

our material prosperity may be, if our moral and intellectual growth 

does not keep pace with it….” Perhaps most surprising was the number 

of bills related to the rights of women. Not only did the all-male 

legislature pass bills such as “an act to protect Married Women in their 

separate property, and the enjoyment of the fruits of their labor,” but 

they also passed a bill for equal pay for teachers no matter if they are 

male or female. The most noted, of course, was the bill granting women 

full suffrage and the right to hold public office. 

This may have been somewhat unexpected, but woman suffrage had 

been discussed at various times in Cheyenne. Already in November 

1867, city residents heard a speech about suffrage presented by George 

Francis Train, a wealthy suffragist. Edward M. Lee, the newly appointed 

territorial secretary, had advocated for woman suffrage in the House of 

the Connecticut legislature in 1867. He was the one who appointed 

Esther Morris as justice of the peace in South Pass City in February 

1870, a judicial position never before held by a woman. Morris fulfilled 

the duties of the office exceptionally well and because of her experience 

she later spoke at a national suffrage convention and today still holds a 

respected position in the history of Cheyenne and Wyoming. Lee also, 

apparently, arranged for Anna Dickinson, a well-known advocate for 

women’s rights, to speak in Cheyenne on September 24, 1869. Not 

everyone agreed with giving women the right to vote, including N. A. 

Baker, the editor of the Cheyenne Leader. He wrote in the issue of 

September 24 that he did not much respect Dickinson’s cause: “As a 

lady we respect her, are proud of her as a genuine specimen of 

American womanhood. But when it comes to the absurd question of 

female suffrage, then Miss Dickinson, in common with her sister 

advocates of the preposterous hobby, must come in for her fair share of 

the ridicule. We will say this; Miss Annie is the most ladlylike, the best 

looking, and decidedly the most feminine of all the suffragers. Had she 

left the odious clique of Amazons alone, she might have been America’s 

literary queen. But as a gentleman she is not a success. We believe 

however, that she would make a good man a wife.” The Wyoming 

Tribune wrote that an “appreciative” audience heard Dickinson speak 

and that “Her arguments were unanswerable, except upon the basis of 

prejudice.” Baker’s condescension notwithstanding, the legislature did 

pass the bill late in the legislative session. 

Above: This image of women voting 

in Cheyenne voting appeared in 

Frank Leslie’s Illustrated on 

November 28, 1888, although one 

can picture a similar scene when 

women in Cheyenne voted for the first 

time in 1870. 


Left: The Thomas McCleland building 

in Cheyenne where the bill granting 

women suffrage and the right to hold 

public office was introduced in the 

first session of the Wyoming 

Territorial Council in 1869. The 

Council and House both approved the 

bill and Governor John A. Campbell 

signed it on December 10, now known 

as Wyoming Day. 



C h a p t e r 1 ✦ 1 7

The president of the legislative council, William Bright from South 

Pass City, introduced the bill granting women the right to vote and 

hold office a week after Redelia Bates spoke on woman suffrage in 

Cheyenne. Both houses approved it and sent it to Governor Campbell 

on December 6, 1869. The governor signed the bill the evening of 

December 10, the last day of the session. Wyoming was the first 

territory to grant women full suffrage and the right to hold public 

office. To commemorate this historic event, the Cheyenne chapter of 

the Daughters of the American Revolution dedicated a plaque on July 

21, 1917, documenting the passage of the first woman suffrage bill. 

The plaque was placed at the location of the building where the bill 

was first introduced on 17th Street. The plaque can still be seen on the 

north side of the Downtown mall at 17th and Carey. 

Numerous reasons have been given for the passage of the suffrage 

bill. It is quite clear members of the house and council believed 

women should have more rights under the law, as can be seen by the 

several bills passed regarding women’s rights. Other reasons given 

were that such a bill would bring more women to Wyoming, that the 

bill was proposed as a joke, or that the Democratic members of the 

council and house passed it to embarrass the Republican governor. 

Nonetheless, the bill did pass and William Bright credited a Cheyenne 

woman, Amalia Post, one of Wyoming’s suffragists and wife of M. E. 

Post, for her advocacy of suffrage. The first Wyoming woman to vote 

in the 1870 election was Louisa Swain in Laramie. However, the first 

woman to vote in Cheyenne, according to the Leader, was Mrs. Howe, 

the wife of U.S. Marshall Howe. 

The passage of the suffrage law brought an unexpected development. 

During March 1870, a question arose in Laramie whether 

women should serve on juries. Two of the three territorial judges 

agreed they should and that year women served on both grand and 

petit juries in Laramie. Since women first served on juries in Laramie, 

that city is better known for the story, but in 1871, Cheyenne women 

also served as jurors. 

The first trial in March 1871 on which women served in the Magic 

City was Territory of Wyoming vs. John Boyer. According to the 

Cheyenne Daily Leader, on the night of October 27, 1870, Boyer visited 

the “Six Mile Ranch” near Fort Laramie for a night of “frolic and 

dance.” He had some difficulty with two men that evening and as he 

was on his horse ready to leave, Boyer shot and killed both men. Four 

women served on the jury for the murder trial: Mrs. M. E. Post 

(Amalia), Mrs. Conklin, Mrs. M. H. Arnold, and Mrs. P. Pickett. The 

jury found Boyer guilty and he was sentenced to be executed. He was 

hanged on April 21 and according to the Leader he was the first person 

to be legally executed in the territory. The newspaper stated: “Let it be 

a warning to others who have not yet learned that the laws must be 

obeyed and criminals punished.” Amalia Post served as the foreman of 

the jury. Earlier that year, Post represented Wyoming at the National 

Woman Suffrage Convention held in Washington, D.C. There she 

addressed an audience of more than five thousand people. 

The inclusion of women on juries was short lived. One of the 

territorial judges who had ruled in favor of women jurors resigned and 

his replacement did not believe the suffrage bill provided for women 

to serve on juries. Public opinion had been split with those against the 

idea arguing it disrupted family life and was more expensive because 

of the need to have two overnight accommodations. However, 

Wyoming history professor T. A. Larson summarized the benefit of 

having female jurors: “The female jurors were more ready than the 

men to enforce the law requiring the closing of saloons on Sunday.” He 

added they were “more disposed than the men to convict and to 

impose heavy sentences. In particular, they were not quite so ready to 


accept at face value pleas of self-defense in murder cases.” Those 

women who served on the juries provided a civilizing influence just as 

women voters did. Several Wyoming newspaper editors agreed the 

women at the polling places reduced incidents of drunkenness and 

general rowdiness. Even though women lost the right to perform their 

civic duty by sitting on juries, women continued to vote in the 

territory. Even though Wyoming’s women had a lengthy voting record, 

it still took decades for women to serve on juries again. The Wyoming 

State Legislature finally passed a bill allowing women to serve on juries 

in 1949. The law took effect the following year. 

The first few years of Cheyenne’s history were quite exciting and 

eventful. The residents persevered through the early end-of-track times and 

city, county, and territorial governments were formed. Many businesses 

flourished while schools and churches were created. The passage of woman 

suffrage was an achievement for the entire territory, but Cheyenne is where 

many debates were held and the capitol city was the second community to 

allow women to serve on juries. The years immediately following 1870, 

however, were ones of stagnation, but it would not be long before 

Cheyenne again flourished and residents of the Magic City believed once 

statehood was achieved Cheyenne would continue as the capital. 

Opposite, top: After Governor 

Campbell signed the suffrage bill, the 

Cheyenne Leader included this 

article about the event in its 

December 11, 1869, issue. 


Opposite, bottom: The Cheyenne 

Chapter of the Daughters of the 

American Revolution dedicated this 

plaque on July 21, 1917, in memory 

of the passage of the first woman 

suffrage bill in the country. W.B.D. 

Gray, who served as master of 

ceremonies for the dedication, also 

took this photograph of the plaque, 

which can still be seen on the 

Downtown Mall on 17th Street. 

COURTESY OF THE W.B.D. AND ANNETTE B. GRAY 



Left: This 1872 image illustrates the 

businesses run by John Eames 

in Cheyenne. 


C h a p t e r 1 ✦ 1 9


CHAPTER 2 

A C O M P L E X A N D C O S M O P O L I T A N C I T Y 

As early as October 1867, nine months before the creation of Wyoming Territory, the Cheyenne Leader supported the idea of the Magic City 

becoming the capital of the future territory. The first territorial legislature in 1869 did approve Cheyenne as the capital, although there would be 

attempts to remove that designation. Other early challenges to the young city were the fires that destroyed many of the recently built wooden 

structures and economic stagnation, but these were overcome and overall in the next twenty years Cheyenne progressed and proudly hosted the 

celebration of Wyoming’s statehood in 1890. 

In 1873, the territorial legislature considered a bill to remove Cheyenne as the capital. A House Bill passed by a vote of 7 to 6 designating 

Laramie (although the first draft of the bill had Evanston instead of Laramie) as the new capital. Hoping there would not be a quorum in the 

council, Cheyenne’s members did not attend the session when the bill was considered. However, this allowed the remaining council members, 

after some political shenanigans, to pass the capital-removal bill. Governor Campbell did not approve of the bill and did not sign it so Cheyenne 

remained as the territory’s capital. 

Cheyenne experienced many devastating fires during the early 1870s. One of the worst took place on January 11, 1870. The Wyoming Tribune 

in its issue four days later printed headlines “Terrific Conflagration in Cheyenne,” “Loss a Quarter of Million!” “One Block Completely Destroyed,” 

and “Another Square of Buildings Nearly Destroyed.” The fire started in the back of T. A. Kent’s liquor store and quickly spread, “confusion 

pervaded everywhere” according to the Tribune, and great concern was raised by the delay of the fire engines. Great effort was made to save the 

Ford House, but the wind picked up and that building was soon lost with many others with “fearful rapidity.” The fire destroyed the office of the 

Cheyenne Leader despite the efforts of Leader and Tribune staff. The newspaper also listed the businesses and their losses as well as whether the 

businesses had insurance or not. Cavalry from Fort D. A. Russell patrolled the streets that evening to ensure no looting occurred. The Tribune also 

editorialized the need for insurance and a fire department. “This calamity will serve to teach the people the economy of fire insurance, of erecting 

fire-proof instead of wooden buildings, and above all, the propriety and necessity of a thoroughly organized and united fire department, whose 

expenses shall be paid by the public….” Four fire companies organized as a result of the fire: Durant Fire Company, the Pioneer Hook and Ladder 

Company, the Clark Hose House, and the Alert Hose House. 

The day of July 4, 1875, began as a day to celebrate the country’s independence along with the eighth anniversary of the founding of Cheyenne, 

but a fire in the afternoon devastated a part of the city. The blaze began in McDaniel’s Theater. The Cheyenne fire companies responded as did 

assistance from Fort D. A. Russell and Camp Carlin, but the fire engulfed McDaniel’s buildings as well as surrounding buildings although the 

merchants were able to save much of their merchandise. The fire companies eventually were able to subdue the blaze. McDaniel took the greatest 

loss, estimated at $35,000. He then purchased other buildings and not long after opened McDaniel’s New Dramatic Theater with more seating 

(800 seats and a dozen private boxes) than his original theater. Fire continued to be a scourge in Cheyenne, but the installation of a city water 

system in 1877 greatly assisted fire-fighting efforts. 

By 1875, Cheyenne and its citizens “had become very complex and cosmopolitan” according to noted historian William Dubois III in his thesis 

“A Social History of Cheyenne, Wyoming, 1875-1885.” Six churches then called the Magic City their home. A German visitor in 1876 noticed the 

changes in Cheyenne. Ernest von Hesse-Wartegg from Germany, one of that century’s great travelers, visited Cheyenne. He found it to be “the most 

interesting city on the plains. Its history is the greatest and most colorful. Years do not pass in monotonous single-file here; they cluster and glitter; 

After the devastating fire in January 

1870, Cheyenne businesses and city 

government realized fire departments 

were needed. One of the early 

departments was the Alert Hose Co. 

This photo with the men in front of 

the fire house was taken after 1890. 


C h a p t e r 2 ✦ 2 1

Right: After McDaniel’s Theater was 

destroyed in the July 4, 1875, fire, at 

a loss of $35,000, James McDaniel 

rebuilt and named the theater 

McDaniel’s New Theater. Later, 

during the boom of the Black Hills 

gold rush, he began a theater in 

Deadwood, South Dakota. 


Below: The Cheyenne Opera House 

was located at 17th Street and Hill 

Street (now Capitol Avenue). The 

building was completed in 1882. To 

the left of the south entrance was the 

territorial library and to the right the 

room was at first rented for $900 by a 

millinery and dressmaking shop. The 

opera house was located in the 

northeast portion of the building on 

all three floors. The auditorium could 

seat 860 comfortably, but apparently 

could seat up to 1,000 when 

necessary. A fire on December 7, 

1902, destroyed the section of the 

building with the opera house. 

J.E. STIMSON PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF THE 

WYOMING STATE ARCHIVES. 

in one year Cheyenne’s people live ten years.” Hesse-Wartegg went on to 

describe Cheyenne as “another American miracle…[we now] find the 

place a substantial, thriving city with wide, friendly streets, splendid 

hotels, roomy stores, banks, jail, insurance companies, opera house, and 

churches! I repeat: churches! Catholic, Methodist, Presbyterian, 

Congregationalist, Episcopalian, etc. Each faith has its own church in a 

city that, five years ago consisted of dugouts and moveable shacks.” 

Other changes in the city were also quite apparent. According to 

Dubois: “While one dance club had been sufficient in the earlier days, now 

there were many. Potato salad had once been considered a delicacy, but by 

1875, woodcocks and mushrooms were the rage for the more sensitive 

palates. The Fifth Calvary band from Fort Russell had brightened the taste 

for new music and symphonies and readied the people of Cheyenne for 

the most fabulous decade the city was ever to know, the eighties.” The 

railroad continued to influence Cheyenne greatly, bringing theater, news, 

visitors, and the current fashions of the day. The city’s status as the 

territorial capital brought legislators to the Magic City every two years and 

the residence of the governor and other territorial officers brought many 

parties and status to the growing community. Also, the growing cattle 

industry brought men of wealth, both from the East and abroad, who 

added to this era of “sophisticated culture.” 

Cheyenne’s theater scene greatly improved during the early 1880s 

with the construction of the Opera House. As noted earlier, the city’s 

theater scene was vibrant since the beginning with a wide variety of 

entertainment, but many in Cheyenne wanted what some might call a 

more refined theater. During the spring of 1881, nearly forty of the 

city’s residents met and then formed a corporation that led the effort to 

construct the Opera House. Many of the prominent men of Cheyenne 

supported this effort, including Joseph M. Carey who served as the 

corporation’s president. The corporation was titled “The Cheyenne 

Opera House and Library Company” with the purpose “to establish 

and maintain a public building and Hall for the promotion of 

Literature, Art, Science, Music and all kinds of useful knowledge 

including that class of scientific and dramatic representations which 

are of an elevating character.” There was a nine member board with a 

number of well-known businessmen besides Carey. These included 

Francis E. Warren, M. E. Post (husband of Amalia Post), William W. 

Corlett, Thomas Sturgis, and A. H. Reel. 

The signers of the Certificate of Incorporation raised $15,000 for 

the project and later sold bonds to the general public. The 

corporation’s board met in April and agreed to purchase a lot from 

Warren. When completed, the three-story building faced south on 


17th Street and the east side faced Hill Street, which later became 

Capitol Avenue. The theater occupied the northern most part of the 

building which also included the territorial library, a banquet hall, a 

ballroom, ladies and gentlemen’s dressing rooms, and there was even 

room to rent for a millinery and dressmaking shop. Cheyenne’s 

telephone exchange occupied a large room on the third floor. 

The library opened first on February 28, 1882, with a ball. The 

Cheyenne Daily Leader described it as “The Gayest Event for Many a 

Season.” The accompanying article began: “Had a resident of 

Washington visited Cheyenne last night and taken in the ball at the 

Library hall, he would have rubbed his eyes in astonishment, and 

wonder whether it was the right wing of an inauguration ball he was 

beholding….” The tickets for the event cost $10 and the proceeds were 

to be used to furnish the library. The music was provided by the full 

string band of the 3rd cavalry. The Leader went into great detail about 

the attendees’ dress: “The gentlemen were all clad in the regulation 

evening dress…but the ladies surpassed them, not only in beauty, but 

also in splendor of dress….” The paper described the ladies dress, 

including Mrs. F. E. Warren who wore a dress of “white silk and 

oriental cashmere trimmed with Spanish lace; diamond ornaments.” 

Overall, the event was a “singularly happy one.” 

The Opera House itself opened in late May 1882. “Thursday, May 25, 

1882, is a day that will long be remembered in the history of Cheyenne, 

it being the date of the formal dedication to the art of Thespis of one of 

the finest opera houses in the west….” according to the Leader. Compared 

to previous city theaters described as “barn-like halls that were forbidding 

in their lack of both comfort and conveniences,” this new theatre, which 

could seat up to 1000 people, “not only stands as a monument to the 

public spirit but is a lasting proof of the intelligence and refinement of this 

little city of less than 4,000 people so that ‘he who runs may read’ in that 

handsome block the story of our thrift, enterprise and culture.” The 

Comley-Barton opera company presented the French comic opera Olivette 

as the Opera House’s inaugural performance that evening. 

Many well-known theatrical troupes and personalities performed 

during the twenty years of the operation of the Opera House. 

Internationally famous actress Sarah Bernhardt performed in the 

theater during June 1887 and was followed by English singer-actress 

Lily Langtry a week later. Langtry appeared in the comedy A Wife’s 

Peril. Others who performed included Buffalo Bill Cody, P. T. Barnum, 

Edwin Booth who appeared in Hamlet, and the Lydia Thompson 

Burlesque Company. 

Edwin Booth, brother of John Wilkes 

Booth, was a nationally known actor 

and portrayed Hamlet at the 

Cheyenne Opera House on April 18, 

1887. Attendees were from Cheyenne, 

Fort Collins, Greeley, Pine Bluffs, 

Sidney, and Kimball. The weather was 

disagreeable, but according to the 

Cheyenne Daily Sun, it “did not 

exercise a deterrent influence on the 

ladies who appeared in full force 

arrayed in their choicest fashions….” 


C h a p t e r 2 ✦ 2 3

Right: A bird’s-eye view of Cheyenne 

in 1882, the year of the construction 

of the Cheyenne Opera House. 


Below: The Cheyenne Club was 

located at 17th Street and Warren 

Avenue. The basement had two wine 

vaults and a kitchen. On the top 

floor were sleeping rooms for 

members and their guests and the 

main floor had a dining room, billiard 

room, and library. Owen Wister, 

author of The Virginian called it “the 

pearl of the prairies.” 


The corporation sold the Opera House to Joseph Carey and his 

brother in 1891. The Careys refurbished the theater, but eleven years 

later, on December 7, 1902, a fire destroyed the section of the building 

with the theater. The Leader lamented the loss of the “Magnificent 

Opera House.” A firewall prevented the fire from destroying the 

southern portion of the building. Three years later an “annex was 

added to the remaining building with the main level serving as office 

and business space and the upper level as apartments for UPRR 

employees. The building was razed in 1961 and replaced by the J. C. 

Penney building completed in July 1963. Twenty years later J. C. 

Penney moved to Frontier Shopping Mall. Today the building is the 

Cheyenne Business Center. A plaque commemorating the Opera 

House can be seen on the east side of the Cheyenne Business Center. 

Other buildings which represented the growing prosperity in 

Cheyenne were related to the booming cattle industry of the early 

1880s. Already by 1870 there were eight thousand cattle in Wyoming. 

A few years later the Wyoming Stock Growers Association (WSGA) 

formed in Cheyenne to promote and protect the interests of the 

cattlemen. The cattle industry in Wyoming at this time prospered and 

by the mid-1880s the territory may have held as many as 1.5 million 

cattle which mainly grazed on the open range, public lands in the 

territory. Cattlemen from Cheyenne, the rest of the territory, and some 

from foreign countries ranched in Wyoming and were members of the 

WSGA. However, the devastating winter of 1886-1887 left thousands 

of cattle dead. Historian T. A. Larson estimated about 15 percent of the 

cattle in Wyoming may have perished that winter. Before that bad 

winter, the WSGA had up to four hundred members, but only 183 

remained in 1888. In 1884, cattle made up approximately three 

fourths of Wyoming’s wealth. Five years later it accounted for last than 

one half. The decline was precipitous, but it left a more stable industry. 

Cheyenne and the cattlemen prospered in the early 1880s. The 

wealthy cattlemen built about forty mansions in the city and Carey 

Avenue came to be known as “Millionaires Row,” although other large 

residences were built in other parts of the city. Probably the most wellknown 

structure of this cattle inspired boom was the Cheyenne Club, 

which clearly epitomized the growing influence of the cattle industry 

in Cheyenne and the territory. 

Cheyenne cattlemen organized the Cheyenne Club during 1880 and 

in 1881 the club house was completed. Located at 17th Street and 

Warren Avenue, the building had a restaurant, bar, reading room, 

billiard room, and sleeping rooms upstairs. The club started with fifty 

members, but that later was increased. Members could be expelled for 

“offensive” drunkenness, cheating at cards, profanity, a criminal act, and 


dishonorable behavior for a gentleman. The Cheyenne Sun, in November 

1882, commented about how important the building was to the city and 

attempted to correct some misimpressions: “The Cheyenne club house, 

too, is a great attraction to the city, one that is appreciated so thoroughly 

by the boys who are in this western country without homes…. It is 

popularly supposed that it is a place to have a hilarious time, and for no 

other purpose. The Cheyenne club house is a big home for the single 

gentlemen who have cast their lot in Wyoming. It is also the cattle man’s 

retreat and the headquarters for business men of Cheyenne and the 

west, where they get together and talk up matters of trade.” After the 

terrible winter of 1886-1887, the cattlemen were not able to maintain 

the club house, which eventually went to the Cheyenne Industrial Club, 

which later became the Cheyenne Chamber of Commerce. The chamber 

razed the building in 1936. 

Cheyenne’s economy from the beginning was maintained by the 

railroad and government. During the city’s early years, the gold rush to 

the Sweetwater mines around South Pass City brought excitement and 

activity to the city, although this did not last long. However, by the mid- 

1870s, another gold rush, this time to the Black Hills, helped 

Cheyenne’s economy greatly in the late 1870s and 1880s. An 1868 

treaty granted the Black Hills to the Sioux, but rumors of gold there led 

prospectors to defy the army troops and begin prospecting. The swift 

influx of so many looking for gold soon led to the removal of the Native 

Americans from northeastern Wyoming and Dakota’s Black Hills. The 

Leader, already in 1874, published eyewitness accounts that the area 

was rich in gold and in April 1875, the newspaper printed fifty 

thousand copies of a special Black Hills edition which was distributed 

nationally. The Leader also asserted “that the route from Cheyenne 

northward is the safest, speediest, cheapest and best, to reach the Black 

Hills” and pictured the city as the outfitting point for those traveling to 

the Black Hills. The shortest route was “one by way of Fort Laramie, 

Raw Hide Buttes, Old Woman’s Fork and Beaver Creek” at 182 miles. 

Indeed, Cheyenne became the gateway to the Black Hills. 

By the mid-1870s there were more than one thousand men in the Black 

Hills successfully prospecting and Cheyenne experienced the benefits of 

being the jumping off point for travel to the region. Already in 1874 some 

Cheyenne businesses reaped substantial profits such as grocer Erasmus 

Nagle who experienced $150,000 worth of business that year. In March 

1875, the Leader already acknowledged that “All branches of business 

have materially improved in Cheyenne within the past ten days.” In 

January 1876, the Leader noted Cheyenne’s “streets are crowded, her 

merchants are doing an immense business, her hotels for full to 

overflowing, magnificent new buildings of all descriptions are going up in 

all directions, and the ‘Magic City’ is making long and rapid strides in the 

path of prosperity.” Some Cheyenne businesses expanded into the Black 

Hills. Even James McDaniel, who entertained many in Cheyenne with his 

variety theater from the city’s beginning, began a variety theater in 

Deadwood. Others who started branch stores in the booming Black Hills 

communities included Francis E. Warren and M. E. Post. 

By 1876, Cheyenne’s population totaled about three thousand, 

more than twice the number when the UPRR moved over to Laramie 

and farther west, and in February of that year, the first stagecoach of 

The Cheyenne and Black Hills Stage, Mail and Express Line left from 

the front of the recently constructed Inter Ocean Hotel for the trip to 

Custer City. During the next ten years thousands of travelers traveled 

on the company’s stagecoaches to and from the Black Hills. Quite a few 

firms also begin transporting freight from Cheyenne to the Black Hills. 

All of this travel along the route did lead to robberies and attempted 

robberies of the stagecoaches. To provide more security for the gold 

shipments by the Cheyenne and Black Hills Stage Company, three 

“treasure coaches” were used. These were iron clad coaches with an 

iron safe bolted to the floor of the coach. Cheyenne continued to enjoy 

Built in 1875 on the corner of 16th 

Street and Hill Street (Capitol 

Avenue), the Inter-Ocean Hotel 

became the jumping off point for 

stagecoaches leaving for the Black 

Hills during the gold rush. Owned by 

former slave Barney Ford, although 

he sold it after a few years of 

ownership, the hotel was one of the 

finest in the West. However the 

building was destroyed by fire on 

December 17, 1916. A family of six, 

who had just checked into the hotel, 

died in the fire. The Hynds Building 

now is in that location. 




C h a p t e r 2 ✦ 2 5

Construction on the new Union 

Pacific Depot began in March 1886. 

A ceremony for the laying of the 

building’s cornerstone was held on 

July 19, 1886. When completed, the 

building included waiting rooms for 

ladies and men on the first floor along 

with the ticket office. On the second 

floor were offices for various Union 

Pacific employees. 


the fruits of the trade brought by serving as the gateway to the Black 

Hills, but when a railroad reached the area in 1886 from the east the 

good times were bound to end. The Cheyenne and Black Hills Stage 

Line stopped operating in 1887. However, this terrific boom time in 

Cheyenne of the early and mid-1880s brought about by the gold rush 

to the Dakota Territory and by the growth of the cattle industry, led to 

great prosperity for the Capital City. According to Dubois, by the 

summer of 1884, “Laramie County was considered to be the wealthiest 

county in the entire United States.” 

Besides the economic strength of the 1880s, there were other signs 

that the Magic City was a progressive community. Such progress was 

seen by the city’s citizens on January 15, 1883, when “…the electric 

light was started up throughout the city in earnest.” Not quite a year 

earlier the Brush-Swan Electric Light Company formed leading to that 

light-filled night the following January. 

Joseph Swan, an English physicist, and Charles Brush, an American 

electric pioneer, were at the forefront of electrifying city lights. Swan 

patented an incandescent light bulb in Britain in 1876 and his house was 

the first to be lit by a light bulb. In 1882, Swan sold his patent rights in 

the United States to the Brush Electric Company. The success of Brush’s 

company was because of his design of an electric generator. Already by 

the late 1870s, Brush’s firm was installing lamp street-lighting in various 

eastern cities. By 1881, New York, Boston, Philadelphia, San Francisco, 

and other cities had installed Brush’s electric lamps. Cheyenne soon 

followed led by a number of the city’s businessmen. 

The Brush-Swan Electric Company incorporated in Cheyenne with a 

capitalization of $100,000. The company’s trustees were Francis E. 

Warren, Joseph M. Carey, M. E. Post, Thomas Sturgis, and William C. 

Irvine. A representative of the businessmen had investigated different 

lighting systems in various cities around the country which led to the 

selection of the Brush-Swan system. The intent of the company was “to 

establish and maintain a system of electric lighting.” Cheyenne 

contracted with the company for twenty-two electric arc lamps at a cost 

of $5,000 a year. Upon the incorporation of the company, the Cheyenne 

Weekly Leader expressed optimism that “in the near future, Cheyenne’s 

dark, unlighted streets will be no more the terror of moonless nights, and 

the fragrant kerosene not a necessary evil.” The Leader had hoped the 

lighting system would be operational by Christmas 1882, but the lights 

were not tested until early January. According to the January 14, 1883, 

issue of the Cheyenne Sun, the “electric apparatus intended for lighting the 

business houses, hotels, and other establishments of Cheyenne has been 

carefully tested and found entirely satisfactory. The apparatus consists of 

two dynamo machines, each capable of running forty lights of 2,000 

candle-power, some of which are double and other single….” 

The lights brightened Cheyenne’s streets on January 15. The Leader 

reported: “Cheyenne stores and hotels were metamorphosed by the 

brilliancy of the arc lights, one of which in some instances illuminated 

rooms that had before been lighted by a dozen or twenty oil lamps. 

Groups of citizens assembled wherever a light was burning and passed 

judgment upon the new light. The comments were in general most 

favorable and prophecies were freely made that the day of oil or gas 

had gone by in Cheyenne.” The newspaper was quite correct. The 

company continued to contract with the city and in 1890, the 

company merged with the Cheyenne City Gas Company which led to 

the creation of the Cheyenne Light, Fuel, and Power Company. Not 

only was Warren a trustee of the Brush-Swan Electric Company at the 

time, he was also the president of the Cheyenne City Gas Company. 

After the merger of the two companies he became the first president of 


the Cheyenne Light, Fuel and Power Company. The advent of electric 

lights in Cheyenne in the 1880s came at an opportune time as two 

significant buildings were about to anchor opposite ends of Hill Street, 

now Capitol Avenue. 

The two buildings most significant to Cheyenne and Wyoming, the 

Union Pacific Railroad Depot and Wyoming’s Capitol, were built from 

1886 to 1888. Both are National Historic Landmarks. The UPRR quickly 

built a depot, a wooden structure, in Cheyenne once the tracks had 

reached the city in 1867. However, by the 1880s, the building was 

woefully inadequate. On June 14, 1885, the Cheyenne Daily Sun 

commented: “The present rookery is away behind the city and the 

people. It gives a black eye to the place, creating a bad impression at the 

outset with strangers.” The commentary continued: “In a business sense, 

the railroad has no depot.” The newspaper also encouraged the 

Cheyenne Merchants’ Association to contact UP President Charles 

Adams and lobby for a new depot, believing that a “new depot would 

encourage many gentlemen who own cattle and have other interests in 

the territory to build substantial and handsome residences.” Fortunately, 

the UP had been planning a new Cheyenne depot and in December 

1885, Wyoming Territorial Governor Francis E. Warren heard, and the 

Sun reported, that the UP had approved a “large and handsome” new 

passenger depot for Cheyenne. To design the building, the railroad 

selected the New England architectural firm of Van Brunt and Howe and 

J. F. Coots of Kansas City to construct the building. Henry Van Brunt 

designed the building in the Romanesque style. He was a close friend of 

Henry Hobson Richardson, considered one of the greatest American 

architects, who had developed a distinctive architectural style which has 

been called Richardsonian Romanesque. Richardson died in 1886, but a 

few years earlier he designed the Ames Monument west of Cheyenne. 

Construction began on the depot on March 15, 1886. Workers 

preparing the trenches went on strike three days earlier, but this 

delayed the construction only briefly. Coots and his crew resumed this 

work in May. The UP selected red and buff colored sandstone from a 

quarry near Fort Collins, Colorado, for the depot’s foundations and 

exterior walls. On July 19, the ceremony for the laying of the 

cornerstone was held. The next day’s issue of the Cheyenne Daily Sun 

had the headlines “Cheyenne’s Natal Day,” “An Event Which 

Appropriately Celebrated It,” and “Cornerstone of the Union Pacific 

Depot Laid.” Governor Warren presided over the ceremony and J. B. 

Adams, Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Ancient Free and 

Accepted Mason Society of Wyoming Territory, served as master of 

ceremonies. Judge W. Ware Peck gave the main speech of the day, in 

which he discussed the rise and progress of the “Magic City.” The event 

was held on the nineteenth anniversary of the surveying of Cheyenne. 

A hoped for completion date of May 1887 was not met and UP 

employees did not move into their offices until September. That month 

a reporter from the Sun toured the building and described the interior 

as “palace-like” and continued “one would almost forget himself and 

think that he was in the Crystal Palace of old, that formerly adorned 

the city of London, while taking a stroll up and down its ample halls 

and corridors.” The article also mentioned two reasons for why a new 

building was constructed. “First, that such a building as this proves to 

be was needed by the Union Pacific at this point; and second, the 

company desired to advance and promote the material interests of the 

City of Cheyenne.” As the completion of the UP Depot was being 

celebrated, the construction of the Capitol building was ongoing 

several blocks north of the depot. 

Discussion of a Capitol began during the legislative session in early 

1886 when Governor Warren spoke for a need of a public building which 

The Union Pacific Depot was 

completed in 1887. This photograph 

shows a horse-drawn trolley 

leaving the depot so it can be dated 

around 1890. 


C h a p t e r 2 ✦ 2 7

Construction began on the Capitol 

in September 1886 and work 

continued rapidly. 


would bring together “various territorial offices.” The legislature agreed 

and passed a bill authorizing the construction of a Capitol not to exceed 

$150,000. Warren signed the bill on March 4 and then appointed a fiveman 

Capitol Building Commission. The commission selected two blocks 

on Hill Street (now Capitol Avenue) for the location and selected the 

style: “the front to be treated on the French Renaissance class of 

architecture, the rear to correspond, but not to be treated so expensively.” 

The commission also selected the architect and contractor, both 

from Ohio. David W. Gibbs of Toledo was the chosen architect and the 

firm of Adam Feick & Bro. of Sandusky was the contractor. Feick’s 

winning bid was $131,275.13. The contractor broke ground on 

September 9, 1886, and the Cheyenne Democratic Leader indicated 

Feick “had men and teams busily engaged in making the dirt fly.” 

Feick & Bro. subcontracted with Robert C. Greenlee of Denver, but 

it was still necessary to have someone from Ohio on site. The company 

selected twenty-four year old John Feick, Adam’s son, to oversee 

construction. John had not been to Cheyenne or the West before and 

was surprised by what he found. He wrote many letters to his wife. On 

February 5, 1887, he wrote: “There are very wealthy people living in 

this town but they all look to me like Cow-boys.” On February 13, he 

commented on the weather: “We have had very cold weather heare 

[sic] 12 below zero, and the next day it would be so hot that I could 

not stand it with my under clothes on. We have some terrible winds 

heare.” Four days later he again mentions the wind: “We had a fire here 

last night and the wind blew at the rate of 75 miles an hour and now 

are having a terrible snow storm but very little of the snow stays on 

account of the wind….” Feick quickly adjusted and began to enjoy his 

time in Cheyenne supervising the construction of the Capitol, 

commenting on the “clear and pure” air and wished that his wife 

would be able to join him for the laying of the cornerstone. He wrote: 


Top, left: The laying of the Capitol 

cornerstone was held on May 18, 

1887. People from around the area 

attended the events. 


Bottom, left: One of the events was a 

barbecue just west of the Capitol. 


Top, right: The Capitol was completed 

in March 1888. The width, east to 

west, was 230 feet and 144 feet in 

width, north to south. The dome at 

that time was copper. Gold leaf was 

added for the first time in 1900. 


Bottom, right: The first addition to 

the Capitol was completed by the 

spring of 1890. David Gibbs, seen 

here in the buggy, was the architect 

for the original building and the 

first addition. 


“…people here are going crazy over the corner stone they have 

collected $1800 to lay it with, that are going to have a Barber Cue, that 

is something that you or I never saw in the East….” 

Many of those in Cheyenne on May 18, 1887, witnessed what the 

Cheyenne Daily Sun said was “the occasion of the greatest military and 

civic demonstration ever witnessed in this history of the city,” that being 

the laying of the Capitol cornerstone and the “Barber Cue.” People from 

around the territory as well as Nebraska and Colorado attended the 

festivities. That day businesses closed at noon and a parade began at 

1:30. Included in the parade were troops from Fort D.A. Russell, 

bicyclists, bands, firemen, territorial and city officials, and various 

Masonic bodies. The cornerstone was of Rawlins sandstone and placed 

into the cornerstone was a copper box filled with the laws and seal of 

Wyoming, various newspapers, UP timetables, and several photographs. 

C h a p t e r 2 ✦ 2 9

Right: The Cheyenne Daily Leader 

included this article in its March 28, 

1890, issue after the U.S. House of 

Representatives approved the 

Wyoming statehood bill. 



Opposite, left: The Wyoming Girl 

Guard was organized in November 

1889. Company K was photographed 

on the steps of the Capitol on July 22, 

1890, the day before the statehood 

celebration. They participated in the 

parade the following day and served 

as Guard of Honor for the float 

carrying the forty-two women 

representing the older states. The 

Girl Guard had a few appearances 

after statehood bill, but was 

then disbanded. 


Opposite, right: After the U.S. Senate 

passed the statehood bill the 

Cheyenne Daily Sun ran this article 

in its June 28, 1890, issue. 



After the Masonic ceremonies, Joseph M. Carey gave a speech on the 

early history of the territory and remarked that the Capitol should be 

“devoted to those of wisdom, good government and righteous law, 

which hereafter shall be enacted within it.” Governor Thomas Moonlight 

also spoke. After the ceremony the barbecue was held west of the 

building with pork, mutton, break lemonade, and “cornerstone pickles.” 

That evening the Irish Benevolent Society hosted a grand ball. 

The modern Capitol was completed in March 1888. It was wired 

and plumbed for electric light, gas, and water and included a heating 

and ventilating system. Like the UP Depot, some of the sandstone 

came from a Fort Collins quarry while the stone in the superstructure 

was from a Rawlins quarry. By the time of its completion, the 

legislature had already passed a bill providing funding to add wings to 

the Capitol. Cheyenne contractor Moses P. Keefe won the bid for the 

construction of the wings with a bid of $117,504. The wings were 

completed by April 1890. More wings were added in 1917. William 

Dubois of Cheyenne was the architect for that project. The completion 

of the building in 1888 and the addition of the two wings in 1890 

could not have been more appropriate and timely because this 

coincided with the drive for Wyoming statehood. 

Discussion of the possibility of Wyoming statehood had been 

ongoing for many years, but 1888 is when this movement became 

reality. That year the legislature sent to Washington, D.C. a petition for 

statehood. Then, Wyoming Territorial Delegate to the U.S. House of 

Representatives, Joseph M. Carey, presented the petition to Congress 

and an enabling act was introduced in both houses. Congress took no 

action on the enabling act so Governor Warren and others decided to 

move ahead as if the enabling act had passed. Warren then was able to 

arrange for an election of delegates to a constitutional convention, 

which was held on July 8, 1889. Fifty-five men were selected as 

delegates although only forty-nine attended the convention held in 

Cheyenne in the still new Capitol building. 

The constitutional convention began in the Capitol on September 2, 

1889, and work on the constitution was completed by the end of the 

month. To create such a document which would determine the general 

structure of Wyoming’s governmental system and specify the rights of 

citizens in such a short time, the convention delegates reviewed other 

state constitutions and wisely selected sections appropriate for Wyoming. 

There were a few original parts of the constitution such as water law, 

which determined that all water belonged to the state. One item that 

failed to be included in the constitution was a tonnage tax on coal. M. C. 

Brown of Laramie thought coal would be the state’s major source of 

wealth and since two-thirds of the coal at that time was shipped outside 

of Wyoming he thought those who benefitted from Wyoming’s coal 

should help support the government. Brown called this the greatest 

omission in the constitution. Another original item discussed during the 

convention, and one that passed, was woman suffrage. 


On the fourteenth day of the convention, woman suffrage became a 

major issue when A. C. Campbell of Cheyenne said it should not be 

included in the constitution, but that it should be voted on by Wyoming 

citizens. Campbell, even though he said he supported woman suffrage, 

made the point that the people in the territory had never voted on it and 

they should have that opportunity. He also suggested that such a measure 

should need a two-thirds majority to be approved. The members of the 

convention voted this down by a vote of 20 to 8. Section 1 of Article VI 

states: “The rights of the citizens of the State of Wyoming to vote and 

hold office shall not be denied or abridged on account of sex. Both male 

and female citizens of this State shall equally enjoy all civil, political and 

religious rights and privileges.” This issue, however, would lead to debate 

in Congress when the Wyoming statehood bill was discussed. 

One section of the constitution must have greatly pleased the citizens 

of Cheyenne. It stated; “The seat of government shall be located at the 

City of Cheyenne, the County of Laramie.” The capital appeared to be 

secure in Cheyenne although this was not always a sure thing. 

Joseph M. Carey led the effort for statehood in Washington, D.C. As 

Wyoming’s delegate to the U.S. House, he gave a speech on the floor of 

the House on March 26, 1890. He said Wyoming had much irrigable 

land and was “rich in agricultural possibilities” and claimed that 

Wyoming was “one of nature’s great storehouses” of minerals. When the 

statehood bill was being considered in the House, suffrage was an issue. 

William C. Oates of Alabama spoke against the provision of woman 

suffrage in the constitution. He did not see the right to vote as a natural 

right, but one that should be exercised by “mere municipal regulation.” 

He continued: “I do not like a man-woman. She may be intelligent and 

full of learning, but when she assumes the performance of rough duties 

and functions assigned by nature to man she becomes rough and tough 

and can no longer be the object of affection.” Oates concluded his 

remarks by stating “should we ever reach universal suffrage this 

Government will become practically a pure democracy, and then the days 

of its existence are numbered.” The House passed the statehood bill 139- 

127 the same day Carey spoke so passionately about Wyoming 

statehood. Once the statehood bill was signed by the president, 

Wyoming became the first state to grant women full suffrage. 

Upon hearing of the House vote, many in Cheyenne celebrated. 

According to the Sun: “People began rushing around the streets shouting 

the glad tidings and congratulating every person within reach.” Soon all 

of the flags in the city had been sold so everyone could fly one from their 

home or business. One person created a sign which said: “Uncle Sam’s 

New Daughter.” That evening a bonfire was set at the intersection of 17th 

Street and Ferguson (Carey Avenue). An event was also held at the Opera 

House, where George W. Baxter said, “It means the dawning of a brighter 

day, the beginning of an era of unparalleled prosperity…. A tide of 

immigration will set in. Capital will come.” The U.S. Senate passed the 

statehood bill on June 27 by a vote of 29 to 18. Two weeks later, President 

Benjamin Harrison signed Wyoming’s statehood bill on July 10, which 

led to another celebration. But the official, statewide celebration took 

place in Cheyenne on July 23. 

Planning had been ongoing for some time for the event which the 

Cheyenne Daily Sun described as “A Great Day.” A parade, led by the 

Fort D.A. Russell’s 17th Infantry Band, began the celebration. The twomile 

parade also included other troops from the fort, a Union Pacific 

band, and a large float carrying forty-two young women representing 

the older states. Following this float was a carriage with three girls, 

Grace Cowhick, Frankie Warren the ten-year-old daughter of 

Governor Warren, and Miss Elliot, representing the Goddess of Liberty, 

the new state of Idaho, and the new state of Wyoming. Idaho became 

a state a week before Wyoming on July 3. The parade ended at the 

Capitol where the celebration continued. 

C h a p t e r 2 ✦ 3 1

At the Capitol the thousands attending the events of the day heard a 

number of speakers well known to the Wyoming community. After an 

invocation by Reverend J. Y. Cowhick, Theresa Jenkins gave what some 

considered to be the best speech of the day. According to the Sun, after an 

introduction she proceeded “to the front of the platform, the lady in clear, 

forceful tones which penetrated to the very outskirts of the crowd, began 

and delivered without notes or manuscript an address which in ability, 

logic and eloquence has rarely if ever been equaled by any woman of the 

land. She was grandly equal to the occasion.” Esther Morris then presented 

the new flag with forty-four stars to Governor Warren and she said “May it 

always remain the emblem of our liberties ‘and the flag of the union 

forever.’” Warren graciously accepted the flag and spoke briefly about the 

future of woman suffrage: “Wyoming, in her progress has not forgotten the 

hands and hearts that have helped advance her to her high position; and, 

in the adoption of her constitution, equal suffrage is intrenched so securely 

that, it is believed, it will stand forever….” A forty-four gun salute followed 

the singing of the Star Spangled Banner. Mrs. I.S. Bartlett, the “Poet of the 

Day,” then read her original poem “True Republic,” which ended “For we 

tread enchanted ground today, we’re glorious, proud and great; Our 

Independence day has come—Wyoming is a State!” 

A few more speeches were heard that day and they again spoke to 

equal rights. Judge Melville C. Brown, who served as president of the 

constitutional convention, said “it was ordained by the people of 

Wyoming that each citizen of the state should enjoy the same right 

guaranteed to every other citizen, whether high or low, black or white, 

male or female.” Brown then presented to Amalia Post a copy of the 

Wyoming Constitution. She accepted the document in the “name of 

the women of Wyoming—in the name of women of the civilized 

world—in the name of human progress—in the name of Christian 

civilization….” C. D. Clark of Evanston gave the final oration of the 

day and again spoke to the accomplishment of Wyoming granting 

suffrage to all as an “inalienable right.” Clark’s speech was to have been 

followed by a manned balloon launch, but that failed, although it did 

not end the festivities. Fireworks soon brightened the Cheyenne sky 

and a ball was held with everyone welcomed. The day, filled with 

many wonderful events and speeches, ended about midnight. 

The spectacular celebration on July 23 wonderfully christened 

Wyoming as the forty-fourth state of the country and the first to grant 

women full suffrage as well as Cheyenne as the capital of the newly 

formed state. However, the state constitution included in Article No. VII, 

Section 23, a way for the permanent location of the state capital to 

change. It stated that the legislature could not change the location of the 

capital or the other state institutions, but ten years after the acceptance of 

the constitution, the legislature could enact a law submitting the 

permanent location of the capital to a vote of the “qualified electors” at a 

general election, which is just what happened a few years later. 

The 1901 legislature passed a bill allowing for the 1904 general 

election during which the electorate could determine the permanent 

locations of “the seat of government, the state university, the insane 

asylum, and the state penitentiary.” The vote took place on November 


8, but before Wyoming citizens voted on the permanent locations of 

these four institutions some surprises were in store. 

A number of established, and yet to be established, cities made an 

effort to bring the capital to their communities. One such city, which 

existed only in the mind of Willis George Emerson, a successful 

Wyoming businessman, was to be located in Fremont County and was 

to be named, not surprisingly, Emerson. This city was to be a gift to the 

citizens of the state and would cost them nothing as it would be funded 

by Emerson and eastern capitalists and would be the new home of all 

the state institutions, including the capital. Cheyenne’s Wyoming Tribune 

on October 19, 1903, carried a front-page story of this “most daring, 

audacious and astounding proposition” which was backed by 

“practically unlimited capital” to transform barren prairie into the “new 

Magic City.” The [Lander] Clipper carried the story eleven days later. The 

explanation for the new city, besides the “fabulous” funding, was that 

Emerson would be centrally located and near rich oil fields and good 

farmland. Even with the expectation that Emerson would become the 

largest city in the state in five years after the institutions moved there, 

the “bold” plan as the Tribune described it, never came to fruition. 

Emerson was not one of the four cities on the 1904 general election 

ballot vying to become the state’s permanent capital. 

The four cities on the ballot were Cheyenne, Casper, Rock Springs, and 

Lander. Like Cheyenne, Rock Springs was created in the late 1860s because 

of the construction of the UPRR. Casper and Lander both came about in 

the 1880s. The day before the election the Wyoming Tribune encouraged all 

those in Cheyenne to maintain the capital in the Magic City and warned of 

dire consequences for the city and state if the capital moved. The results 

took days to come in and on November 17, the Natrona County Tribune 

included a story headlined “Lander Claims the Capital.” The article said 

many of the 700 or so residents in Lander were excited about this result, 

but the story later stated Cheyenne had the highest vote total. Cheyenne 

did receive the most votes with 11,781, Lander second with 8,667, Casper 

third with 3,610, and Rock Springs fourth with 429 votes. However, 

Cheyenne did not receive the majority of all the votes cast so it did not 

become the permanent capital. Other towns and cities received write-in 

votes with Sheridan receiving 117, Moorcroft 4, Beulah 3, and Douglas 8, 

and many others tallied one or two votes. The three other institutions won 

overwhelmingly victories with the majority of votes. Emerson did not 

receive any votes. Twenty years later, in the 1923 legislative session, Casper 

legislators again attempted to bring the capital to their city. This effort also 

failed so, as of now, the capital remains in Cheyenne. 

It is clear the Union Pacific Railroad, the cattle industry, the Black 

Hills gold rush, and the commitment many Cheyenne citizens made to 

the city’s prosperity led to Cheyenne’s success. However, the military’s 

presence at Fort D.A. Russell and Camp Carlin also were quite 

important to the Magic City’s good fortunes. 

Opposite, left: A day after the 

statehood celebration the Cheyenne 

Daily Sun’s illustrated edition carried 

this article. 



Opposite, right: One of the original 

invitations to the Wyoming Statehood 

Celebration held on July 23, 1890. 



Left: The town of Bessemer also had 

plans to wrest the capital from 

Cheyenne, although this was near the 

end of the territorial period. The 

creators of this plan had high hopes 

for “The Future Metropolis, Great 

Manufacturing City and Capital of 

Wyoming.” The description 

continued: “The present capital of 

Wyoming, only six miles from the 

Colorado line and less than fifty miles 

from the extreme southeast corner of 

the Territory can not hope to retain 

for any great length of time the seat of 

government.” 


Right: A postcard image of the 

Wyoming Capitol after the second 

addition was completed in 1917. 

COURTESY OF THE JAMES L. EHERNBERGER 



C h a p t e r 2 ✦ 3 3


CHAPTER 3 

A L L S A Y I T I S A N I D E A L F O R T 

One may speculate whether Cheyenne or Wyoming would exist today if not for the coming of the Union Pacific Railroad, but it is clear 

Cheyenne would not be the city it is now without Fort D. A. Russell being established so near the future city. Different terms and phrases have 

been used to describe the relationship between the fort and the city. One word that can be used is that they are intertwined or another description 

is that they have formed a vital link with each other. Historian Gerald M. Adams, who wrote the book The Post Near Cheyenne: A History of Fort 

D.A. Russell, 1867-1930, described it as a “friendly and mutually rewarding relationship.” He also wrote the survival of the fort, now air force base, 

“owes much to its close proximity to Cheyenne.” Certainly, Cheyenne owes much to the military base as well. 

Not only did Grenville Dodge select the location for Cheyenne, he also chose the site for Fort D. A. Russell, named for Brigadier General David 

A. Russell, who died at the Civil War battle of Winchester. The Army had ordered Major General C. C. Augur, Commander of the Department of 

the Platte, to build a fort along the UPRR in order to protect the construction crews from attacks by Native Americans. He planned to build the 

installation about sixteen miles west of Cheyenne, but Dodge persuaded him to choose a site about three miles from the fledgling city. The site 

selection not only provided for the protection of Cheyenne but also greatly assisted its economy. Not long after, the Army decided to locate a 

supply depot, officially named Cheyenne Depot, but better known as Camp Carlin or Camp Carling, on Crow Creek between the city and the 

fort. This decision also greatly benefited Cheyenne in many ways. 

The first troops to man Fort Russell, the Thirtieth Infantry, soon to be joined by the Second Cavalry, arrived in July and in mid-August 1867. 

The troops moved to the permanent location of the fort soon after and began to construct the wooden buildings as well as beginning social events. 

One visitor to Cheyenne in early November 1867, Frenchman Louis L. Simonin, whom we met in Chapter One, stayed one night at Fort Russell: 

“Fort Russell under the tent, 1 November. The most cordial hospitality awaited us here…. General Stevenson, who commands the fort, the major, 

the quartermaster, the officers, all have received us as friends. We have sat at their mess, we have toasted one another, and drunk the sacramental 

glass of whiskey without which no good acquaintance is made in the United States. We have been received with all possible honors. A sentinel 

watches our tent, in the evening we answer his call to return to our quarters.” The fort’s hospitality did not only apply to those born in France 

as the citizens of Cheyenne were often invited to the fort. During February 1868, Colonel Stevenson, the commander of the Thirtieth Infantry, 

invited many in Cheyenne to several social affairs at the fort. One was held on February 28 and the Cheyenne Leader reported that everyone 

“enjoyed the hospitalities” shown to those attending and that “Long will the occasion be remembered by many who had the good fortune to be 

present.” These events were preceded by a month by the arrival of a band assigned to the Thirtieth. With such hospitality shown by the 

commander of the fort along with the many concerts by the band at the fort and in Cheyenne, the strong social bond between the two 

communities was cemented. 

In early 1870, Fort D. A. Russell’s surgeon, C. H. Alden, wrote a report about the post, which provides some interesting information about life 

at the post, and not just about medical issues. Alden described the most common animals at the fort, “coyote, prairie dog, and striped gopher,” 

although antelope and “common deer” are seen at some distance from the fort. He also mentioned seeing many buffalo skulls, but he surmised 

live buffalo had not been in the area for “eight or ten years.” Alden did not seem too pleased with the weather: “The weather is at all times subject 

to sudden and great changes, and the wind blows often with much violence, particularly during the spring and fall.” He explained why the early 

fort was designed in a diamond pattern: “The diamond form of the parade was adopted not only for the sake of appearance, but to avoid the 

A bird’s-eye view of Fort Russell in 

1870 looking east which shows the 

diamond shape of the early fort. 


C h a p t e r 3 ✦ 3 5

Above: Fort D. A. Russell was named 

in honor of Brigadier General David 

A. Russell who fought for the Union 

Army during the Civil War. He was 

killed in the Third Battle of 

Winchester. General William 

Sherman, who had served under 

Russell, named the western forts and 

he named this new fort in Dakota 

Territory after Russell. 

COURTESY OF THE 90TH MISSILE WING HISTORY 

OFFICE, F. E. WARREN AIR FORCE BASE. 

Right: The quartermaster depot and 

commissary at Camp Carlin. J.F. 

Jenkins, the husband of Theresa 

Jenkins, worked in the commissary 

department and the couple lived at 

the camp. 

COURTESY OF THE MARK CHAPMAN COLLECTION, 

AMERICAN HERITAGE CENTER, UNIVERSITY 

OF WYOMING. 

inconvenience of the very large enclosed space, which would have 

resulted from the ordinary rectangular or square space, owing to the 

great number of buildings required.” Alden also lamented the bad 

condition of the poorly constructed buildings including the hospital, 

which allowed snow to blow in because of warped shingles. He does 

end his report on a positive note, writing that mail from the post can 

reach Washington, D.C., in four days, that the fort has very good 

sanitary conditions, and a soldiers’ theater and officers’ theater brought 

much needed entertainment to the soldiers. 

Another description of the fort was written by Theresa Jenkins, who 

lived with her husband at Camp Carlin during the 1870s. Her 

husband, J. F. Jenkins, was the chief clerk in the commissary 

department at the supply depot. In her reminiscence from 1927, 

Jenkins talked about first seeing Fort Russell in 1877 describing the 

social life at the fort, which “was first class; we always had the military 

band, the best in the United States, to play for the dancing; tallow 

candles by the dozen set in tin reflectors, illuminated the old post 

ball.” She also wrote: “All have a good word to speak for it; all say it is 

an ideal fort; all are happy in its boundaries.” 

By the early 1880s, the government was closing a number of western 

forts, but Fort D.A. Russell did not meet that fate. By late 1882, the War 

Department determined that Russell would remain open. Resulting 

from this decision was the plan to tear down the hastily constructed 

wooden buildings and build brick buildings befitting a permanent post. 

This construction plan lasted into the 1890s. However, the permanent 

designation for the fort did not relate to Camp Carlin. 

A month after the establishment of Cheyenne and Fort Russell, the 

army established the quartermaster depot officially named Cheyenne 

Depot, but better known as Camp Carlin. Colonel Elias B. Carling 

selected the site along Crow Creek between Cheyenne and the fort and 

he served as the depot’s first commander. Because of the 

transcontinental railroad, supplies to western forts did not need to be 

transported entirely by wagon. They could be sent by rail to one point 

and then by wagon to the western forts. The army chose Camp Carlin 

because of its location adjacent to the Union Pacific, as a major 

distribution point. A spur line connected the depot to the main UPRR 

line once the tracks reached Cheyenne in November. During its time 

as the second largest quartermaster depot in the country, the camp 

supplied forts and field detachments in Wyoming, Nebraska, Idaho, 

Utah, and Colorado. The camp also furnished annuity goods to 

various Indian agencies. 

Nothing remains today of the once thriving camp, which employed 

approximately five hundred to one thousand civilians as teamsters, 

packers, laborers, blacksmiths, carpenters, and others. Among the 

many brown wooden buildings of the camp, sixteen warehouses held 

the many supplies while stables and corrals held the thousands of 

animals necessary for such an operation. Besides the warehouses, other 

buildings contained carpenter shops, blacksmith shops, saddle and 

harness shops, cook and bunk houses, among other activities. The 

location of the camp was a boon to Cheyenne’s economy. The Army 

purchased items such as cattle, horses, coal, wood, vegetables, grain, 

and hay from local businesses. 

By 1890, the need for such a depot had disappeared. The railroads 

expanded, supplanting the need for mules, oxen, and wagons, and 

many of the western forts had closed because of the lessening conflict 

on the frontier. The army abandoned the camp in May 1890. The 

Cheyenne Daily Sun provided an obituary for the camp in its July 1, 

1890, issue: “Camp Carlin, situated about a mile from the city will 

soon be effaced from its present site and its past activity forgotten.” 

The article continued: “The camp has a doleful, deserted appearance 

all of the buildings being empty and one or two buildings occupied.” 

The Army moved some of the buildings to Fort Russell, demolished 

some, and sold others for $50, some of which were moved to 


Left: Camp Carlin before 1880. 



OF WYOMING. 

Below: Camp Carlin’s commanding 

officer’s quarters. 



OF WYOMING. 

Cheyenne. According to the Cheyenne Leader issue of October 22, 

1890, “the abandonment of Camp Carlin gave Cheyenne a lot of ready 

made houses.” However, activity at Camp Carlin did not cease entirely. 

After the closure of Camp Carlin the army used the site for its mule 

pack service providing a holding area and training ground. Thomas 

Moore, better known as Colonel Moore, was given the title of chief 

packmaster of the Army during the late 1870s. He carried that title 

until his death on May 14, 1896, in his home at Camp Carlin. For 

years he was put in charge of the government pack trains and when the 

depot closed he was attached to Fort Russell. According to historian 

Gerald M. Adams, Moore was one of two iconic figures of the camp, 

the other being Steamboat (no, not that well-known bucking horse), 

but Steamboat the mule. Russell Tracy, who worked at the camp 

during the 1880s related the story about the not so famous Steamboat. 

“All who recall anything of Camp Carlin in those early days will 

remember ‘Steamboat’, the white mule who, without a driver brought 

the buckboard from the stable to the Quartermaster’s quarters or office 

every morning and stood waiting patiently hour after hour to be used, 

but when the 5 o’clock bell rang, he turned around and with head up 

and tail rising, would gallop to the barn and his oats.” 

As stated above, the Cheyenne Daily Sun worried the 

accomplishments of Camp Carlin would be forgotten, but the Cheyenne 

Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) took steps 

to ensure that did not happen. On September 30, 1928, the DAR and 

hundreds of people from Cheyenne and Fort Russell, dedicated a 

“beautiful granite shaft” that stated: “Camp Carlin 1867-1890 Erected by 

C h a p t e r 3 ✦ 3 7

Right: Members of Wyoming National 

Guard leaving Cheyenne for the 

Philippines in May 1898. The 

Cheyenne Daily Sun-Leader 

reported on May 11 that “Wyoming is 

at the head of the list, along with 

Montana. They were the first states to 

report their quota of volunteer troops 

duly mustered into the service of the 

United States…. The governor 

received a telegram asking how soon 

our battalion could start for San 

Francisco and he replied to Secretary 

Alger that they could go in 10 hours. 


Below: Colonel Jay L. Torrey at Fort 

D. A. Russell before the ill-fated 

journey to Florida. 


the DAR.” Warren Richardson donated the marker and the War 

Department and Brigadier General F. C. Bolles, commander of the fort, 

approved the location of the monument. The dedication program 

included music by the First Infantry Band and various speeches. 

Governor Frank Emerson spoke as did General Bolles, who thanked the 

DAR for their efforts to record and preserve history and he also said “a 

nation which fails to record its achievements and aspirations will soon 

pass away.” Elizabeth Ann Walton and Ruth Jenkins unveiled the 

monument. A history of the camp written by Theresa Jenkins was read 

during the ceremony. Jenkins was the state chairman of the committee 

on preservation of historic spots. Today, a different marker, put in place 

in 1957 by the Wyoming Historical Landmark Commission just off 

Happy Jack Road (WY 210) south of the base, explains the mission of 

the depot and where it was located. 

Camp Carlin provided many supplies to the various western forts 

involved with the conflicts with the Native Americans and Fort Russell’s 

troops also played a role in various conflicts in the West and beyond. 

From the beginning the fort’s troops guarded the railroad, escorted 

supply wagon trains, and participated in campaigns against the Native 

Americans. In May 1877, the Fifth Cavalry from the fort went north to 

Fort Fetterman to escort General Phil Sheridan to Montana. Part of the 

unit went to the Big Horn Basin in the territory looking for alleged 

“hostile” Indians, but found none. After the riot in Rock Springs on 

September 2, 1885, which resulted in the killing of twenty-eight Chinese 

by white miners, which has become known as the “Chinese Massacre,” 

companies of the Ninth Infantry from Russell went to the city to restore 

order. For the next thirteen years troops from the post served tours at 

Camp Pilot Butte set up to maintain peace in the area. That camp closed 

in 1898 with the onset of the Spanish-American War. 

Fort Russell quickly sent troops in April 1898 to join in the invasion 

of Cuba during the Spanish-American War and also trained troops for 

that conflict. The Eighth Infantry left on April 20 and the next month 

four companies of Wyoming National Guard assembled at the post in 

May and they took part in the Battle of Manila on August 13, 1898, the 

day after the armistice had been signed ending the war. Also in May, the 

Wyoming unit, the Second United States Volunteer Cavalry Regiment, 

mustered in at the post and the following month, led by Colonel Jay L. 

Torrey, a state legislator and Wyoming rancher, left for Florida with 

intentions to join troops in Cuba. Most of the 934 soldiers were from 

Wyoming. However, on their way to Florida, their train wrecked in 

Mississippi and the crash resulted in the deaths of five troopers and 

fourteen were injured, including Torrey. Once in Florida some in the 


egiment came down with serious fevers and the volunteer unit never 

reached Cuba. Shortly after the trouble with Cuba, Fort Russell troops 

went to the Philippines to deal with an insurgency. The 11th Infantry 

returned from the area in 1904. 

Another fortunate event for Fort Russell happened in 1902, when a 

military report recommended the fort be designated a permanent post. 

The Army also announced more buildings would be constructed at 

Russell, including family quarters, barracks, and a new home for the 

post commandant. Newspapers of the time gave full credit for the 

permanent designation and the new buildings to Senator Francis E. 

Warren, who was a senior member of the Senate Military Affairs 

Committee. Warren’s long-term support for the fort led to President 

Herbert Hoover changing the name of the fort to Fort Francis E. 

Warren on January 1, 1930, shortly after Warren’s death. 

During the 1910s, troops from the fort went south to the Mexican 

border and then to Europe. With the outbreak of the Mexican Revolution 

in 1911 troops from Fort Russell patrolled the border from 1912 to the 

outbreak of World War I. Beginning in 1917, troops from the post were 

dispatched to the European battlefront and Fort Russell also became a 

mobilization center and training facility for cavalry and field artillery 

units. After the war, routine duty returned and continued through the 

1930s, although during the Thirties extensive summer maneuvers were 

held at Pole Mountain thirty miles west of the fort. However, post 

activities quickly changed with the onset of World War II. 

Even before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 

1941, Fort Warren underwent substantial changes. In October 1940, 

General George C. Marshall announced the need for new construction 

at the fort, which had been selected as a Quartermaster Replacement 

Center. Construction quickly began on close to three hundred 

buildings to be located south of Crow Creek. The center was activated 

on February 1, 1941, and two months later its name was changed to 

the Quartermaster Replacement Training Center. The replacement 

center included three regiments, two with White troops and one for 

Black troops. The Army deactivated the training center on July 1, 

1943, only slightly more than two years after it began. However, three 

months later plans changed and the quartermaster training center 

continued and at this time more African American troops were added. 

The graduation of more than 122,000 quartermaster specialists at Fort 

Warren can be viewed as the most important contribution to the war 

effort by the post. 

Besides the Quartermaster Training Replacement Center, Fort 

Warren also officially became a Prisoner of War Camp on February 1, 

1945, although German and Italian prisoners had already been at the 

fort. Several hundred German prisoners had arrived at the fort in late 

1943 and in May 1944 Italian prisoners also were at the fort receiving 

non-combat training. 

Such an influx of soldiers at Fort Warren during the war years had 

a tremendous impact on Cheyenne. According to Wyoming historian 

T. A. Larson, the “economic consequences were tremendous. The 

soldiers and their dependents who came to Cheyenne to live or to visit 

spent uncounted millions of dollars in the city. The monthly Post 

payroll exceeded any industrial payroll in the state. Moreover, Post 

authorities expended vast sums in the city for food, coal, road and 

Above: Military maneuvers at the 

Pole Mountain Military Reservation 

in 1921. 

COURTESY OF THE MILES S. LINNABERRY 



Below: A postcard showing the 

Quartermaster Replacement Training 

Center at Fort F. E. Warren during 

World War II. 




C h a p t e r 3 ✦ 3 9

Above: A postcard of the gymnasium 

at Fort F. E. Warren illustrating a 

boxing match. 



Below: Frontier Villa in 1944. 


building repairs, gasoline, oil, and other items. Undoubtedly booming 

Fort Warren spelled prosperity for Cheyenne and the state.” 

The economic impact of the fort’s activity was great for Cheyenne, 

but there also were other issues the city had to deal with during that 

time. The influx of thousands of workers to construct the 

Quartermaster Training Replacement Center stretched the available 

housing. Motels, trailer camps, and all available rentals were filled. The 

addition of other national defense workers for the Frontier Refinery, 

Union Pacific Railroad, United Airlines, and other industries led the 

federal public housing authority to construct three government 

housing projects starting in 1943. The three were Frontier Villa 

Estates, Careyville Acres, and Van Tassell Terrace. The expectation was 

the housing areas would only be needed until the end of the war, but 

the need for the housing continued. 

The January 14, 1945, issue of the Wyoming State Tribune described 

the three small temporary housing areas. The newspaper described 

them as small cities and they all scheduled recreational activities for 

the residents as well as child care for the mothers who worked in the 

defense industries. The units were described as “rentable temporary 

homes equipped with modern conveniences.” Frontier Villa served as 

the main office for the three projects. Army personnel as well as 

civilian employees at Fort Warren were able to rent units as were 

workers in the defense industries. The number of children in the area 

led each one to start their own kindergartens because of overcrowding 

in Cheyenne’s schools. Van Tassell Terrace also had a first grade. The 

communities organized Cub Scout, Girl Scout, and Boy Scout groups. 

“Each project has a diamond and a playground for the children…[and] 

the projects can also request the showing of films at their community 

halls.” The three projects also had their own newspapers, the Villa 

News, Careyville Comments, and Terrace Telenews. Careyville Acres had 

180 units and was located on east Pershing and the buildings were 

demolished in 1955. Frontier Villa was located to the north and east 

of the Cheyenne Frontier Days arena and was vacated during the 

spring of 1955. The housing project of Van Tassell Terrace was 

renamed Cheyenne Terrace in 1957, and changed and now operates as 

Pinewood Village Apartments. Robert F. Gish published the book 

Cheyenne, Wyoming, 1940-1955: History—WWII Industries—Schools and 

Living in Government Housing Projects in 2016. The book includes 

interesting information about the three federal building projects and 

other topics during the war years and beyond. 

Several times during its long history Fort Russell and Fort Warren 

faced an uncertain future. This certainly was true after World War II. 

Just as Senator Francis E. Warren worked to keep the post open, in the 

postwar period Senators Joseph O’Mahoney and E. V. Robertson 

worked with the Secretaries of the Army and Air Force to ensure the 

fort would remain a part of the country’s defense. However, many in 

Cheyenne felt the closure of Fort Warren was imminent so the 

Chamber of Commerce sent a seven-man delegation to Washington to 


“fight for the fort.” These efforts provided positive results and after a 

visit to the fort by President Harry Truman in June 1948, it was 

announced Warren would remain an active post and would become an 

Air Force base. The base’s mission was to serve as a technical training 

facility. Various training was instituted at the base, including the 

Aviation Engineer School in which “courses in engineering, 

construction utilities, and allied skills were taught.” Soon there were 

about twelve thousand airmen training on the base. Although the fort 

became an Air Force base in 1948, it took until 1949 for the 

Department of Defense to change the base’s name to Francis E. Warren 

Air Force Base. Ten years later the mission for the base changed 

dramatically, from a training base to one that held intercontinental 

ballistic missiles. 

On November 22, 1957, the Wyoming State Tribune carried an article 

stating Warren Air Force Base would soon become the headquarters of 

the Atlas ICBM missile headquarters under the Strategic Air Command 

(SAC). The Atlas missiles would be placed in various locations in the 

countryside. The base had the distinction of being the first 

transcontinental ballistic missile base in the country. The Wyoming Eagle 

on February 1, 1958, carried the story “Warren Becomes America’s First 

Long-Range Launching Base.” That day SAC assumed control of the 

base at 12:01 a.m. Major General David Wade, commander of the SAC 

1st Missile Division, spoke to a group of Cheyenne leaders and Air 

Force officials at the base. He said: “I don’t know who selected Warren 

for the missile site, but he should be decorated. The facilities are 

perfect.” Cheyenne Mayor Worth Story told Wade “Cheyenne is proud 

to have the first missile base in the country and proud to be the nation’s 

No. 1 target for enemy missiles.” The first Atlas missile arrived in 

Cheyenne on October 4, 1959. In the following years the Air Force 

installed twenty-four Atlas missiles around Warren in northern 

Colorado, western Nebraska, and southeastern Wyoming. 

The designation of Warren as a missile base brought significant 

changes to the installation. The Air Force renovated airmen’s barracks, 

family housing, and many of the administrative buildings. The Air 

Force also purchased in 1958 from its civilian owners the Wherry 

Housing, which was constructed in 1951-1952. It was then used for 

military housing. One victim of the changes was the Warren Bowl, a 

sports complex constructed in 1930 with much help from Cheyenne 

citizens. The military did not use it much after 1940, but Cheyenne 

schools used it for sporting events until 1959. 

By 1961, the Air Force was ready to deploy the solid-fuel 

Minuteman missile. Hoping to bring the missile to Warren, Mayor 

Story and a delegation of members from the Chamber of Commerce 

traveled to Washington, D.C., to campaign for the new missiles. In 

March 1962, the Air Force announced Warren Air Force Base had been 

selected to be the support base for the missiles. Then Mayor Bill 

Nation was pleased the $158-million project would soon come to the 

Magic City. The Air Force activated the new Ninetieth Strategic Missile 

F. E. Warren Air Force Base became a 

Strategic Air Command Base in 

February 1958 because it was 

selected as the “Home of the Atlas.” 


OFFICE, F. E WARREN AIR FORCE BASE. 

C h a p t e r 3 ✦ 4 1

Above: The first Atlas missile, seen 

here on entering the front gate, 

arrived at F. E. Warren Air Force 

Base on October 2, 1959. 



Below: Wherry Housing, built during 

the early 1950s, was a civilian 

housing project until the Air Force 

purchased it in 1958. 



Wing on July 1, 1963. Two hundred of the missiles were located 

within a hundred miles of the base again in Wyoming, Colorado, and 

Nebraska. The Minuteman I missiles were replaced beginning in 1973 

with Minuteman III missiles. Another significant change to the 

country’s ICBM force occurred in the fall of 1986 when the Air Force 

began replacing fifty of the Minuteman missiles with the ten-warhead 

Peacekeeper missiles. While the Peacekeepers are no longer deployed 

today, the 150 remaining Minuteman III missiles are still active. 

Besides the deployment of the Minuteman missiles, the decade of 

the 1970s is also important in this history of the base for a quite 

different reason. In 1977, the National Park Service designated the 

base a National Historical Landmark. A large plaque designating the 

installation as a landmark was installed at the original entrance to Fort 

D.A. Russell near the base chapel. It still can be found just to the west 

of the chapel. Recognizing the historical significance of the base began 

already in the late 1960s when staff of the Wyoming Recreation 

Commission and the Wyoming State Archives and Historical 

Department undertook efforts to have the base listed on the National 

Register of Historic Places in 1969. Wyoming Senator Gale McGee at 

the time said: “The base highly merits this recognition for its long 

history and its progress from a frontier outpost to its position today as 

one of the foremost sentinels in our strategic defense systems.” 

The positive impact Fort D. A Russell, Fort Francis E. Warren, and 

F. E. Warren Air Force Base have had on Cheyenne is incalculable. For 

fiscal year 1976, Warren Air Force Base officials estimated the economic 

impact of the base on Cheyenne was $55,471,469, including a military 

payroll of $36,998,648. Six years later, for fiscal year 1982, Air Force 

officials estimated the economic impact at $156,095,269. That figure 

included the salaries for the military and civilian personnel assigned to 

the base as well as housing, clothing, food, medical needs, and taxes. 

The base accounted for approximately thirteen percent of Laramie 

County’s workforce. Of course, the longtime military installation had 

more than just economic impact on Cheyenne. 


Left: The Quartermaster Corps from 

Fort Warren marching in Cheyenne 

Frontier Day’s Grand Entry in 1946. 

COURTESY OF THE ALBRIGHT COLLECTION, 

CHEYENNE FRONTIER DAYS OLD WEST MUSEUM. 

Below: One of the Atlas missiles 

entering Wyoming during the 1960s. 



As we have seen, the military helped maintain law and order in the 

newly constructed Magic City and helped fight fires as well, and certainly 

played an important role in the social activities of Cheyenne, but one role 

not mentioned is the long-serving assistance the many military members 

stationed at the fort, now base, provided to Cheyenne’s tourism industry. 

Right from the beginning of Cheyenne Frontier Days in 1897, the military 

personnel were integral to the success and growth of that most important 

local event. During the twentieth century Cheyenne advertised Warren Air 

Force Base as a place to see and visit. And just in the past few years the Air 

Force and the state of Wyoming have begun work to convert one of the 

remaining Peacekeeper sites as an historic site. All of these efforts have 

contributed to another of Cheyenne’s important industries, tourism. 

C h a p t e r 3 ✦ 4 3


CHAPTER 4 

G O O D F U N A N D G O O D M O N E Y 

The phrase, “Good Fun and Good Money,” seems to be the perfect description of a successful effort to bring tourists to a community. The event 

would have been entertaining to the tourists and would have provided an economic benefit to the city. This phrase was coined by Col. E.A. Slack, 

one of the originators of Cheyenne Frontier Days (CFD), describing the positive effects the first Frontier Day had on Cheyenne. The now longtime 

western celebration was first held on September 23, 1897. 

The Cheyenne Daily Sun-Leader described that first Frontier Day as “The Grandest and Most Successful Occasion Ever Celebrated in the West.” 

Thousands from Cheyenne, other Wyoming cities, along with residents of Nebraska and Colorado enjoyed the western festivities that day in late 

September. The Frontier Day Program described the “Reasons for Commemorating the Events and Struggles of Our Early Settlers.” 

Few comprehend the marvelous and rapid transformation of the Mountain State from the rude life and privations of pioneer days to the brighter phases 

of modern civilization. The story, graphically and truthfully told, would read like a tale of the Arabian Night. It is the romance of history…. 

Let us be thankful that even now some of the old pioneers are with us, and can tell stories “stranger than fiction.” Let us be duly thankful we still have 

the scenery and atmosphere, if not the life of “the old days”…. 

Let us treasure the old days in our memories, and, as far as possible, revive the thrilling incidents and pictures of life that my still be reproduced in form 

by those who were once actors in that period. Hence, let us make our “FRONTIER DAY” Wyoming’s great festival day, and every year will add to its pleasures 

and its historic value to coming generations. 

Members of the first Frontier Day 

Committee in 1897. 



As one can see, even during the planning for the first Frontier Day, the hope was the event would continue far into the future. However, one 

important question still remains, although it is highly unlikely it can ever be completely determined, and that is whose idea was it that brought 

Frontier Days into existence. 

The two contenders for the title of “originator” of the idea which led to Cheyenne Frontier Days are E. A. Slack, publisher of the Cheyenne Daily Sun 

Leader and the son of Esther Morris, and F. W. Angier, a Union Pacific Railroad passenger agent in 1897. Warren Richardson, the chairman of the first 

Frontier Days committee, wrote a three-page manuscript (unfortunately not dated) in which he clearly stated Slack “was the father of Frontier Days, who 

originated the idea.” He also wrote that Slack “for the first few years of its infancy stood by it through thick and thin, when it was attacked as a ‘rough 

neck show that should not be permitted’” and that he “was the greatest power behind the show, both with his mighty intellect, through the columns of 

his newspaper, and with his money when it was necessary….” According to Richardson, the idea came to Slack on the train between Greeley, Colorado, 

and Cheyenne. He had just attended Greeley’s celebration Potato Day along with Richardson. On the ride back to Cheyenne, Slack said to Richardson: 

“Why cannot Cheyenne have some such a celebration once a year?” At that point Slack came up with the idea of “Frontier Day.” A few days later in his 

newspaper on August 27, 1897, Slack promoted the idea. He asked why shouldn’t Cheyenne have a celebration called Frontier Day. 

As Frontier Days approached every year it was not uncommon for a newspaper to write about how the idea of the event came about and the 

summer of 1911 was no exception. The Cheyenne State Leader on August 20, 1911, included the story, “Origin and Significance of Cheyenne’s 

Celebration,” which gave credit to Slack as the originator. However, nine days later, the Sun Leader published a letter from Angier, who at that 

time lived in California. He claimed, upon seeing Greeley’s Potato Day and Loveland’s Corn Roast, that he believed Cheyenne “ought to have a 

C h a p t e r 4 ✦ 4 5

Right: Shortly before the first Frontier 

Day took place, the Frontier Day 

Committee wrote to Cheyenne’s 

mayor and city council asking if the 

city would “appropriate the sum of 

$250. In aid of the event.” 

COURTESY OF THE CHEYENNE FRONTIER DAYS 

OLD WEST MUSEUM. 

Below: As can be seen on the back of 

the letter requesting for $250, the city 

“Rejected” the request. 



Pioneer or Frontier Day” and he approached Slack who quickly 

jumped on the bandwagon. Angier certainly thought people from 

Denver would attend by riding the Union Pacific thereby increasing 

traffic on the railroad. The following day, Slack’s newspaper carried 

that August 27 story mentioned earlier. Angier did give much credit to 

Slack, saying “but it is to his [Slack’s] efforts that the Frontier Days 

were put through and made a success. From the moment the idea of 

holding a celebration in Cheyenne was laid before Col. Slack, he 

become interested and had it not been for his enthusiasm and work, 

there never would have been a celebration in Cheyenne.” 

Curiously, in the same issue of the Leader with the letter by Angier, 

there is a column titled “Father of the Idea,” which acknowledged the 

article in the paper on August 20 was erroneous when it claimed Slack 

had the idea for Frontier Days, that in fact it was Angier who 

“originated” the idea. Since the Leader was Slack’s paper, one historian 

assumed the column was written by Slack who finally acknowledged 

Angier’s role. However, Slack died four years earlier as an article in the 

Cheyenne Daily Leader confirmed on March 24, 1907. Perhaps this 

question about the “originator” is not that important since Slack, 

Cheyenne’s Mayor William Schnitger, Warren Richardson, and others, 

including Angier, in less than a month from the promotional article in 

the August 27, 1897, Leader, organized the first Frontier Day. 

That first Frontier Day was a success and laid the foundation for 

future western celebrations, even though the city council did not 

provide any money for the event. Before September 23, the Frontier 

Day Committee wrote to the city council requesting $250 for the first 

Frontier Day. The council rejected the appeal for funding. Even without 

the city funding the event was held at Pioneer Park and lasted six hours, 

during which the several thousand attendees who paid 15 cents for 

bleacher seats and 35 cents for grandstand seats enjoyed horse races, 

bucking broncos, steer roping, and a drill and tactics display enacted by 

soldiers from Fort D. A. Russell. After the event, the Cheyenne Daily Sun 

Leader commented that “vast numbers of visitors were so well satisfied 

with their visit” and the newspaper also stated: “An annual state festival 

has been successfully inaugurated.” The Leader even looked ahead to 

the following year, hoping for a two to three day event and one that 

would include Native Americans. However, the Wyoming Tribune, 

perhaps playing the role of contrarian, had a slightly different view of 

the first Frontier Day. “There are some features of such a program that 

do not meet with approbation of all, and yet it must be remembered 

that the celebration was intended, in great part at least, to reproduce 

scenes of a time which Cheyenne has long since outgrown. Our visitors 

know that the stage holdup, the vigilantes and the ox team departed 

our boundaries a generation ago….” The Tribune continued: “The 

influence of Frontier Day is not elevating in character,” but the 

newspaper did ask is Frontier Day “harmful to any extent?” One other 

concern the newspaper had was for the safety of the viewers, 

commenting about the danger of the “dozens of ladies” on the race 


track. Fortunately they were able to “grab their petticoats and safely get 

away from the deadly feet of wild and crazy bronchos….” Despite the 

modest protestations of the Tribune, the celebration continued and in 

1898 featured Native Americans and a noted western celebrity. 

The second Frontier Days took place on September 5 and 6, 1898. 

Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show joined the events that year, which started 

with a parade in downtown Cheyenne and then an audience of six 

thousand watched Buffalo Bill and his troupe. The rodeo began at one 

o’clock and everyone watched horse races, steer roping, and even a 

pioneer wedding of a Denver couple. Members of the Shoshone tribe 

from the Wind River Reservation exhibited war dances and took part 

in simulated attacks upon a wagon train. The participation of Native 

Americans has remained a constant in the celebration. 

As Frontier Days continued in its infancy, as CFD historian Robert 

Hanesworth titled these formative years, the celebration expanded and 

began to include entertainment in the evenings after the rodeo. Visitors 

enjoyed street dances, masquerade parties, and an opera was 

performed in the Opera House in 1902. Bill Barlow of the Douglas 

Budget attended the 1902 events and wrote about his experiences, 

which were quoted in the Leader: “Buffalo Bill may roam the world 

over with a beer bottle imitation of erstwhile life on the frontier, and 

rival towns may steal our cow pinch talent and make a play for first 

place; but Cheyenne can simply sit back in her saddle and smile—she’s 

it!” The following year, however, the question of who would lead the 

effort arose. 

The Wyoming Tribune, which a few years earlier had questioned some 

parts of the first Frontier Day, in April 1903 surveyed Cheyenne 

businessmen about whether the event should continue. The newspaper 

found overwhelming support from the business community. The survey 

came about because “little has been done toward definitely outlining the 

plans for the conduct and management of this year’s show.” George 

Thompson related in his interview that “Frontier is one of the best things 

that Wyoming has in its history as an advertisement for Cheyenne and its 

people and it ought to be continued in some way for the benefit of the 

city.” Sam Bergman gave an enthusiastic “I want it.” The Bon Shoe and 

Clothing Company stated it has “helped every merchant.” J. F. Jenkins said 

“The money left here [during] Frontier days is being distributed among 

our merchants all the following winter.” F. A Roedel said Frontier Days “is 

the best thing that Cheyenne can have to advertise and bring people here.” 

“Frontier days’ celebration has done more to bring Cheyenne to the front 

ranks of western cities than anything that has ever been undertaken in the 

country” stated L. Manewal. The survey only identified one “knocker,” as 

described by the Tribune. “I don’t want to see another Frontier in 

Cheyenne. I have to work overtime, hire additional men and my business 

is all upset as long as the rush lasts. I do make money out of the visitors 

who come here but I don’t like the extra rush of work.” The newspaper 

did not list the person’s name, but commented: “He actually said it. We’ll 

tell you his name if you call at the office.” 

Even with the positive comments from Cheyenne’s businessmen, there 

was a rumor that 1903 would be the last celebration, although the 

success that year of Frontier Days put an end to that. The Laramie County 

Times of Wheatland wrote that there “has been some talk that this would 

be the last Frontier celebration at Cheyenne, but the unqualified success 

of the celebration just ended makes it possible to continue the carnival 

for an indefinite period.” To no one’s surprise, Frontier Days continued 

and to ensure its longevity a corporation was formed to produce and 

manage the event. Three years later, however, the Board of Trade in 

Cheyenne agreed to run the show. The board soon became the Industrial 

Club which then became the Chamber of Commerce. In 1990, Cheyenne 

Frontier Days finally became an independent corporation. 

As Frontier Days continued it became a national attraction. One 

Illinois resident, Carl Palasca, enjoyed the celebration in August1910 

and wrote about the experience. He took the train to Cheyenne and his 

Left: An envelope from the Executive 

Committee of Wyoming Frontier Day 

which included an invitation to the 

first celebration. 

COURTESY OF ROBERT D. HANESWORTH 



Below: Ribbon from the first 

Frontier Day. 

COURTESY OF THE J.S. PALEN COLLECTION, 


OF WYOMING. 

C h a p t e r 4 ✦ 4 7

Above: A photograph titled “Watching 

the Show” included in a souvenir 

booklet about Frontier Days published 

by J. E. Stimson. 

COURTESY OF AMERICAN HERITAGE CENTER, 


Below: Another photograph from the 

Stimson souvenir booklet of the 

“Cowgirls’ Race.” 



first comment about the city was: “The blue, blue sky and the 

Wyoming breezes which seemed to burn my face to a crisp.” He was 

able to find a place to stay at “2020 Evans St.” and felt fortunate to find 

a place and he commented that the city was “simply over-run with 

typhoid fever cases, due, I was informed, to the city water.” He arrived 

the day before Frontier Days began and he described the city as when 

“all Wyoming puts on ‘chaps’ to give its visitors a glimpse of the West 

as it used to be, and old Cheyenne drops back twenty years in one 

night and forgets that street cars and automobiles are running in its 

streets. The Frontier Days Celebration has ceased to be Wyoming’s—it 

belongs to the whole great West.” He said Cheyenne is known as the 

“Short Grass State.” That year former president Theodore Roosevelt 

attended as he had in 1903 and according to Palasca there were signs 

around the city saying “Wyoming’s Choice 1912.” Palasca sat through 

the seven hours of exciting events and he concluded his reminiscence 

this way. “As I stepped from off the bleachers that night I couldn’t help 

but feel with a slight tinge of regret that I wasn’t part of this glorious 

West. I turned to that ever lovin’ plan of mine and said, ‘I’ve seen 

enough Wild West for today but I’m coming out here again to see this, 

if I have to walk. Finis.’” 

It was not until after World War I that, according to Robert 

Hanesworth, Cheyenne Frontier Days finally reached manhood and 

then in 1926, maturity. By 1920, the celebration claimed to be “the 

Greatest Frontier Celebration on Earth.” It has the “Biggest Show, more 

Indians, Better Program,” and was the show which “made the Cowboy 

Famous.” Two years later CFD in its advertising stated “More Cowboys, 

Cow Girls, Indians, Wild Horses, Steers and Thrilling Feats of 

Horsemanship Than Seen In All Other Shows.” The 1922 show also was 

filmed for advertising purposes. The promotion for the film said that “If 

you have not seen ‘Frontier Days’ you have not seen Wyoming.” The film 

presented CFD “as a revivification of the old days with the veterans of 

the plains in the grandstand and their grandchildren in the arena.” 


As Cheyenne Frontier Days continued, it expanded on the western 

image in its advertising. The 1924 program stated: “Frontier Days is the 

oldest, the biggest, the best of ‘wild west’ festivals. If you haven’t seen it, 

you haven’t seen America…. Cheyenne Frontier Days—at Cheyenne— 

presents your only opportunity to see the West as it was, and the West 

as it was, was sure worth seeing.” A year later, mentions of the “virile” 

character of the Western frontier were added to the advertisements. By 

this time some described Frontier Days as “a Wyoming institution, a 

powerful influence in making men mindful of the meaning of ‘Winning 

the West,’ in keeping alive the spirit and traditions of this country.” 

During the 1930s, a typical show contained not only all of the roping 

and dogging one could handle, but also “Cowgirls Relay Race, Indian 

Buck Race, Cowgirls Cowpony Race, Indian Squaw Race, and Indian 

War Dances.” 

CFD added another showpiece, the parade, in 1926. Parades had 

been part of several Frontier Days earlier, but this was the first parade 

that became the foundation for the parades continuing today. This 

spectacle in 1926 was described as a “pageant of western transportation” 

and was, and still is, a popular event. It had “an appeal more romantic 

than that of the wild west sports.” 

Western rodeos during this time were numerous and the 

competition for the tourist dollar intense. During the mid-1920s, 

when Chicago also presented “a revival of the early Western days,” a 

Wyoming newspaper chided the Midwestern city: “and here you come 

along and ‘tout’ yourself as ‘the roundup and rodeo capital of the 

country.’ Naturally the query, ‘How do you get that way!” Many 

Wyoming towns also held rodeos, some even called Frontier Days, but 

the supporters of CFD declared “some fairly good, others miserably 

bad,” but, of course, the others could not compare to Cheyenne’s. 

According to a Frontier Days program: “Some of these imitations are 

called Wild West shows, Roundups, Rodeos, Stampedes and the like, 

but not one of them compares with Cheyenne’s Frontier Days, ‘The 

Daddy of Them All.’” 

During the early 1930s, because of the country being in the throes of 

the Great Depression, it became apparent to the Frontier Committee that 

expenses needed to be cut. In 1932, the event lost slightly more than 

seven thousand dollars and the Frontier Committee realized it would 

take quite a bit of funding to maintain and operate the park in the coming 

Top: Former President “Teddy” 

Roosevelt attended the 1910 Frontier 

Days celebration and can be seen here 

enjoying the rodeo although he is 

difficult to distinguish in the stand. 

Carl Palasca from Illinois tried to get 

as close to Roosevelt as he could 

during the morning parade and he 

commented in his description of 

attending Frontier Days: “Here, with 

Governor Brooks and Senator Warren 

of Wyoming and Senator Borah of 

Idaho, Colonel Roosevelt reviewed the 

greatest Wild West parade of history.” 




Middle: A Frontier Days event held at 

the state Capitol, c. 1910. 




Bottom: Native Americans preparing 

to participate in a Frontier Days 

parade, ca. 1910. 

COURTESY OF THE W.B.D. GRAY AND ANNETTE B. 

GRAY COLLECTION, AMERICAN HERITAGE CENTER, 


C h a p t e r 4 ✦ 4 9

Left: Helena Bonham in 1920 traveled 

east as a goodwill ambassador at the 

behest of Governor Robert Carey to 

deliver invitations to that year’s 

Frontier Days. She visited 

Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., and 

New York among others. In New 

York she commented on riding on 

Fifth Avenue: “Fifth avenue reminds 

of the time I was caught in a cattle 

stampede on my horse…. I had to 

ride with them for miles before I 

could work my out of the herd, and 

bucking the traffic on the avenue 

looks just as hard.” 

PHOTO FROM HELENA BONHAM SCRAPBOOK, 

COURTESY WYOMING STATE ARCHIVES. 

thousands of soldiers would train at Fort Warren and thought the event 

would be a welcome change from their training. The Frontier 

Committee admitted every soldier in at no charge to one of the rodeos. 

As Hanesworth wrote in his book about the history of Frontier Days: 

“With the war successfully concluded, the committee was proud of their 

part in keeping the men at the base happy and contented. Thus ‘The 

Daddy of ‘Em All’ survived its third war without missing a performance.” 

During its long history, Frontier Days had attracted many celebrities. 

Besides Buffalo Bill and Theodore Roosevelt, these included presidential 

Right: The song “Frontier Days in Old 

Cheyenne” by Joe Eicker and Glenn 

Wells promoted Frontier Days. 


OLD WEST MUSEUM 

year. That year Ed Storey had been the general chairman, having served 

earlier as the treasurer for the Frontier Committee. He proposed a 

reduced budget and that Frontier Days institute a bond sale to secure 

financing for future celebrations. Storey even pledged to buy the first 

$100 bond. His efforts restored confidence in the future of Frontier Days. 

Another boost to Frontier Days occurred in 1935 when the Frontier 

Committee brought in Sally Rand, a burlesque dancer and actress and 

perhaps best known for her fan dance. The year before she performed at 

the Chicago World’s Fair. Frontier Committeeman John Pickett saw Rand 

perform her fan dance in Chicago and since some on the committee had 

heard complaints about the lack of evening entertainment he thought 

Rand’s act might be popular. Of course, such entertainment did bring 

some criticism, but William Fairchild, a Night Show Committeeman, put 

her act into appropriate context when he said even though Rand was not 

western her act was typical of old West entertainment. 

With the onset of World War II there was some concern about 

whether Frontier Days should continue during the war years. However, 

after Robert Hanesworth contacted the War Department and asked if the 

celebration should continue, the answer was yes, that Frontier Days 

could even assist the war effort. The War Department knew that tens of 


candidate Wendell Wilkie, Lawrence Welk, Fred MacMurray, Tim McCoy, 

Lorne Greene, Arthur Godfrey, Bruce Cabot, known for his role in the 

1930s film King Kong, and Guy Madison, who played Wild Bill Hickok 

on television, among many others. Another well-known western 

character who attended Frontier Days in 1948 was the Lone Ranger. 

The Lone Ranger’s visit to Frontier Days was, in fact, his second trip 

to Cheyenne during the summer of 1948. He first visited the Capitol 

City at the end of June. However, this was not the Lone Ranger played 

by Clayton Moore on television beginning in 1949. This was the actor 

who was the last radio voice for the character, Brace Beemer. The 

Ranger was in Cheyenne to celebrate the fifteenth anniversary of the 

radio show. For the day, June 30, Cheyenne was renamed Lone Ranger 

Frontier Town and the Ranger led an impromptu parade followed by 

children in downtown where some business owners put log fronts on 

their buildings in honor of the occasion. Governor Lester Hunt 

welcomed the Lone Ranger on the Capitol steps where ABC radio 

network broadcast a Lone Ranger show. Then, the following month, 

the opening day of Frontier Days was dedicated to the Lone Ranger. 

Also celebrated during the western celebration was fifteen-year-old 

Kenneth Friendly of Cleveland, who won the Lone Ranger Frontier 

Town contest. His prizes were a complete western outfit from Western 

Ranchman Outfitters and an all-expense paid trip to Frontier Days. 

Frontier Days continues to uphold the idea of “Good Fun and Good 

Money.” An integral part of the celebration is the many volunteers who do 

whatever is necessary to ensure the event goes on every year. About 

twenty-five hundred volunteers actively participate every year. As in 1903, 

when Cheyenne businesses made it clear Frontier Days was so important 

to the success of Cheyenne, today businesses and their employees donate 

hundreds of hours of volunteer time. Shirley Flynn described the 

volunteers as the “glue” that makes the annual event possible. 

Other western-themed events could also be considered as positive 

events for Cheyenne. In July 1947, the Warner Brothers movie 

Cheyenne premiered in the Magic City at the Lincoln Theater. Planning 

for the event took six weeks. The stars of the film, Janis Paige and 

Dennis Morgan, were welcomed by Governor Lester Hunt. A parade 

with the stars in the lead left the Union Pacific Depot and went up 

Capitol Avenue. The Chamber of Commerce had decorated the streets 

with flags. The thousands of spectators were feted with buffalo burgers 

and many enjoyed square dancing. Another such event took place in 

1964, when the movie Cheyenne Autumn premiered, again at the 

Lincoln Theater. The Cheyenne Eagle covered the arrival of the film’s 

stars on Friday, October 1. They took a Union Pacific train from 

Denver and arrived at the UP Depot. Cheyenne Mayor Bill Nation and 

the East High School Band welcomed Carroll Baker, Karl Malden, 

Ricardo Montalban, and Pat Wayne at the depot. Jimmy Stewart 

arrived the following day by plane. On Saturday a parade started at 

2:30 led by Stewart and Baker followed by the East High School Band 

Left: An undated Frontier Days 

parade in downtown Cheyenne. 




Right: Frontier Days participants 

riding a Cheyenne and Deadwood 

Stage with the former Cheyenne Club 

in the background, c. 1910. 




C h a p t e r 4 ✦ 5 1

Left: A promotional photograph of 

Sally Rand. 


Top, right: A sign believed to be from 

pre-1941 Frontier Days. 



Bottom, right: A Miss Frontier outfit 

belonging to Louise Holmes. This is 

the only black Miss Frontier Outfit in 

Frontier Days history. 



and a Union Pacific float and a Fort Laramie band. The film premiered 

that evening. 

Cheyenne had other tourist attractions to promote besides Frontier 

Days and movie premieres. During the 1950s, the Chamber of 

Commerce published a brochure which included a tour of Cheyenne. 

Tourists could visit Warren Air Force Base (this was when the base was 

still a training base, not a missile base) then go to Frontier Park to see 

the Jim Baker Cabin. Baker was a mountain man and in 1917 the state 

of Wyoming relocated the cabin in Cheyenne “to be maintained as a 

memorial to Wyoming’s frontiersmen and pioneers.” The cabin today 

is near its original location at the Little Snake River Museum in Savery, 

Wyoming. The route would then take tourists past the airport, the 

Capitol, the public library, St. Mary’s Cathedral to the Union Pacific 

Depot, where a Deadwood stagecoach was on display. The route then 

went over the Viaduct and eventually to the Wyoming Hereford Ranch 

and then back to Cheyenne to Holliday Park and finally to the 

Chamber of Commerce Building. With stops, the tour would take 

about three hours and thirty minutes. The brochure also described 

Jackalopes as “elusive, small creatures found only in Wyoming. This 

animal resembles a large hare or rabbit—except for its horns.” It could 

also be mistaken for a small antelope except for its rabbit-like ears. 

“Live specimens are almost impossible to obtain, but with luck you 

may be able to find in Cheyenne a mounted jackalope head—an ideal 

trophy for the small den that will not accommodate moose and elk!” 

Cheyenne certainly is fortunate to have Cheyenne Frontier Days 

and the many other attractions for tourists. In 1957, the Cheyenne 

Chamber of Commerce listened to a California industrial expert 

discuss how to improve the downtown. Stuart P. Walsh of Industrial 


Top, left: The Lone Ranger on June 

30, 1948, celebrating the designation 

of Cheyenne as the “Lone Ranger 

Frontier Town.” In the photograph the 

Lone Ranger is broadcasting one of his 

shows. Unfortunately, the microphone 

hides the face of Brace Beemer as did 

the mask. 



Top, right: Cheyenne’s trophy for 

being named a “Lone Ranger Frontier 

Town” in 1948 is held by the Old 

West Museum. 



Bottom, left: Carroll Baker and 

Cheyenne Mayor Bill Nation at the 

premiere of the movie Cheyenne 

Autumn on October 2, 1964, at the 

Lincoln Theater. 

COURTESY OF THE CARROLL BAKER COLLECTION, 


OF WYOMING. 

Bottom, right: A postcard image of 

the Wyoming Hereford Ranch, one of 

the stops on tourist tours during 

the 1950s. 




Planning Associates said “the names of Wyoming and Cheyenne are 

‘magic words’ to many tourists and that they expect to see ‘something 

different’ when they get here from other states.” That certainly holds 

true today and besides the many attractions Cheyenne is also fortunate 

to be at the crossroads of a vibrant transportation system, which has 

been a major contributor to Cheyenne’s long-term success. 

C h a p t e r 4 ✦ 5 3


CHAPTER 5 

N O W W E S P I N A B O U T I N F A S T T R A I N S , A U T O M O B I L E S , A N D A I R P L A N E S 

Cheyenne has been fortunate to be at the crossroads of a number of transportation systems. We have already seen the importance of the Union 

Pacific Railroad to the city and the state, but other railroads have also been beneficial to the Magic City and its economy by fostering the area’s 

ranching, farming, and mining communities. The Cheyenne & Northern Railroad which began in 1886 followed the Black Hills Stage Route and 

in 1893 was reorganized as the Colorado & Southern Railway company in 1899. In 1908, the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad (CB&Q) 

purchased the railroad. Also purchased by the CB&Q that year was the Cheyenne and Burlington Railroad which reached Cheyenne late in 1887. 

Besides the railroads, also instrumental to the Magic City have been the highway systems, and, for a time, being part of the transcontinental air 

route. Not only have these systems played important roles in Cheyenne, but so have the local transportation systems which started with wagons 

and stagecoaches and then followed by trolleys and buses. 

Perhaps the first indication of the coming wave of automobile travelers was the 1908 New York to Paris race. Sponsored by the New York Times 

and the Paris newspaper Le Matin, the race’s organizers selected a route that went through Cheyenne and southern Wyoming. Six cars, three from 

France and one each from Germany, Italy, and the United States, competed in the 22,000-mile race across three continents. The race began in 

New York City at Times Square on February 12. On March 8, the Thomas Flyer, known as the “American Car,” entered Wyoming and the city of 

Cheyenne was ready to give the car and its driving team a warm welcome. 

The banner on page one of the Monday, March 9, issue of the Wyoming Tribune read: “When It Comes to Boosting a Good Thing, the Cheyenne 

People, Like the American Car, Lead the Race.” A “well dressed, good humored crowd” greeted the American Car. The “travelers were extended 

every courtesy and welcome that a hospitable western town could devise….” That evening the Cheyenne Industrial Club held a reception and 

dinner for the American Car’s racing team. The driver, Montague Roberts, spoke at the banquet and mentioned seeing his first cowboy with “those 

fussy pants” and he commented about the roads and the western welcomes, “as we get west the roads get worse, but the hearts get bigger.” Already 

the American Car was far ahead of its adversaries and it went on to win the race, arriving in Paris on July 30. This automobile race made it clear 

to many that a good road system was certainly needed in the country. 

Five years later, on July 1, 1913, the Lincoln Highway Association formed with the goal of a transcontinental highway “from the Atlantic to the Pacific.” 

The association also wanted the highway to serve as a memorial to President Abraham Lincoln. The route for the highway was designated and announced 

in September that it would run through Cheyenne and other southern Wyoming towns. By October 1913, the Cheyenne State Leader, understanding the 

value of such a road to Cheyenne and the rest of the state, commented that the association was an “effective force for good roads.” That same month the 

Lincoln Highway Association encouraged the cities and towns along the route to celebrate their selection to be included in the highway’s route. Wyoming 

Governor Joseph M. Carey issued a proclamation and encouraged the affected communities to engage in an “old-time jollification” which would include 

bonfires and other forms of rejoicing on October 31. The November 1 issue of the Wyoming Tribune described the Cheyenne celebration: “As clocks in 

the city struck eight there burst forth a shrieking, roaring chorus of steam whistles,” and the article continued that the sky was ablaze with a “monster 

bonfire” near the Plains Hotel. That Halloween night there were four hundred miles of bonfires across southern Wyoming. The association also requested 

state capitals along the highway to rename the major street Lincoln Way or Lincolnway. Cheyenne was the first to do so. 

Two years later, in 1915, a well-known author traveled the Lincoln Highway as far as Cheyenne. Emily Post, probably best known for her 

writing about etiquette, also wrote novels and articles for various magazines. She wrote a series of stories about her trip from New York to San 

When the “American Car” in the New 

York to Paris Race entered Cheyenne 

in early March 1908 hundreds of the 

city’s citizens greeted the driver and 

his crew. The Capitol Garage 

serviced the car during its short stay 

in the city. 

COURTESY OF THE J. E. STIMSON COLLECTION, 


C h a p t e r 5 ✦ 5 5

Left: A postcard view of Cheyenne’s 

Transportation Center with the Union 

Pacific Depot in the background and 

the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy 

Railroad Station on the left. The 

Albany Hotel is on the right. 




Right: Colorado and Southern 

Railroad Station and Burlington Bus 

Depot, Cheyenne. 




Below: J. E. Stimson photographed the 

just opened Cheyenne Municipal 

Campground in 1920. Tens of 

thousands of travelers stayed at the 

campground that year. 

COURTESY OF THE J.E. STIMSON COLLECTION, 


Francisco for Colliers Magazine. Upon arrival in Cheyenne, Post’s 

companions apparently were disappointed not to find a wild west 

cowtown they believed Cheyenne to be. According to Post: “If you 

think Cheyenne is a Buffalo Bill Wild West town, as we did, you will 

be much disappointed, though it may be well not to show the 

progressive citizens of that up-to-date city that you hoped they were 

still galloping along wooden sidewalks howling like coyotes.” Upon 

leaving Cheyenne the disappointed group left the Lincoln Highway 

and traveled south to complete their journey to San Francisco. 

Wyoming continued to support the Lincoln Highway and by 1920 

the Lincoln Highway Association noted in a report that the state “was 

one of the most thoroughly interested” in the highway and “desirous 

of bringing about its prompt improvement.” The state expected to 

spend around five million dollars on road construction in 1920 

according to the association’s report. “Twenty-two miles of new gravel 

work was accomplished on the Lincoln Highway between Cheyenne 

and Laramie in 1919.” It was not until 1931 that the entire highway 

was completely paved. 

The improvements completed on the highway led to increased 

traffic to and through Wyoming. Many communities, including 

Cheyenne, built municipal camping grounds for the new automobile 


travelers. Cheyenne’s campground, near Sloan’s Lake, was completed 

in 1920 and according to the May 28 issue of the Wyoming Tribune, the 

campground was ready for use. Apparently a reporter from the Tribune 

visited the campground in late July as Frontier Days approached and 

the July 28 issue included an article titled “’Roamerville’ Is Name of 

New Suburb on North of Cheyenne.” The story indicated there were 

763 tents in the camp at that time. The “inhabitants” of the tent city 

decided after their evening meal to engage in “their usual evening of 

jollification” to choose a mayor, to conduct a census, and select what 

they considered a “suitable name” for the transient community. E. B. 

Summers of Oklahoma was chosen to be the mayor of the city which 

that evening held 2,544 citizens. The name chosen was “Roamerville,” 

perhaps an obvious choice. However, the name “Nowood” came in 

second “because although the city is supposed to furnish wood for the 

campers there is a great scarcity of this article and campers are tearing 

their hair at times in an effort to locate one small stick.” The article 

continued that because of the lack of wood there were no bonfires that 

night and the campers used the headlights of their cars to light their 

tents. E. L. Emery of Cheyenne and a member of the Wyoming Good 

Roads Association served as the campground’s “information bureau” 

and commented “that Henry Ford has made a nation of gypsies out of 

the American people.” By early September, Emery estimated that since 

May 15 approximately sixty thousand tourists briefly stayed in 

Roamerville. As the years went by travel along the Lincoln Highway 

continued to increase and motor hotels sprung up to meet the 

needs of the motoring public. At the same time that tourists stopping 

in Cheyenne’s municipal campground were desperate to find enough 

wood for a campfire, the city was preparing for a different form of 

transportation to invade the Magic City, that being the up and coming 

airplane. 

Although a few airplanes had landed in Cheyenne before 1920, it 

was airmail service which brought the first organized air service to the 

capital city. The first Post Office Department’s airmail service began on 

May 15, 1918, with a route between New York and Washington, D.C. 

It quickly expanded to Chicago and other cities and in October 1919 

it was announced Cheyenne would be on the transcontinental airmail 

route. On October 6, Senator Francis E. Warren wrote to Wyoming 

Governor Robert D. Carey: “I want to offer through this means my 

congratulations upon the selection of Wyoming as one of the States 

through which the main route of the transcontinental aerial post is to 

pass.” Warren was pleased Cheyenne already was located on the “main 

line” of the Lincoln Highway, but saw the air route as being important 

to Cheyenne as well. Wyoming Congressman Frank Mondell also 

wrote the governor about the good news and realized the national air 

route “emphasizes the increasing importance and utilization of the 

ships of the air.” He also hoped that aircraft development eventually 

would allow members of Congress to “get home more frequently.” 

For the airmail service to go through the capital city, Cheyenne first 

had to provide an airport. The Army offered to enlarge and improve a 

landing area on the eastern edge of Fort Russell that would meet the 

Air Mail Service standards, but the War Department did not allow the 

Top: The Indian Village Motel was 

one of Cheyenne’s many motels. This 

postcard stated the nightly rate was 

$4.00 per night for two persons and 

also remarked that this was “one of 

America’s finest, newest and most 

unique motor courts, catering to the 

discriminating guests—all 

accommodations are steam heated 

and insulated and have showers or 

tubs and showers. Also telephones, 

circulating hot water.” The hotel was 

recommended by Duncan Hines, who 

in 1940 published a book Lodging 

for a Night. A few years earlier he 

published a book recommending 

restaurants across the country. 


Bottom: Lincoln Court was described 

as Wyoming’s finest motel and only 

nine blocks from downtown Cheyenne. 


C h a p t e r 5 ✦ 5 7

Left: Wyoming Trading Post located 

on South Greeley Highway. 




Right: Andy Roedel’s drugstore where 

many of Cheyenne’s pilots gathered to 

discuss their exploits. 

COURTESY OF WYOMING STATE ARCHIVES. 

Army to make it a city air field. But the city owned two hundred acres 

of land about a mile north of downtown and that became the location. 

The city quickly began work on the field so Cheyenne would be ready 

for the first transcontinental air service on September 8, 1920. 

Cheyenne had a number of advantages in being selected as part of 

the air route. It was the state capital, had level terrain, was midway 

between Omaha and Salt Lake City, and was on the route of the Union 

Pacific Railroad. Being near a railroad was important because until 

night flights became part of the air route across Wyoming in 1924 the 

mail was transferred to railroads to be transported at night. 

Airmail service to and from Cheyenne began on September 8 at 

5:30 a.m. At that time two open cockpit DeHaviland Four (DH-4) 

airplanes took off from Cheyenne for Omaha and Salt Lake City. The 

DH-4 could fly at 110 miles per hour and up to 10,000 feet while 

carrying up to 500 pounds of mail 300 miles. Cheyenne became the 

most important point along Wyoming’s route and was named a 

division point. The Air Mail Service had six planes in the city and six 

pilots, two for service between Cheyenne and Salt Lake City, two for 

the run to Omaha, and two in reserve. These early pilots were aviation 

pioneers and they risked their lives every day. 

From the beginning it was clear the air travel would be difficult across 

Wyoming because of the cold weather, snowstorms, and extreme wind. 

Westbound planes between Cheyenne and Laramie faced the most 

difficult weather and wind. Airmail officials worked with the weather 

bureau to plan schedules when the wind would be at its lowest, but, of 

course, the weather cannot always be predetermined. Jack Knight, one 

of the airmail pilots, had an interesting experience as he left Cheyenne 

headed west one day. He took off with winds from the west registered at 

around eighty miles per hour on the ground. “He headed west, the wind 

directly on his nose, flew for an hour and forty minutes, and was still not 

out of sight of the field: He turned to come back and the wind blew him 

past the field before he could get headed west again, and it took another 

half hour to work his way into a landing.” Some pilots had more 

dangerous adventures than just fighting the Wyoming wind. 

A number of the pilots crashed as they delivered the mail. James P. 

Murray, who was the first pilot to reach Cheyenne from Omaha on 

September 9, crashed into Elk Mountain a month later. Murray was 

flying east to Cheyenne on October 20 and as night approached he lost 

his bearing in a snowstorm and crashed into Elk Mountain. Even 

though his plane was demolished, he was uninjured, although quite a 

ways from the nearest town, Arlington. He stayed by his plane and the 

mail during the night and part of the next day, but realizing help might 

not be on the way he walked, according to the story in the Cheyenne 

State Leader, “seventeen weary miles” to Arlington where he found a 

ride to Rock River where he telegraphed the Cheyenne airmail office. 

The response to Murray informed him his father had just died in 


Connecticut so he boarded a train and headed east. Others, such as 

James F. (Dinty) Moore, were not as fortunate. On December 24, 1923, 

Moore left North Platte, Nebraska, at 7:30 a.m. heading for Cheyenne. 

Just over an hour later he crashed into a hill two miles west of Egbert, 

Wyoming. A Union Pacific crew witnessed the crash and went to the 

site and extracted the pilot from the plane and took him to the UP 

depot in Burns and then to the Burns hospital. Moore died that day. He 

apparently was flying low to avoid strong headwinds and when he 

came to the hill he was not able to clear it. He was the fourth pilot in 

the Cheyenne division who died up to that time. 

During the second half of the 1920s, Congress decided to turn the 

airmail service over to private carriers when it passed the Airmail 

(Kelly) Act of 1925. By mid-1927, all of the flights by the Air Mail 

Service were discontinued. The passage of the Air Commerce Act by 

Congress in 1926 allowed subsidies to assist in the commercial airlines 

operational costs. The Boeing Airplane Company of Seattle was 

granted the Chicago to San Francisco route and began operations in 

July 1927 with the name Boeing Air Transport Company. The company 

changed its name in 1929 to the United Aircraft and Transport 

Company and established its main overhaul base in Cheyenne. 

Originally employing seventy-five people, the work force grew to five 

hundred. In 1929, the company introduced the new Boeing B-9 trimotor 

plane on the Chicago to San Francisco route. The new plane 

could hold the mail and fourteen passengers and the company was 

committed to commercial airline travel. The new planes could fly over 

most mountain ranges, but because the compartments were not 

pressurized, the airline continued to fly across southern Wyoming 

rather than over the higher mountain ranges west of Denver. 

A Cheyenne businessman who took a great interest at the time in 

the city’s aviation activity was Andy Roedel II. He operated the Roedel 

Drugstore then on 17th Street. According to a history of the Air Mail 

Service written by Roedel in 1945 (and published in the Wyoming State 

Tribune in April 1968), many of the pilots during the heyday of 

Cheyenne aviation would gather at the drugstore and swap stories. 

One story in Roedel’s account concerned a pilot who had become 

acquainted with a woman who lived in the second story of a house on 

Evans Street: “It was his custom to fly up this thoroughfare at a level 

permitting him to wave at her through the window as he passed. This 

bit of diversion caused great consternation, not only amongst the other 

residents of the street, but also to the superintendent who expressed 

the hope that the girl never moved downstairs.” 

One Cheyenne pilot who often visited Roedel’s was Ralph Johnson. 

After graduating from Purdue University in 1930, he became an Army 

pilot and then in 1933 began flying out of Cheyenne for National Air 

Transport (later absorbed by United Air Lines) as a “mate,” another 

word for co-pilot of the planes carrying mail and passengers. 

According to Johnson, the mate had to transfer the mail from trucks to 

the Tri-Motor plane and then before the plane took off he had to go 

“through the cabin and strap everybody in” and once airborne “the 

Above: A postcard of the Air 

Mail Service Station at the 

Cheyenne Airport. 


Below: In the early years of the 

airmail service in Wyoming, before 

the advent of night flying, the mail 

was transferred to wagons so that 

the mail could be delivered to the 

Union Pacific Railroad for 

nighttime transport. 


C h a p t e r 5 ✦ 5 9

Above: A postcard image of 

Cheyenne’s airport, c. the 1930s. The 

back of the card described the airport 

as “one of the highest rated and most 

important air stations in America. 

Constantly being enlarged and 

improved it handles great numbers of 

mail and passenger planes daily.” 


Right: The Cheyenne Modification 

Center celebrated the 3500th plane 

modified. 


next matter of duty, after a little while was to go back and pacify the 

passengers and pass out box lunches. This went on for a year or two 

and then stewardesses started to appear.” Johnson then went on to 

become the airline’s chief test pilot and during World War II he 

developed and tested many air safety programs. 

During the 1930s, Cheyenne became one of the major aviation 

centers in the country, seemingly leading the nation into the air age. 

Airmail contracts and subsidies from the federal government 

stimulated the growth of airline companies. Beside United, other 

airlines began flying in Cheyenne during the late 1920s and early 

1930s. Western Air Express (Western Air Lines) won the contract for 

the airmail route from Cheyenne to Denver. By 1935, Cheyenne had 

twelve United arrivals and departures every twenty-four hours, as well 

as many flights from Western and other airlines. Just as Cheyenne’s 

future as a major air center seemed secure, new airplanes came on the 

scene in the late 1930s. Planes such as the DC-4, with pressurized 

cabins and the ability to fly at 18,000 feet, spelled the end for 

Cheyenne as a commercial air center. The airlines began to move from 

Cheyenne to the larger air travel market at Denver. World War II, 

however, brought new activity to Cheyenne’s airport and temporarily 

delayed Cheyenne’s abandonment as a major air center. 

World War II brought new life to Cheyenne as an aviation center. 

Flying restrictions along the Pacific coast led United Airlines to move 

its pilot training school to Cheyenne in 1942. Already operating a 

repair base for its commercial airliners in the capital city, United 

expanded on this by opening a modification facility for bombers. Done 

under contract for the Army, the Cheyenne Modification Center 

installed new guns and instruments on B-17s and B-24s. Working on 

more than 5,000 bombers during the war years, the center employed 


upwards of 1,600 workers, half of them women. Combining these 

employees with United’s other personnel in the city, its total work force 

numbered nearly twenty-three hundred. Adding United’s people with 

those working for the Civil Aeronautics Authority, Inland Air Lines, 

and Plains Airways, the payroll generated through aviation in 

Cheyenne was well into the millions. 

The end of the war brought dramatic change to the air industry in 

Cheyenne. The modification center closed and United Airlines began 

relocating its facilities to other cities. The flight training school moved 

to Denver, and the overhaul base went to San Francisco. In 1947, 

however, United did open a stewardess training school in Cheyenne. 

Ultimately relocated to Chicago in 1961, this school trained more than 

83,000 women during its 14-year tenure in Cheyenne. 

Besides the trains, highways, and airplanes that allowed people to 

travel through Cheyenne and the rest of the state, the capital city also 

had several local modes of transportation. On April 24, 1887, the city 

granted the Cheyenne Street Railroad Company a franchise to operate 

a trolley. A month earlier the Cheyenne Daily Sun recommended that 

the streetcars be powered by electricity. The newspaper wrote: “It is a 

clear case that the car-horse must soon be an obsolete animal.” 

Some Eastern cities had used this electrical method in their trolley 

systems, but the car-horse would still be around for several more years 


Construction of the trolley system began on August 9, 1887, and at 

that time thirty men were constructing the track from the UP Depot. 

The route started at the UP Depot to Capitol Avenue and then from 

Capitol Avenue westward to Ferguson (Carey) Street, north to 

19th Street, east to Capitol Avenue, and then north to the Capitol and 

the cemetery. Later more routes were added which were color coded 

red, yellow, and green running in separate parts of the city. 

Unfortunately, after four years it was clear the company was not 

profitable and the streetcar company closed. This was not the end of 

streetcars in the city, however, and the next time there was no need for 

the car-horse combination. 

In June 1908, the Cheyenne City Council granted to Thomas 

Cosgriff a twenty-five-year contract to provide an electric street railway 

as well as granting him the electric light and power franchise. The 

agreement stated that the one-way fare would be five cents and not 

more than ten cents to Fort D. A. Russell and that the interval between 

cars would be no longer than one-half hour. In July, the Cheyenne 

Electric Railway Company accepted the franchise granted to Cosgriff. 

Then in August, the Cheyenne Daily Leader reported the four new 

Above: A sketch by Grace Schaedel of 

an advertisement for the Warren 

Mercantile Co. (on left) showing the 

UP Depot in the background with one 

of the horse-drawn trolleys in the 

center. The sketch is from an old 

aluminum tray. 


Left: The Cheyenne Electric Railway 

Company began operating on August 

19, 1908. Here is one of the first 

trolleys traveling down Ferguson 

Street (Carey Avenue) that day. 


C h a p t e r 5 ✦ 6 1

streetcars would be operational by August 19, just in time for Frontier 

Days. Electric wire known as “the feeder,” which had been strung from 

the Cheyenne Light & Fuel’s company’s plant, powered the cars. The 

streetcars reached the fort a few weeks later. Like the car-horse version 

of the streetcar system, the electric version was not long lasting and 

only stayed in business until 1924 when the Dineen family purchased 

the Cheyenne Street Railway Company and began the Cheyenne Motor 

Bus Company headquartered at 415 West 16th Street. During World 

War II, the company used 41 buses and employed 76 drivers, but the 

company ended service in 1957. 

Besides the public means of transportation, Cheyenne also boasted 

more singular means. The city had both bicycle and motorcycle clubs. 

The Cheyenne Bicycle Club held a reception in November 1897 

Above: Lower Capitol Avenue showing 

one of the electric trolleys. 




Right: A bus of the Cheyenne Motor 

Bus Company parked on Carey 

Avenue during the 1930s. Note the 

bucking bronco symbol on the bus. 

MACK FISHBACK PHOTOGRAPH, COURTESY OF 

JAMES L. EHERNBERGER. 


during which they celebrated the fifteenth anniversary of the club. 

Attending the event were three “wheelman” who were charter 

member of the club, Frank Bond, James Gross, and Frank Clark. Bond 

spoke about the early travails about riding a bicycle in the city. The 

Cheyenne Daily Sun-Leader reported on his talk: “The trials and 

vicissitudes that the wheel enthusiasts suffered in the early days were 

mentioned. When wheeling first commenced, the rider with his high 

bicycle was considered a nuisance and there seemed to be a universal 

sentiment against him. The most generous considered it a great 

sacrifice to give a wheelman a part of the road. And hence going on the 

principle that ‘in union there is strength’ the riders of Cheyenne 

organized for self-protection.” Apparently bicycling had improved 

greatly by 1897 as the club had one hundred members and was seen 

as the “most successful and best known [bicycling club] in the state.” 

The Cheyenne Motorcycle Club was quite active by 1910. During 

March of that year the club sponsored a race from Cheyenne to Pine 

Bluffs and back and about twenty members participated on their 

“gasoline bicycles.” The club featured another race reported by the 

Wyoming Tribune in September. The only problem during the race was 

the number of automobiles who got in the way of the riders. The 

newspaper did report that the motorcycle club “is composed of some 

of the best persons in Cheyenne and is growing fast.” 

All of these forms of transportation have assisted in helping 

Cheyenne become a thriving and prosperous community. However, 

there are many other aspects to a community which have assisted in 

making Wyoming’s capital an attractive and interesting place to live for 

its many citizens. 

Top, left: The Cheyenne Bicycle Club 

posed for this undated photograph. 


Top, right: The Cheyenne Motorcycle 

Club in front of the Wilson and Lee 

Bicycle Shop in 1910. 

JOSEPH SHIMITZ PHOTOGRAPH, COURTESY OF 

THE WYOMING STATE ARCHIVES. 

Below: The interior of a Cheyenne 

motorcycle shop, c. 1910. 



C h a p t e r 5 ✦ 6 3


CHAPTER 6 

O N E O F T H E B E S T S H A D E D A N D M O S T A T T R A C T I V E T O W N S I N T H E W E S T 

Robert Hanesworth, the intrepid chronicler of Cheyenne Frontier Days, discussed the community of Cheyenne in a 1929 article titled 

“Cheyenne, Where the West Begins, Enterprising City” in the Wyoming Labor Journal. He wrote: “Founded at a location devoid of trees, Cheyenne 

today is one of the best shaded and most attractive towns in the west, it broad avenues and streets being lined with rows of cottonwoods and 

bordered by well groomed parkings and lawns.” He went on to describe the “paved” streets, the city’s school system, its “pure mountain water,” 

healthy climate, the local farming and ranching activities, its aviation prowess, recreational facilities, Cheyenne Frontier Days, Fort D. A. Russell, 

and various sidetrips to such places as Fort Laramie and Rocky Mountain National Park. Such was Hanesworth’s description of the Cheyenne 

community and certainly, all of these items did describe the community, but other things could also be included like local businesses, parks, 

museums, hospitals, and perhaps even some unusual goings on in the Magic City. 

Local parks certainly help define any community and Cheyenne today has many wonderful parks as the city did in the past. The Union Pacific 

donated the land for the first city park in 1867, but the four square blocks stood mostly treeless until 1882. The park was located between what 

is today Capitol and Warren avenues and 22nd and 24th Streets, where the Supreme Court Building and the Barrett Building now stand. A water 

system was developed in 1882 which brought water to the area so on Arbor Day that year, May 6, hundreds of trees were planted. According to 

the Cheyenne Daily Leader, the city purchased 250 trees for planting, but the newspaper stated “it will be a long while before the park will become 

a shady spot unless more than 250 trees are planted.” So the Leader, understanding the city provided the water system and could not afford to 

buy more trees, encouraged Cheyenne citizens contribute a tree and “set it in place” or purchase a tree and have someone plant it. The paper 

hoped “the park will thereafter become a fine leafy retreat in the warm summer days, and it will become indeed, a place of beauty.” The Leader 

also included a list of names of leading citizens who would take part in the May 6 planting. Included on the list were F. E. Warren, F. A. Meanea, 

W. C. Irvine, and Mrs. Gaylord Ball. Some of the other Cheyenne parks are Brimmer Park, Frontier Park, Holliday Park (formerly Minnehaha 

Park), and American Legion Park, although the city in 1975 gave this land to the state of Wyoming for the second governor’s mansion. There are 

many others and one of the most well-known is Lions Park. 

Located north of 8th Avenue and east of Carey Avenue, as early as 1880 the park was known as a “driving park.” Various activities took place 

at the park, including a trotter race in early September 1880. Four horses had been registered including J. J. Cook, Clytie, and Lady Sweetzer. A 

more recent occupant of the park and better known to many Cheyenneites, although no longer there, was Kiddieland. 

What became known as Kiddieland began in 1950, although an earlier attempt at adding an amusement park took place in 1942. In August 

of that year, Sydney A. Schwartz submitted to the city council a plan converting Lion’s Park into a public amusement park with five percent of 

the gross receipts to go to the city of Cheyenne. The rides would be south of Sloan’s lake and Schwartz asked for a five-year lease. The businessman 

said he would also construct a dance hall and amusement center, but asked that the city install the lights and the water and sewer connections. 

Schwartz stated that “as a permanent resident of Cheyenne and a member of the Cheyenne Chamber of Commerce he is eager to furnish 

Cheyennites and men at Ft. Warren with entertainment and amusement ‘equal’ to those furnished in cities many times the size of Cheyenne.” 

However, Schwartz’ plan brought out protests from nearby homeowners and the Lion’s Club, which earlier had taken on the responsibility for 

beautification of the area around the lake. The civic organization responded that Lions Park “has been and will be a civic enterprise and the 

placing of commercial ventures at the location would not be in accord with the Lions’ idea of how it should be operated.” The city council quickly 

Photographer C. D. Kirkland in 1890 

published a booklet titled Cheyenne, 

the Magic City. He included 

photographs of many different views 

of the capital city, including this image 

of six churches. He went on to 

describe the Magic City stating that 

“the city has street railways, gas and 

electric light, complete sewerage and 

water systems, free mail delivery, free 

State and county libraries, public 

parks, a fine opera house and all of 

the conveniences of a modern city. 


C h a p t e r 6 ✦ 6 5

Top, left: Cheyenne’s High School 

shown on a postcard. The building 

behind the school is the Carnegie 

Library on Capitol Avenue. 




Top, right: A postcard of Johnson 

School which was built in 1923 and 

used as an elementary school. It 

became a Junior High School in 1947 

when 7th grade was added, and 8th 

and 9th grades were added shortly 

thereafter. 




Bottom, left: Nurses in front of St. 

John’s Hospital (not dated). The 

hospital was founded just at the turn 

of the century after a typhoid 

epidemic. The first matron and 

superintendent was Sarah Jane 

McKenzie. Shortly after she arrived in 

1901 she organized a training school 

for nurses which became the School of 

Nursing that year. 


Bottom, right: A postcard of 

Cheyenne’s Memorial Hospital. 




and unanimously voted down the proposal. A few years later, however, 

a much smaller amusement area was approved. 

In 1949, the city installed a miniature train ride in Lions Park just to 

the east of Sloan’s Lake and a local business saw an opportunity for 

Cheyenne. According to the Wyoming State Tribune, the following year, 

the Lions Park Amusements, Inc. took over the “midget train” and added 

other amusements to the area. The new recreational facilities opened on 

May 30 with a kiddie boat ride, a kiddie auto ride, and merry go round 

along with the train and twelve Shetland ponies. The company also 

opened an $8,000 “beautifully decorated with knotty-pine” pavilion, 

which offered coffee, sandwiches, and other items. C. C. Miller managed 

the facility, which paid five percent of the gross of the concession stand 

and rides to the city. The contract stated once the rides were paid off the 

city would receive twenty-five percent of the gross. The money received 

by the city went to financing other improvements in the city’s park 

system. At its beginning, the recreational facility was not known as 


Top: The Mexican Athletic Club, 

c. 1950. 


Bottom, left: Capitol Pay Less Drug 

Store used this postcard to advertise 

the business. 




Bottom, right: This is a color postcard 

image of a Cheyenne candy store. 

J. E. Stimson took this photo of the 

Ellis Candy Store in 1897. The Ellis 

family operated the store from 1869 

to 1921 although the store was in 

business until the 1930s. The Ellis 

family also ran an oyster parlor for 

a time. 




C h a p t e r 6 ✦ 6 7

Right: Francis Brammar 

photographed these two young ladies 

enjoying the boat ride at Kiddieland. 


Below: Toonerville Trolley lunch car 

photographed, c. 1944. The diner was 

located at 1906 East Lincolnway.. The 

large building in the back was the 

roller skating rink. 

COURTESY JAMES L. EHERNBERGER. 

Kiddieland. It was also known as Playland. The amusement area no 

longer exists and the Kiwanis Community House now stands where 

once kids rode ponies, a train, and boats. 

In every community there are some unforeseen happenings. Who 

could have guessed that in December 1957 Cheyenne Mayor Val 

Christensen would appear on the Groucho Marx television game show 

You Bet Your Life. This surprise appearance provided him an 

opportunity to promote the Magic City. The mayor, who described 

himself as a milkman not a politician (he was the owner of the Plains 

Dairy System on East 21st Street), competed with a bathing suit clad 

Miss Ohio, and when Marx finally gave a little time to Christensen he 

described Cheyenne as “the finest city in the United States” and also 

said “our parks are beautiful.” 

Another interesting episode happened twenty years earlier in 

Cheyenne. During August 1939, a young Cheyenne woman, Wilma 

Jacobson, was determined to show “that modern men and women are 

not ‘just softies’ as so many people think.” She wanted to prove young 

women could dress and live like Tarzan in the wild. Jacobson wore a 

burlap sack and went into the Horse Creek country northwest of 

Cheyenne with a knife and bow and arrow for three days and nights. 

The Wyoming Eagle documented her exploits. Dubbed “Tarzana,” she 

returned to Cheyenne after seventy-five hours of living like the famed 

fictional character. Jacobsen was “bronzed, but suffering no ill effects 

from her ‘exile’….” Tarzana commented “I don’t think I’ll do a thing 

like that again, but I wouldn’t be afraid to if it were ever necessary.” 

Her adventure was documented by the Eagle and by long-time 

Cheyenne newspaper photographer Francis Brammar. 

Cheyenne has been fortunate to have had community newspapers 

dating to the Cheyenne Leader in September 1867. All of the city’s 

newspapers have been important gatherers of the news and they have 

been ably accompanied by a number of wonderful photographers who 

have preserved much of Cheyenne’s visual history. Francis Brammar is 

one of that distinguished group as are Joseph E. Stimson, Joseph 

Shimitz, and LeClercq Jones. 

For fifty years, beginning in the 1920s, Brammar photographed 

Frontier Days, local celebrities, events such as the Blizzard of ’49 and 


Top, left: The long-standing Plains 

Hotel. Designed by William Dubois, 

the hotel, which cost $200,000 to 

construct, opened on March 11, 1911. 

Cheyenne journalist Dazee Bristol 

described it as “grand and imposing in 

appearance, magnificent in its 

appointment and furnishings…. 

Nearly all rooms have baths and ALL 

have telephones.” 


Top, right: The Kitchen Orchestra, the 

Ladies Auxiliary to the UP Old 

Timers Club. 

JOSEPH SHIMITZ PHOTOGRAPH, COURTESY 


Bottom, left: Mack Fishback 

photographed the Wayne Daniel 

Service station c. 1937. The station 

was at 2000 Carey Avenue. 


a protest against the staging of missiles at Francis E. Warren Air Force 

Base as well as daily goings on of the city. He also captured on film 

many of Cheyenne’s children and many local women, taking what 

some would consider “cheesecake” photos. 

Bottom, right: Wilma Jacobson 

(Tarzana) spoke to Cheyenne’s Fire 

Chief Edward P. Taylor before heading 

into the wilderness for seventy-five 

hours. After she returned she began 

work at Wyoming’s Game and Fish 

Department. At the same time as 

Tarzana’s adventure, John B. Schaeffer 

planned the same feat, but went to the 

Pole Mountain area. He wore a burlap 

breech cloth during his time in the 

wild. Upon his return to Cheyenne he 

said: “Nuts to the Wild Life.” 

FRANCIS BRAMMAR PHOTOGRAPH, COURTESY OF 


C h a p t e r 6 ✦ 6 9

Right: After fire destroyed the Inter- 

Ocean Hotel, Harry Hynds built the 

Hynds Building in that location at 16th 

Street and Capitol Avenue. He realized 

Cheyenne needed more office space. 




Below: The Kassis Dry Goods Store at 

17th Street and Carey Avenue carried 

ladies and children’s clothing and 

household furnishings. 

MACK FISHBACK PHOTOGRAPH, COURTESY OF 

JAMES L. EHERNBERGER. 

Stimson, born in Virginia in 1870, arrived in Cheyenne in 1889 and 

began taking portraits in his studio. In 1901, the Union Pacific hired 

him as a photographer and Stimson was able to travel and photograph 

anything and everything along the UP corridor. The state of Wyoming 

also recognized his talents and his skill as a scenic photographer 

and hired him to produce five hundred images of the state to exhibit 

at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in 1904. Fortunately, because he 

was based in Cheyenne he documented many views of the city through 

the 1940s. 

Born in Iowa, Joseph Shimitz moved to Cheyenne in the early 

1900s. While here he bought some photography equipment and 

started his photography business. Many of the early photos of 

Cheyenne were taken by Shimitz. Many of his images appeared in the 

Cheyenne Trade Review, a promotional publication produced from 1910 

to 1915. Shimitz’ career only lasted until the late 1920s when he died 

from cancer. The photographs of Brammar, Stimson, and Shimitz are 

all held by the Wyoming State Archives. Of course, there are many 

other photographers who captured the history of Cheyenne, such as 

C. D. Kirkland, W. G. Walker, Mack Fishback, and more recently, 

LeClercq Jones. 

Le Jones, a Wyoming native and owner of Frontier Printing, 

photographically documented downtown Cheyenne for several 

decades. He compiled a forty-volume library that included his many 

photographs, sketches, and many clippings of Cheyenne’s history. He 

was always willing to share his knowledge with classes at Laramie 

County Community College as well as with many of the city’s service 

clubs and he also produced many calendars which featured the city’s 

historic buildings. His wonderful collection is located at the Laramie 

County Public Library. 

Cheyenne is extremely fortunate to have had so many newspapers, 

photographers, and other chroniclers of the city’s history as well as 

institutions which have actively preserved the history such as the 

Wyoming State Archives, the Wyoming State Museum, the Old West 

Museum, the Laramie County Public Library, the American Heritage 

Center at the University of Wyoming, and others. Without all of these 

entities books such as this one would not be possible and the Magic 

City would be poorer for it. 


A map of Laramie County from 1916. 


C h a p t e r 6 ✦ 7 1

Looking north toward the state capitol 

from the Cheyenne Depot Museum, 

c. the mid-2000s. 



EPILOGUE 

It has been 150 years since the Union Pacific Railroad founded Cheyenne on what was described as the desolate plains. There was no 

guarantee the city would become a permanent city as a railroad end-of track town. Some of those town lasted only a few months, but Cheyenne 

had several advantages. 

The UP made a commitment to the Magic City as did the military with the establishment of Camp Carlin and Fort D. A. Russell and now 

F. E. Warren Air Force Base. Also important were the citizens who saw a future in the community and quickly began starting businesses and 

creating schools and churches. We know some of the pioneers such as Joseph Carey, Francis E. Warren, M. E. and Amalia Post, J.F. and Theresa 

Jenkins, and E. A. Slack, but, of course, there are so many more. Cheyenne also had a fortuitous location and became an important part of a 

transcontinental transportation corridor. 

The Magic City also played a significant role in the granting of rights to women. Cheyenne was the location for the passage of the 1869 woman’s 

suffrage law which made Wyoming the first territory to grant full suffrage to women and allow them to hold public office. The city also allowed 

women to serve on juries in 1871, albeit only briefly. In 1889, Wyoming’s Constitution, crafted by members of the Constitutional Convention 

held in the Capitol, guaranteed women in the new state would continue to be able to exercise the vote. More than three decades later, Nellie 

Tayloe Ross from Cheyenne became the country’s first female governor. However, one can argue that even with these impressive firsts as far as 

women’s rights are concerned, that the city has been behind the times and not followed through with the idea of the “Equality State” because it 

took until 2017 for there to be a woman mayor. That may be true, but it certainly seems appropriate that during this 150th anniversary of the 

founding of Cheyenne that city now has a woman mayor, Marian Orr, and that she will lead us into the beginning of the next 150 years. 

E p i l o g u e ✦ 7 3

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Von Hesse-Wartegg, Ernst. “A German Looks at Cheyenne in 1876: The Travels of Ernest von Hesse-Wartegg.” Annals of Wyoming 55: 25-27. 

Waltz, H. C. “Cheyenne, Wyoming Territory.” Annals of Wyoming 82: 31-33. 

Weidel, Nancy. Cheyenne, 1867-1917. Charleston, South Carolina: Arc 

B i b l i o g r a p h y ✦ 7 5

Wyoming became the forty-fourth 

state of the United States on July 10, 

1890. The citizens of the new state 

celebrated the momentous event in 

Cheyenne two weeks later on 

July 23, 1890. This painting 

illustrates the parade as it wound 

through the streets of downtown 

Cheyenne. The painting is one 

of more than thirty images done by 

Wyoming artist Dave Paulley, who 

has completed more than thirty 

paintings of various Wyoming 

historic scenes as part of a state 

centennial project sponsored by the 

Wyoming State Historical Society. 

For more information about 

Dave Paulley’s works, please visit 

www.davepaulley.com. 

COURTESY OF THE WYOMING HISTORICAL 

FOUNDATION.. 


SHARING THE HERITAGE 

SPECIAL 

THANKS TO 

H i s t o r i c p r o f i l e s o f b u s i n e s s e s , o r g a n i z a t i o n s , 

a n d f a m i l i e s t h a t h a v e c o n t r i b u t e d t o t h e 

d e v e l o p m e n t a n d e c o n o m i c b a s e o f C h e y e n n e 

16th Street Mercantile 

Holland & Hart, LLP 

T h e M a r k e t p l a c e . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 

Q u a l i t y o f L i f e . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116 

Searing Industries 

B u i l d i n g a G re a t e r C h e y e n n e . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140 

Western States 

Asphalt, LLC 

S h a r i n g t h e H e r i t a g e ✦ 7 7

Fowler’s at the corner of 17th Street 

and Carey Avenue. 

COURTESY OF THE LECLERCQ JONES 

COLLECTION, LARAMIE COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY. 


THE MARKETPLACE 

C h e y e n n e ’ s f i n a n c i a l , r e t a i l , a n d c o m m e r c i a l e s t a b l i s h m e n t s 

o f f e r a n i m p r e s s i v e v a r i e t y o f c h o i c e s 

B l u e F e d e r a l C re d i t U n i o n ..........................................................................................................80 

Wy o m i n g L o t t e r y C o r p o r a t i o n ......................................................................................................84 

T h e P l a i n s H o t e l .......................................................................................................................88 

S i e rra Tr a d i n g P o s t ...................................................................................................................90 

T h e N o m a d i c N o r t h e r n A r a p a h o ..................................................................................................92 

We s t e r n Vi s t a F e d e r a l C re d i t U n i o n .............................................................................................94 

L i t t l e A m e r i c a H o t e l & R e s o r t .....................................................................................................96 

F i r s t C h e y e n n e F e d e r a l C re d i t U n i o n ............................................................................................98 

G re a t e r C h e y e n n e C h a m b e r o f C o m m e rc e .....................................................................................100 

Vi s i t C h e y e n n e ........................................................................................................................101 

Wy o m i n g S t o c k G ro w e r s A s s o c i a t i o n ...........................................................................................102 

Ta c o J o h n ’s ® ...........................................................................................................................103 

S u n d a h l , P o w e r s , K a p p & M a r t i n , L L C ........................................................................................1 04 

B u d d - F a l e n L a w O ffices, L . L . C . .................................................................................................1 05 

C h e y e n n e D o w n t o w n D e v e l o p m e n t A u t h o r i t y ................................................................................106 

K G W N - T V ..............................................................................................................................107 

R o m s a L a w O ffice, P. C . ............................................................................................................108 

S p r a d l e y B a rr C h e y e n n e ...........................................................................................................109 

N a g l e Wa rre n M a n s i o n B e d & B re a k f a s t ......................................................................................110 

T h e R o m a n o I n s u r a n c e A g e n c y ...................................................................................................111 

P re i s s E n t e r p r i s e s , I n c . ............................................................................................................112 

C h e y e n n e L E A D S .....................................................................................................................113 

M e r i d i a n Tr u s t F e d e r a l C re d i t U n i o n ..........................................................................................114 

L a t h ro p & R u t l e d g e , P. C . ..........................................................................................................115 

T h e M a r k e p l a c e ✦ 7 9

BLUE FEDERAL 

CREDIT UNION 

Above: This rare photograph was 

taken at the turn of the twentieth 

century from a Cheyenne resident 

who lived near the future location of 

the Seventh Avenue Branch. 

Bottom, left: A member awaiting a 

transaction at the first base branch, 

c. 1970s. 

Bottom, center: A view of the base 

branches converted hallway after the 

renovation from the base prison. 

Bottom, right: This newsletter from 

1983 announces the opening of the 

Seventh Avenue Branch, the former 

home of First Wyoming Bank. 

Blue Federal Credit Union 

is proud to have been a vital 

part of the Cheyenne community 

for the last sixty-five 

years. Since the Credit Union 

was founded, it has transformed 

and adapted to the changing times and expanded to include 

additional communities. However, the values of the Credit Union, 

the commitment to the Cheyenne community, and the effort to 

provide the best for the membership are aspects that have remained 

the same over the years. 

In the early 1950s, a group of civilian personnel on the F. E. Warren 

Air Force Base recognized the need for a credit organization. Knowing 

how beneficial credit union services can be for a group of likeminded 

individuals, the F. E. Warren A.F.B. Federal Credit Union was 

established and granted a federal charter on June 23, 1951. 

After the founding of the Credit Union, the small group encountered 

challenges with the initial start-up. Each member of the group was 

given a handful of passbooks to sell to other civilians at $5 each to 

help grow the membership. In November of 1955, the charter was 

amended to broaden the field of membership and allow permanent 

military personnel and Air Force Exchange employees to join the 

newly established credit union. Steady and sure, business began to 

grow and the Credit Union grew with it. By the end of the 1950s, 

F. E. Warren A.F.B. Federal Credit Union had 2,317 members and 

had an asset size of $1,035,214. 

F. E. Warren A.F.B. Federal Credit Union continued along a strong 

growth pattern through the 1960s. During this decade, it became the 

largest credit union in the state of Wyoming and one of the largest 

in the Rocky Mountain region. Inevitably, the Credit Union outgrew 

its original location in Building 284 on base. In November of 1974, 

F. E. Warren A.F.B. Federal Credit Union moved across the street to 

Building 218. Used as a jailhouse in the early 1900s, this building that 

used to hold inmates was now being used to conduct credit union 

business. The old holding cells were converted to waiting rooms, and 

the cell bars were used as dividers between those rooms and the 

teller stations. Shirley Howard was a key figure in overseeing branch 

operations during this time. Howard started with the Credit Union in 

1960 and was a 1973 graduate of CUNA Management School. She was 

deeply committed to the success and development of the organization. 

By 1975, Howard went on to lead F. E. Warren A.F.B. Federal Credit 

Union as CEO. By the end of the 1970s, the Credit Union had 10,495 

members and an asset size of $12,727,129. 

The 1980s brought about 

a new era of progression for 

the Credit Union. In June of 

1983, the board of directors 

approved to change the current 

name of F. E. Warren 

A.F.B. Federal Credit Union to 

Warren Federal Credit Union. 

Along with the name change, 

new branding and a new logo 

were established. Another big step for the Credit Union during 

this decade was the opening of its first branch off base grounds. 


The new main branch offices, located on Seventh Avenue adjacent 

to the Cheyenne airport terminal, opened in January of 1984. Even 

though the main offices were now located outside of base property, 

military personnel appreciated the second location and driveup 

access to the new branch. The Credit Union now had 14,659 

members and an asset size of $46,684,016 at the end of the 1980s. 

By the late 1990s, Howard retired as CEO of Warren. At the time 

of her departure, the Credit Union reached a significant milestone 

by surpassing $100 million in assets. Maureen Tebo accepted the 

position of CEO after Howard retired in November of 1999. During 

her time as CEO, Tebo invested in Warren’s infrastructure, marketing, 

IT, and staff development. Her first major task as CEO was an 

extensive renovation and expansion of the main branch and administrative 

offices on Seventh Avenue. The purchase of additional land 

near this branch allowed for more drive up lanes, administrative 

offices, and a larger IT facility. In turn, the expansion permitted for 

an increase of services and added convenience for members. At 

the end of the 1990s, Warren had 19,622 members and an asset size 

of $102,025,610. 

With preparations for Y2K and planning for the future of the Credit 

Union in a new millennium, it was known that growth was imminent. 

In June of 2000, the base branch moved out of the renovated jailhouse 

in Building 218 and into its new location at 5105 Randall Avenue. This 

new site was a great move for the Credit Union; not only did it have 

a prime location next to the entrance gate of F. E. Warren A.F.B., 

but it also allowed for more space and the addition of drive-up lanes. 

As the Credit Union’s membership outside of the base continued to 

grow, there was a recognized need for more locations in Cheyenne. 

Warren opened its third branch location in April 2003 on Dell Range. 

This Dell Range Branch location offered convenience to the 

growing membership on the east side of Cheyenne. This location was 

quickly followed by opening of a fourth location in November 

2003—an in-store branch located inside Safeway on South Greeley 

Highway. This branch location served the membership throughout 

the south side of Cheyenne. These new facilities were an immediate 

success for the Credit Union, which was reflected in the substantial 

membership growth during this time. 

In 2004, Tebo resigned as CEO and Tom Kane briefly held the 

position until Stephanie Teubner was appointed interim CEO. At the 

time, Teubner held the position of vice president of administration 

and in 2005 Teubner officially accepted the CEO position at Warren. 

In the late 2000s, Warren continued to expand its presence to 

effectively serve the growing membership. The first Warren Colorado 

location opened on January 2, 2008. The in-store branch in Wellington’s 

Ridley’s Market became the first credit union location within the town. 

Also in 2008, a fifth branch location was opened in North Cheyenne on 

Yellowstone Road. The Laramie Branch officially opened for business 

on February 10, 2009, located in the UW Plaza on Grand Avenue. 

Warren was fortunate to already serve 235 members who lived in 

Laramie, and looked forward to further serving those members with 

added convenience and exceptional products and services. With the 

accelerated location and membership growth during this time, Warren 

grew to 34,279 members and had an asset size of $317,037,789 by the 

end of 2009. 

Left: Shirley Howard and Myrtle 

Knight, the former chairman of the 

board pose with CLEO Ward at the 

base branch in the former “jail cell.” 

Right: Myrtle Knight cuts the 

ribbon at the base branch after 

renovation. Knight was later honored 

through the Warren Federal Credit 

Union Foundation with an annual 

scholarship to high school seniors. 


The forty-third annual meeting, 

and many others, were held for the 

membership at the Little America in 

Cheyenne. The Credit Union now 

boasts a membership of nearly 

80,000 members. Pictured left to 

right, Steve Stephens, Steve L. Moe, 

Jim Hoffmann, Larry Hootman, 

James Soltesz and Art Mecer. 

Despite the lingering effect on most financial institutions following 

the Great Recession, Warren entered the new decade optimistic. The 

Credit Union maintained a strong balance sheet and stayed competitive 

by providing the great rates Warren was already known for. The 

Extreme Checking account product was introduced around this time; 

which allowed positive share growth by paying members a dividend 

on their checking account balance when they completed certain 

criteria. The dividend rate on Extreme Checking continues to remain 

highly competitive. The popularity of Extreme Checking increased 

membership and core deposit balances, and the Credit Union is 

proud to continue to offer such a robust financial product. 

As Warren continued to progress, the decision was made to open 

a branch location in Fort Collins, Colorado, in December 2012. 

Similar to the opening of the Laramie Branch, Fort Collins was 

already home to over 600 members. It was beneficial for the existing 

membership to have its own convenient location in Fort Collins, 

and beneficial for the Credit Union to expand into a new market and 

gain new members. 

With Warren now serving members in Laramie, Cheyenne, Fort 

Collins, and Wellington, it became a priority to start giving back to 

the communities the Credit Union served. The Warren Federal Credit 

Union Foundation was established to improve the financial wellbeing 

of the communities in Wyoming and Colorado, especially those 

underserved by mainstream financial institutions. The foundation 

makes contributions to many worthy causes, from programs that help 

families reach financial independence to scholarships that further the 

next generation of community leaders. The 501(c)3 nonprofit not 

only allowed Warren to donate to worthy causes, it also opened 

the door for expanded membership opportunities. Individuals can 

donate $5 or more to the foundation and become a member. 

Along with the work of the foundation, it is common to see credit 

union employees out on the weekends volunteering and fundraising 

for local causes. The sense of volunteerism is strong at the Credit 

Union, with everyone looking for ways to give back and improve 

their community. This aspect of the credit union culture inspired 

the ‘Do Good Army’ campaign, which launched in Laramie in 

2014. The theme of that campaign continued throughout 2015 

with an all-staff volunteer day in Cheyenne, where staff went out and 

volunteered at local organizations and schools, and helped clean up 

public parks and spaces. The Do Good spirit exists today not just in 

campaigns, but as the Credit Union’s mission to help inspire the 

spirit of employees, members and communities and invest in their 

pursuit of life. 

While Warren was experiencing positive growth in membership 

and financial numbers, it was operating in a highly competitive market 

and an environment of increasingly complex financial regulations. In 

order to ensure the continuation of strong and stable growth, one of 

the most important decisions to date was made. In November of 

2015, Warren announced that it would be merging with Community 

Financial Credit Union. Community Financial originated as Rocky 

Flats Federal Credit Union, which was originally established in 1955 

to serve the employees of the Rocky Flats Plant. Community Financial 

grew throughout the years to serve the communities of Broomfield, 

Boulder, and the north metro area in Colorado. Both Warren and 

Community Financial were well-capitalized credit unions at the 

time and acknowledged together they could do more to ensure long 

term value for the membership, credit union staff, and communities. 

By merging, they could achieve a greater economics of scale while 

continuing to offer competitive rates and broaden services. 

The merger was completed by May of 2016, and Teubner remained 

CEO of the united organization. The Credit Union now served nearly 

70,000 members with eleven branches throughout the Colorado 

communities of Broomfield, Boulder, Fort Collins, and Wellington 

and Wyoming communities of Cheyenne and Laramie. 


As Warren and Community Financial came together to form one 

new credit union, it was decided this new credit union should also 

have a new name and brand identity. The Credit Union wanted the 

new name to honor its strong roots in the Western region, particularly 

its military roots from the origination on F. E. Warren A.F.B. The 

new name reflects where the Credit Union was going in the future. 

From that direction, the united organization’s new name became 

Blue Federal Credit Union. 

Blue represents those strong military roots and embodies the 

expansive Western skies and clear waters of the natural surroundings. 

Blue is aspirational and represents a commitment to limitless 

opportunities and exceptional value for members. Blue promises new 

opportunities, retains core values, and preserves the organization’s 

commitment to the communities it serves. 

Shortly after the merger, the Credit Union started working on 

its 12th and 13th branch locations. The membership in 

Fort Collins was quickly growing in a competitive market, and 

Blue wanted to continue offering the best financial services and 

convenience to this community. The Old Town Branch officially 

opened for business in October of 2016. Located on Mountain 

Avenue in the heart of Old Town Fort Collins, this branch features 

a non-traditional design to better serve the community and fit in 

with the unique aesthetic of the downtown scene. The open lobby, 

interactive touch-screen kiosk, consultative teller stations, and 

large community room offer additional benefits and ease for the 

membership. In the summer of 2016, Blue broke ground on what 

would become its 13th branch location. Land was purchased at the 

intersection of Drake and Timberline Road to construct a brand new 

building. This building not only houses the new Blue Branch, 

but also has retail space for additional businesses and a community 

plaza for events. Blue is proud to have a positive economic impact on 

the Fort Collins community by providing employment and space for 

small businesses to flourish. 

After starting out as small organization on the F. E. Warren Air 

Force Base sixty-five years ago, Blue has grown into a dynamic 

credit union that serves members in Wyoming, Colorado, and all 

over the world. Blue looks forward to continued growth while staying 

committed to its roots on the F. E. Warren A.F.B. and the Cheyenne 

community. At the end of 2016, Blue is currently serving 73,200 

members, 260 employees, and has an asset size of $906 million. With 

the Blue Foundation and the continuation of the Do Good spirit, the 

Credit Union remains strongly committed to giving back to the communities 

it serves. 

Above: Stephanie Teubner, pictured 

here in 2000 at the annual meeting 

check-in table, held the title of vice 

president of administration before 

accepting the CEO position in 2005. 

Left: A 1990s shot of Michele 

Bolkovatz and Shirley Howard 

from the original branch, along with 

long time former employee Linda 

Oligschlaeger in the background. 


WYOMING 

LOTTERY 

CORPORATION 

Starting up a lottery is no simple task. It requires immense public 

support by retailers, procurement of trusted game vendors, and 

operations and marketing staff to boot. And yet, in 2013, Wyoming 

pulled it off. 

On March 13, 2013, after twenty-five long years of debate and 

deliberation, Governor Matt Mead signed House Bill 77 into law, 

authorizing the State of Wyoming to create a lottery and ultimately 

form what we now know as the Wyoming Lottery Corporation, 

or WyoLotto TM . 

Funded entirely by a private loan, WyoLotto has been an incredible 

success and has grown to be a key source of revenue for the 

Cowboy State. The WyoLotto brand has become a fixture in the 

State of Wyoming, responsibly securing millions in annual revenue 

for Wyoming’s communities. This was a deliberate choice. From the 

beginning, legislation was clear that the lottery must operate free of 

state funding and to the benefit of the Wyoming community. 

Once the foundation was finally in place, the rest came in stride. 

Leadership was crucial in those early days. WyoLotto’s founding 

board members were: Chairman Brian Scott Gamroth, Vice Chairman 

Barry Sims, Treasurer Gerry Marburger, Secretary Erin Taylor, and 

Members-at-Large, Mark Macy, David Bonner, Jim Griffin, Ross Newman, 

and Jim Whalen. 

This board managed the lottery alongside a start-up staff, made up 

of: Chief Executive Officer Jon Clontz (who was recruited from the 

Oregon Lottery), Chief Operating Officer Louise Plata, Chief Financial 

Officer Ted Robinette, Administrative Assistant Alisha Pineda, and 

Senior Retail Compliance Officer David Stevens. 

This small staff relied heavily on outside partners, such as marketing 

agency Warehouse Twenty-One, and Intralot, the lottery’s gaming 

vendor. Born out of this collaboration was Yolo, the “jackpotalope” 

mascot that represents the whimsical excitement of WyoLotto. 

With Clontz and board leadership in place, the Wyoming Lottery 

Corporation then looked to retailers and game players to carry the 

vision forward. The initial response from both was clear enthusiasm. 

Community members were eager to see the money their neighbors 

were spending in other states finally stay rooted and invested 

in Wyoming. 


Their wish came true. On August 24, 2014, WyoLotto sold its 

very first ticket, bringing about one of the first major milestones in 

the lottery story. Right away, it was clear that WyoLotto would be 

an immense success. 

Just three months later, in April, WyoLotto made its first 

revenue transfer to the Treasurer of the State of Wyoming, who then 

distributed the more than $1 million to Wyoming’s cities, towns, 

and counties. Since that date, WyoLotto transfers have accumulated 

to more than $3.5 million, demonstrating the lottery’s commitment to 

public good. 

In March 2015, WyoLotto introduced Wyoming’s own game, 

Cowboy Draw R . It complemented the excitement of Powerball R and 

Mega Millions R , but with the addition of a unique western flair. The 

game has added benefits for Wyoming residents: it is only playable 

in Wyoming, so the odds of winning are better in comparison to 

national games. 

As revenue began to grow, WyoLotto decided to prioritize an 

aggressive payoff of its startup loan to accelerate revenue transfers to 

its primary beneficiary, the State of Wyoming. This, in coordination 

with a Powerball jackpot frenzy in early 2016, accomplished just 

that. WyoLotto paid off the loan in its entirety in January 2016 

and Powerball, for the first time, reached a jackpot of more than 

$1 billion. 

The initial legislation was written that lottery revenue would 

follow the state’s sales tax distribution formula, and if the revenue 

exceeded $6 million in a fiscal year, those additional funds would be 

deposited into Wyoming’s Permanent Land Fund’s Common School 

Account. The Wyoming Legislature passed a measure in 2017 to 

change the distribution to be based on sales of tickets in each county 

and removed the $6 million component. 


Today, WyoLotto continues to look for new opportunities, within 

statute, to add to the excitement of lottery gaming in a way that 

contributes to the state in a responsible and entertaining way. 

Most recently, WyoLotto added a fourth game to its portfolio. A multistate 

game with a unique prize. Lucky for Life R does not have a 

growing jackpot, but rather gifts winner of all six numbers $1,000 a 

day for life. 

In addition to creating fun games and bringing important revenue 

to the state, WyoLotto has boosted Wyoming’s economy in other 

important ways. WyoLotto’s primary offices are nestled in a highly 

visible location in historic downtown Cheyenne, bringing traffic 

and energy to the downtown area. The lottery also partners with more 

than 450 retailers across the state to sell lottery tickets, and so far, 

has paid local retailers more than $3.8 million in commissions. 


Even so, the lottery’s responsibility to the Wyoming community 

goes far beyond boosting its economy. To this end, “responsible 

gambling” has been a fixture of WyoLotto communications. WyoLotto 

is committed to ensuring that its lottery functions with complete 

integrity and security and shields residents from gambling-related 

problems of addiction. Specific measures include limiting single 

transactions to $125, curtailing the number of hours each day 

tickets may be purchased, and making problem-gambling information 

accessible wherever tickets are sold and on the WyoLotto website. 

Now, the future of the Wyoming Lottery depends on the Wyoming 

Legislature and the people they represent. Regardless, WyoLotto games 

will remain appropriate to the people of Wyoming, and the lottery will 

continue to be operated openly, honestly, and with the utmost integrity. 

WyoLotto has also sponsored Cheyenne Frontier Days TM , the 

Wyoming State Fair, University of Wyoming athletics, and other 

statewide events. A key vision for the corporation is be a part of 

the fabric of Wyoming, and to support the Wyoming community, 

while aligning with highly attended entertainment events to promote 

the lottery’s products and sales. 


THE PLAINS 

HOTEL 

Come On Down!—The heart-beat of any city is its Downtown, and 

Downtowns need people! 

Luxuriously built the same year and the same size as the Titanic 

(1910), The Plains Hotel has been dodging its own “icebergs” 

since the 1960s. Like historic downtown Cheyenne, this venerable 

masterpiece was originally the gem of the High Plains, stretching 

its reach hundreds of miles in every direction. 

In 1867, Wyoming offered a relatively easier grade across the 

Continental Divide for laying tracks in the epic Union Pacific campaign 

to span the continent. Surveying ahead, the United Pacific Railroad 

chose this spot along Crow Creek as an ideal next station. After a short, 

but legendary period of “Hell On Wheels misbeehavin,” Cheyenne 

became a respectable prosperous frontier town. As commerce and 

train loads increased, a world-class engine marvel, “Big Boy,” was 

employed to lug loads uphill to Laramie. Incredible wealth was created 

through frontier commerce, free range cattle and mining activity. By 

the 1880s, Laramie County became the highest wealth-per-capita 

county, in the U.S.A. 

The Plains Hotel opening on March 9, 1911, was perfectly timed 

for profitability. In 1913 the Lincoln Highway spanning from 

New York City to San Francisco opened. Would this muddy rutted 

route and these horseless carriage contraptions make it? Soon, 

fragile Model Ts arrived in droves. Following the tracks east to west, 

“motoring” along the Lincoln Highway, grew from another fad to a 

fundamental mode of transportation. 

In 1915, Jerry Olson Field opened to new-fangled aero planes. 

Amelia Earhart and Charles Lindberg both used this field, now 

commonly known as Cheyenne Regional Airport. With government 

sponsoring airmail, the businesses downtown flourished. By 1926, 

the advent of extremely dangerous night time flights demanded 

beacons be placed every three miles from Chicago to Cheyenne 

to light the way. For efficiency, the aero-planes followed the 

Lincoln Highway, which efficiency followed the Union Pacific tracks. 

Our thriving Magic City brought in the fledgling Boeing Air Transport 

and United Air Lines! 

After WWII, developable land ran out in the historic downtown. 

New subdivisions were built both north of the airport and 


Opposite, left: Chief Little Shield 

brought other Native Americans to 

Cheyenne Frontier Days, 1915. 

They posed with some of the other 

guest in the lobby of the Plains. 

PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF WYOMING DIVISION 

OF CULTURAL RESOURCES. 

south of the rail yards, literally dividing the city into thirds. 

Motels, hotels, popular chain restaurants, and big box stores 

all vied for new patronage. To “protect” the old town for pedestrians, 

our major roads (now called I-25 and 1-80) were relocated a few 

miles away. By the 1960s, The Plains Hotel and downtown fell 

into hard times. Architecturally envied as a regional marvel, historic 

old town Cheyenne deserved our respect and patronage. 

Since being purchased, at auction, Astride A Starship LLC 

has encountered decades of deferred maintenance, especially in 

the so-called “back of the house.” Quite understandably, from top 

to bottom, roof to boilers, laundry to kitchen functionality was 

in a state of dizzying disrepair. At 106 years old and 118,000 

square feet, the overhead far exceeds revenue. To revive and maintain 

itself without outside support, The Plains Hotel must 

find new income streams. Management is eagerly evaluating 

the market for expanded uses such as extended stay, special 

occasion banquet affairs; public and private, a convenience grocer and 

a more streamlined restaurant. We feel, this could further reinvigorate 

our downtown. 

Dear Readers, please cross the tracks and the airfield and patronize 

your heritage. Day trip across the decades—At The Plains, “step in our 

doors, step back in time.” Long live the legacy of our unique beloved 

Cheyenne, “Magic City of the Plains!” 

• Events 

• Dining 

• Catering 

Create Your Legacy At The Plains 

• Weddings 

• Extended Stay 

Opposite, right: Painting of 

Chief Little Shield by Lillywhite used 

in The Plains Hotel logos. 

Left: Proposed Plains Hotel, 1910. 

Painting by William Dubois, Sr. 

PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF KEITH BLACK. 

Right: Banquets and meeting rooms. 


SIERRA 

TRADING POST 

Keith and Bobbi Richardson founded Sierra Trading Post in 

1986 in Sparks, Nevada, with a vision to create a one-of-a-kind 

business where customers save on the best brands in the outdoor 

industry. Selling outdoor gear, apparel and footwear, they opened 

the company’s first retail store location (which was later moved 

to Reno, Nevada), leased a tiny warehouse space, and began to 

produce hand-drawn catalogs for a mail-order business. 

Seeing the growth and success from the mail-order business, 

the Richardsons quickly looked to expand their warehouse space, 

and began their search in the West. With support from Cheyenne 

LEADS, they secured land east of Cheyenne’s city center. In 1992, 

the Sierra Trading Post headquarters was relocated to Cheyenne 

where a new retail store was opened. The Cheyenne community 

benefitted from Sierra Trading Post’s steady growth and jobs 

created from 1992 to 1998. 

By 1998, the business was ready to hit the internet. 

SierraTradingPost.com was launched and the company became one of 

the first catalog companies to establish an online presence. Another 

retail store was opened in Cody, Wyoming in 2000. 

A few years later, they completed construction on a 348,000-squarefoot, 

state-of-the-art fulfillment center to house the ever-increasing 

offering of the best brands in the outdoor industry and support 

website-driven demand. By 2007, Sierra Trading Post launched a blog 

known as Sierra Blogging Post and earned the rank of “Top 100 

Internet Retailer” by Internet Retailer Magazine. That same year, a fourth 

retail store was opened in Boise, Idaho, completing what became 

known to the Sierra Trading Post associates as the four “legacy stores”. 

In 2009, Sierra Trading Post expanded their digital footprint by 

joining Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, and launched a mobileoptimized 

site the following year. Sierra Trading Post enjoyed awards 

like, “Best in Class” for customer service by Satmetrix and climbed the 

ranks on the “Top 100 Internet Retailer” list. 

By 2012 the Fort Collins Technology Campus was established, and 

the Richardsons had established Sierra Trading Post as a brand with a 

large, avid customer base. That year, the company caught the eye of the 

TJX Companies, Inc, and was acquired for approximately $200 million. 

The TJX Companies, Inc., is a leading off-price retailer of apparel 

and home fashions in the United States and worldwide, ranking in the 

top 100 of the Fortune 500 with more than 3,600 stores in nine 

countries and more than 200,000 associates. In addition to Sierra 

Trading Post, the TJX Companies include brands like T.J.Maxx, 

Marshalls, and HomeGoods. 

A year after the acquisition, Sierra Trading Post introduced free instore 

pickup of items purchased online, and released an Android 

application to make it even easier for customers to shop on a wide 


variety of mobile devices. Under the TJX Companies, Sierra Trading 

Post began expanding its retail footprint by rapidly adding locations 

across the U.S. In 2014, the South Denver and Fort Collins, Colorado, 

stores opened, and the following year Colorado Springs, Colorado, and 

Burlington, Vermont, were established. 

Today, Sierra Trading Post continues to grow, improve, and expand 

its retail presence. It opened four additional stores in 2016— 

Cottonwood Heights, Utah; Eagan, Minnesota; Silverdale, Washington; 

Danbury, Connecticut—and four in the spring of 2017—Kildeer and 

Wheaton Illinois; Ann Arbor, Michigan; and Woodbury, Minnesota – 

with a promise of many more stores to come. 

Throughout Sierra Trading Post’s history, it has supported various 

charitable causes. For National Make a Difference Day, the stores and 

offices collected gear and apparel donations to non-profits in our retail 

markets. The company also has supported causes aimed at helping 

people who live in our retail markets, including causes such as: 

Vermont Adaptive Sports; LOF Adaptive Skiers of Connecticut; Seattle 

(Washington) Adaptive Sports; Open Door 

Pantry of Eagan, Minnesota; Splore of Salt Lake City, Utah; Let the Kids 

Play of Colorado Springs, Colorado; and Larimer County (Colorado) 

Conservation Corps. Company associates continue their support of Habitat 

for Humanity of Laramie County. 

The company’s commitment to the communities it serves begins in 

stores and online. With customers and communities in mind, Sierra 

Trading Post makes it easier to explore everything the outdoors and 

active lifestyles have to offer. At Sierra Trading Post, they believe in a 

business model that empowers customers to do more by offering 

incredible savings on the best outdoor brands. 


THE NOMADIC 

NORTHERN 

ARAPAHO 

BY JACKIE DOROTHY 

Right: Black Coal (center, seated). 


Below: Goes-in-Lodge and other 

Arapaho warriors. 


Long before Cheyenne became the capitol of Wyoming, it was part 

of the route taken by massive herds of bison and the Native American 

tribes who hunted them. 

The Northern Arapaho, descendants of these nomadic hunters, still 

reside in Wyoming today and this is the story of their chief who helped 

lead them to their current home on the Wind River Indian Reservation, 

275 miles from Cheyenne. 

Chief Medicine Man was the chosen leader of the Long Legs band 

and the head chief of the Northern Arapaho during the 1860s. As leader, 

he had great influence over the tribe and determined that peace with 

the white man was our best option. 

“So far as we Arapahos are concerned, we are like the ants. There are 

a lot of us, but the white men are like the blades of grass on the prairie. 

We would have no chance if we started to fight them.” 

Medicine Man attempted for years to secure a reservation for the 

Arapaho without success. He petitioned Colorado Governor John Evans 

and other officials to establish a home for the Northern Arapaho in the 

Cache la Poudre area, their favored hunting grounds. 

On November 29, 1864, hope for a reservation was crushed 

after the brutal attack by the Colorado Militia on a peaceful village of 

Cheyenne and Arapaho. Many Northern Arapaho, mainly women 

and children, lost their lives in the incident now known as the Sand 

Creek Massacre. 

By 1865, Medicine Man led his nomadic small band to the 

Sweetwater River area. They ranged north to the Big Horns, west to the 

Rockies, east to the Black Hills and south to the Cache la Poudre 

following the trail of the bison. Their path crossed over the land now 

home to Cheyenne. 


When the chief learned of the Wagon Box Fight in 1867, he 

appointed a crier to announce the facts to the camp with words of 

peace: “The Arapaho are a peaceful people and want to keep their 

treaties. Don’t do like our friend Red Cloud. Keep out of these fights 

and always be friendly with the white people.” 

Under his leadership, the Northern Arapaho did not become “stay 

around the fort Indians” and continued to hunt. In 1868, sixty-nine 

lodges of the Long Leg band brought in 2,000 buffalo robes to Ft. 

Fetterman for trade. They also received trading credit for army horses 

that they returned. 

Chief Medicine Man continued to lead his tribe in a search of a 

home to call their own and this led them to the Wind River area 

with Black Bear and Friday, two Arapaho Warrior Chiefs. Although they 

did not fight the non-Indians, they continued their raids against 

the Shoshone and Crow tribes, stealing horses and claiming their 

hunting territory. 

In 1871, Medicine Man died after 

eating bad rations at Ft. Fetterman. He 

never did accomplish his goal but he 

helped to guide the Northern Arapaho 

on their journey during a time when 

a strong leader was needed. 

Chief Black Coal was appointed 

as the new head chief of the Arapaho 

in place of Medicine Man. It was 

then Black Coal who ultimately led 

the Northern Arapaho to our current 

home on the Wind River Indian 

Reservation which we now share 

with the Eastern Shoshone tribe. 

Our ancestors followed closely 

the rules and regulations of the 

tribe, being taught from an early age 

to respect life and to be kind to 

others. Each individual, prior to the 

reservation days, had a specific duty 

and belonged to a lodge that helped 

to direct their paths in life. Each 

band or clan had a distinct leader that they followed, but only if he 

earned and kept their respect. 

Today, the Northern Arapaho tribe invite you to visit us on the Wind 

River Indian Reservation. Our culture is still going strong today and we 

welcome you to learn more about the Blue Sky People who once roamed 

the plains in search of bison. 

You can visit with our Elders in the Northern Experience Room, 

our tribe’s small museum, at the Wind River Hotel & Casino and 

watch a free performance of our traditional Song and Dance during 

the summer months. You can also book an adventure package to 

explore our great outdoors. Enjoy white water rafting, visit 

wild mustangs, get in a round of golf or even join in on a real 

dinosaur dig. It all happens on the Wind River Reservation, in the heart 

of Wyoming. 

For more information, please visit WindRiverHotelCasino.com. 

Above: Ethete Pow-Wow. 

Left: Dancers at the Wind River 

Hotel & Casino. 


WESTERN VISTA 

FEDERAL 

CREDIT UNION 

When the late Thomas Kenehan of Mountain Bell carried 

Wytel Federal Credit Union in a small briefcase in the early 1940s, 

little did he realize the impressive proportions the finance venture 

would reach. Warren Hicks, a charter member of the credit union, 

once said, “There wasn’t anything when we started. I don’t think 

Kenehan even had a desk. Finally, we bought one, and it just kept 

going from there.” 

The desk led to a file cabinet. The file cabinet led to a small company 

office, housed in the bedroom of a benevolent individual, C. R. 

“Frenchie” Nolette. Eventually, the membership grew to more than a 

thousand, warranting a legitimate office space for the credit union. 

Wytel’s assets grew consistently and by 1960, with a membership of 

922, assets reached $550,000. Gael Hockersmith, the first manager of 

the credit union, distributed ceremonial key chains at the annual 

meeting. Just five years later, in 1965, Wytel emerged as a milliondollar 

credit union, with assets of $1,136,000. 

Over the next several decades, the credit union grew to more than 

$26 million in assets. As part of this expansion, Western Vista 

welcomed several other credit unions into its fold: Demem Federal 

Credit Union (1986), Bucking Horse Federal Credit Union (1986), 

Casper Natrona Employees Federal Credit Union (1988), and LHHS 

employees (1991). 

The 2017 Western Vista Federal 

Credit Union Board of Directors (from 

left to right): Thomas J. Montoya, 

Karan Dumont, Mark Mercer, 

Christine Kronz, Paul Cassista, Aimee 

Lewis, Tim Bolin, and Doug Thiede. 


In July 1995 the board authorized a new name for the credit union 

to better reflect the diversification of the new field of membership and 

what was once known as Wytel Federal Credit Union became Western 

Vista Federal Credit Union. A year later, the Cheyenne office moved 

into a newly built service center located at 3207 Sparks Road. 

In July 2002, Western Vista received authorization to add the 

NCUA-approved “underserved area” designation in most of Natrona 

County, Casper and Cheyenne, which allowed people who live, work, 

worship or attend school in these areas to qualify for membership. 

Increased growth led to an extensive addition and remodeling of the 

Cheyenne building. A new entrance and additional parking provided 

access to the new home for mortgage lending services, administration, 

collections and the indirect lending department. In August 2005, an 

additional branch opened on the north side of Cheyenne at 1215 Story 

Boulevard as a full-service branch with five drive-up lanes, an ATM 

and full lobby access. Additionally, a new branch was built to replace 

an aging infrastructure in Casper and featured safety deposit boxes, 

five drive-up lanes and a large community room. 

In recent years, Western Vista added online and mobile services to 

increase its ability to serve members wherever they may live, work or 

worship. No one knows for certain what the future will hold, but 

Western Vista members can rest assured that their credit union will 

continue to do whatever it takes to serve their financial needs. 

“Our credit union changed over the years, partially by necessity and 

partially by choice, but always with our members in mind,” said John T. 

Balser, who served as president and CEO from September 1989 to 

January 2017. 

Today, Western Vista Federal Credit Union has more than $140 

million in assets, serves 10,000 members in Cheyenne and Casper and 

offers a full line of consumer, commercial and mortgage services. 

Western Vista Credit Union has two locations in Cheyenne and one 

in Casper. For the closest branch or ATM near you or get current rates, 

please visit www.wvista.com. 

Top, left: John Balser served as 

president/CEO of Western Vista from 

September 1989 to January 2017. 

Top, right: Steven Leafgreen became 

president/CEO of Western Vista in 

January 2017. 

Bottom, right: President/CEO Steven 

Leafgreen is presented with a plaque 

to commemorate Western Vista’s 

support of economic development in 

Laramie County from Ron Kailey, 

Cheyenne LEADS board member. 


LITTLE AMERICA 

HOTEL & 

RESORT 

At the crossroads of I- 25 and I-80 you will find Little America Hotel 

& Resort: an 80-acre oasis of luxury and service, surrounded by 

beautifully groomed grounds. Little America is Cheyenne’s only resort 

and Wyoming’s largest convention hotel. With 188 guest rooms and 

over 50,000 square feet of meeting space it is the perfect destination 

for conventions, weddings and special events. 

All of Little America’s dining options are unsurpassed. Hathaway’s 

Restaurant, named after Governor Stan Hathaway, provides the perfect 

atmosphere and menu for everything from a quiet breakfast or a 

romantic dinner to an important business lunch. Hathaway’s Lounge 

provides the ideal atmosphere to watch the big game or catch up with 

friends while enjoying a cocktail. Carol’s Café features gourmet coffee, 

tea, pastries, ice cream and complimentary wi-fi. Other resort amenities 

include a nine-hole executive golf course, outdoor pool, retail shopping 

and Sinclair gas travel station. 

Earl and Carol Holding brought luxury to Cheyenne when 

they opened Holding’s Little America in 1966. The property required 

one year to build and costing approximately $4.5 million, according 

to Earl Holding. The landscaping involved the initial planting of 

over 6,000 evergreen trees, construction of three lakes and 

moving 100,000 cubic yards of earth. European fabrics for drapery 

and upholstery on the furniture found in sleeping rooms, 

imported chandeliers from Europe were in the meeting rooms 

and public space with no expense sparred in the décor. The property 

also boasted one of the largest Sinclair Service Stations with 

fifty pumps. 

Little America is part of Grand America Hotels and Resorts and 

devoted to a tradition of excellence. Established in 1952 by the 

Holding family, the Grand America Hotels & Resorts’ collection 

includes Little America Hotel locations in Cheyenne, Little America 

Wyoming, Salt Lake City, Utah; Flagstaff, Arizona; and The Grand 

America Hotel (Salt Lake City, Utah,) the collection also includes: Sun 

Valley Resort (Sun Valley, ID,) Snowbasin Resort (Huntsville, UT,) and 

The Westgate Hotel (San Diego, CA,). When it comes to outdoor 

adventure, family getaways, and destination meetings, Grand America 

Hotels & Resorts’ properties offer everything needed to ensure an 

unforgettable experience. 

By 1976 Earl and Carol Holding had created a small empire of hotels 

and service stations and had acquired a refinery in Casper, Wyoming. 

The Holding’s Little America Refining Company was positioned well for 

what Earl had set his sights on next, acquiring Sinclair Oil. In the 

summer of 1976 the Holdings ultimately purchased Sinclair Oil from 

Pasco, Inc. and started an aggressive expansion of their refineries. 

They continued to expand and grow both the hotel and oil sides of their 

business. 


In 2017, ten years after a convention center was added to the resort, 

Little America continues a tradition of excellence. The resort provides 

memorable experiences, beautiful backdrops, and genuine service for 

the community of Cheyenne. Luxurious elements are still and 

throughout the resort. English wool carpeting, Italian glass chandeliers, 

French cherry-wood furnishings, and Italian marble can be admired 

throughout the property. Beautiful pieces or art and antiques are 

displayed and enjoyed by guests. 

Little America employs over two hundred Cheyenne residents, 

many of whom have been working for the Holdings for over ten 

years. They strive to provide quality guest service that exceeds 

expectations and allows for memorable experiences. Little America 

is Wyoming’s Convention Hotel & Resort and a proud part of 

Cheyenne’s history. 

Little America Hotel & Resorts is Located at 2800 W Lincolnway in 

Cheyenne and can be found on the internet at www.littleamerica.com 


FIRST CHEYENNE 

FEDERAL 

CREDIT UNION 

First Cheyenne Federal Credit Union of Cheyenne is a memberowned, 

community chartered financial institution serving all of Laramie 

County. Its roots go back to May 29, 1935, when an application by 

the Cheyenne VA Medical Center to organize and operate a federal 

credit union was approved by the federal government. Its acceptance 

made First Cheyenne FCU, the first credit union in Cheyenne. 

Two events, one month apart, set in motion the beginning of First 

Cheyenne FCU. On May 4, 1934, the Cheyenne VA Medical Center, a 

133-bed facility, began service to veterans, and on June 26, 1934, the 

Federal Credit Union Act of 1934 passed. The law, passed during the 

depths of the Great Depression, allowed formation of federal credit unions 

in the United States. It also made credit available to people of small means 

and promoted thrift using a national system of cooperative credit. 

After the law passed, ten members of the medical center applied and 

received approval. They named the credit union, Cheyenne 

V. A. F. Federal Credit Union. V. A. F. stood for Veterans Administration 

Facility. On July 2, 1935, an organization meeting was held, where 

James L. Laughlin was appointed temporary chairman and Margaret 

Diener was appointed temporary secretary. Signatory members voted 

to select the credit union’s first officers. 

The following members were selected for the Board of Directors: 

George H. McFall, Leo A. Kurz, Raymond Welch, Arnold Shindler, and 

Helen Sutherland. Credit Committee members were Hattie K. Olson, 

Mary A. McDyer, and Dr. W. H. Snoddy. Supervisory Committee 

members were George Mai, Ben H. Elwood, and James L. Laughlin. The 

first meeting of the board of directors was held immediately 

after the election. Board officers were elected as follows: Leo A. Kurz, 

president; Arnold E. Shindler, vice-president, and George H. McFall, 

treasurer and clerk. 


The credit union’s offices were located on the Cheyenne Veterans 

Administration Facility’s campus, and the new credit union became the 

first credit union in Cheyenne. It was known as a “common bond of 

association” credit union limited to employees of the Veterans 

Administration Facility and members of their immediate families. 

In 1996, the credit union changed its name to First Cheyenne Federal 

Credit Union. Through the years, the credit union had added additional 

businesses to its common bond as they did not want prospective new 

members to think it was only available to VA employees. Unfortunately, 

after spending more than sixty years on the VA Medical Center grounds, 

it was difficult for people to get the message. 

So, in 1997, a plot of land located next to the VA Medical Center 

was made available to the credit union through an act of Congress on 

which to build a new credit union building. In May 1998, First 

Cheyenne FCU moved into the new building, which was easily 

accessible to the public for the first time. 

In December 2001, the credit union changed its field of 

membership from a common bond to a community charter. This 

change allowed anyone who lives, works, worships, or attends school 

in Laramie County to become a member of First Cheyenne Federal 

Credit Union. 

It is the credit union’s mission to create a mutually profitable 

relationship with you, its members. It does this while keeping the avenues 

of communication open, by listening, by caring, and by being responsive 

to member needs. It also provides products and services of value and 

strives to create the perfect service experience. It enables unlimited access 

to your accounts through progressive technology systems and it commits 

itself to continuing financial education to ensure everyone’s success. 

Today, First Cheyenne FCU has more than 4,300 members and $28 

million in assets. At First Cheyenne FCU, it is in the business of 

empowering its members to make good financial decisions so they can 

improve their overall quality of life. It offer solutions that are tailored 

to your needs and appropriate to your circumstances. It supplements 

these solutions with free programs in financial education, so its 

members can develop sound money management skills they can 

practice for a lifetime. 

The credit union provides its members with a full range of financial 

products and services with very competitive rates, fewer fees, and 

unparalleled levels of convenience. It is actively engaged in community 

events and programs that help to improve the overall quality of life in the 

community. It may be the oldest credit union in Wyoming, but it promises 

to always stay up-to-date with the latest technology and financial services 

needed to make its members as successful as they can be. 

Information regarding account and rate information, hours, 

location of the nearest branch or ATM and much more, please visit 

www.firstcheyenne.com. 

Scenes from the credit union’s 

annual picnic. 


GREATER CHEYENNE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE 

Above: First luncheon in 2017 

with Madam Mayor Marian Orr 

as the featured speaker, it was a full 

house with 400 plus professionals 

in attendance. 

Top, right: The photograph is titled, 

Making a Difference. 

PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF DANA GAGE. 

Right: The photograph is 

titled, Perspective. 

PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF DANA GAGE. 

The western narrative of the City of Cheyenne is unique. When 

first founded, it was known for being an advanced culture. It was the 

Historic Plains Hotel which introduced the luxury of a phone in each 

room. Additionally, the Union Pacific Rail Road and transportation 

revolution played a significant role in putting Cheyenne on the 

map. Following were other quality of life elements, one being the 

community hospital, known today as Cheyenne Regional Medical 

Center. Through this development and growth, the Greater Cheyenne 

Chamber of Commerce served the area by creating a healthy business 

climate for years to come. The Tivoli Building on Lincolnway was 

the original home of the Greater Chamber of Commerce. Nearly a 

century later, in the effort to revitalize an integral historic building, 

the Chamber, along with other local organizations, transitioned to 

their current locations in the Cheyenne Depot Museum. 

Representing more than 1,000 businesses, the Greater Cheyenne 

Chamber of Commerce is the strongest voice for business. The value 

of being engaged in the mission of the Greater Cheyenne Chamber of 

Commerce rests in the ability to showcase the Chamber’s deep roots 

in the community since 1907. The Chamber’s primary focus is to 

ensure economic growth in a responsible and balanced manner to 

create a steady, thriving business climate for years to come. 

With strong business comes a quality community. The Greater 

Cheyenne Chamber of Commerce, together with its partner investors, 

makes this community the vibrant, prosperous city it is today. 

The Chamber is directly connected to these community partners who 

step up and stand out for the betterment of all citizens. All efforts 

are focused to continue and sustain a healthy business climate. 

The Chamber is the first destination for all business and is proud 

to service the City of Cheyenne. Learn more about the Chamber by 

visiting www.cheyennechamber.org. 

1 0 0 ✦ C H E Y E N N E : A S E S Q U I C E N T E N N I A L H I S T O R Y

the historic Tivoli Building. In addition to its marketing and sales 

efforts on behalf of the community, the organization purchased a 

Trolley in 1988 and began providing historic tours. Since then, 

the Cheyenne Street Railway has grown to a fleet of four trolleys 

and is one of Cheyenne’s top attractions, providing narrated tours and 

convention transportation. 

In 1991, Visit Cheyenne moved from the chamber office to 309 West 

Lincolnway, where the organization spent the next thirteen years. 

In the early 2000s, Visit Cheyenne played a leadership role in 

redeveloping and reopening Cheyenne’s Historic Depot along with 

the city and other partners. In 2004, Visit Cheyenne moved its office 

and visitor center into the depot where it remains today. 

In 2012, Visit Cheyenne earned the tourism industry’s highest 

accreditation from Destination Marketing Association International 

by meeting eighty-two organizational, marketing, and sales standards. 

In addition, Visit Cheyenne has become a proud member of 

Cheyenne’s economic development team, alongside Cheyenne 

LEADS, the Chamber of Commerce, and Cheyenne DDA/Main Street. 

Visit Cheyenne is proud to have played a role in Cheyenne’s first 

150 years and looks forward to developing Cheyenne’s hospitality 

industry and quality of life over the next 150 years. Visit Cheyenne 

can be found on the Internet at www.cheyenne.org. 

VISIT CHEYENNE 

Left: Cheyenne’s Historic Depot with 

capitol dome in background. 

Below: One of four trolleys and top 

attraction, Cheyenne Street Railway. 

Visit Cheyenne is the official tourism organization for the Cheyenne 

area. It is governed by a board of directors with members appointed 

by Cheyenne, Laramie County, and other nearby communities. 

Visit Cheyenne promotes and develops the Cheyenne area through 

advertising, visitor guides and websites, public relations, convention 

and bus tour solicitation, trolley operation, and two visitor centers. 

The ultimate goal is to attract visitors to Cheyenne where their 

spending will grow the local economy, jobs, and tax base. 

Visit Cheyenne was founded in August 1987 with a successful 

lodging tax election. This tax has been the organization’s primary 

source of funding over the years and has been renewed by the voters 

numerous times since. 

The Cheyenne Area Convention & Visitors Bureau, as it was 

then called, started in the Cheyenne Chamber of Commerce office in 

T h e M a r k e p l a c e ✦ 1 0 1

WYOMING 

STOCK 

GROWERS 

ASSOCIATION 

Above: Theodore Roosevelt and a 

party of several distinguished WSGA 

members rode from Laramie, 

Wyoming, to Cheyenne, Wyoming, in 

July 1910. When the party left 

Laramie there were between 700 and 

1,000 horses in the outfit. 

PHOTO SOURCE: UNIVERSITY OF WYOMING, 

AMERICAN HERITAGE CENTER, WYOMING STOCK 

GROWERS ASSOCIATION COLLECTION. 

Below: The calf bronze dedicated to 

U.S. Senator, Wyoming Governor and 

WSGA President Clifford P. Hansen in 

2005 sits in front of the Wyoming 

State Capitol. Left to right, Cliff and 

Martha Hansen with Jerry Palen, 

bronze artist. 

PHOTO BY WSGA PHOTO 

The open range system in the Wyoming Territory of the late 1800s 

made cattle rustling a tempting career track for ne’er-do-wells of the 

time. To combat this assault on their livelihood, five cattlemen met in 

a Cheyenne livery stable in 1872 to organize a vigilance committee to 

cope with rustlers. 

The meeting was the genesis of the Stock Association of Laramie 

County, which in 1879 was renamed the Wyoming Stock Growers 

Association. The association was involved in a wide range of activities, 

including managing roundups, conducting brand inspections, and 

dealing with health and sanitary concerns. Freight rates, fencing, and 

other public domain issues also occupied the association’s time. 

Today, the association exists to serve the livestock business and families 

of Wyoming by protecting their economic, legislative, regulatory, 

judicial, environmental, custom, and cultural interests. The association, 

as it has done since those early days, places high priority on 

advocating on behalf of the ranching industry both in Cheyenne and 

in Washington, D.C. 

In its early days, the association played an important role in the 

development of Wyoming livestock and rangeland laws beginning in the 

1880s. In more recent years, the association has worked cooperatively 

with federal and state land agencies to maintain sustainable grazing, 

implement range improvements and achieve multiple use objectives. 

The association’s success spawned two affiliated groups. A women’s 

auxiliary, The Wyoming Cow Bells, organized in 1940, and a youth 

group, known as the Junior Wyoming Stock Growers Association, 

organized in 1954. The Wyoming Cow Bells, now the Wyoming 

CattleWomen, have provided invaluable service in the promotion of the 

beef industry, while the Junior Wyoming Stock Growers Association, 

reconstituted as the Young Producer Assembly, prepares future livestock 

producers for success in this challenging-yet-rewarding industry. 

The association now has approximately 1,200 members, three 

full-time employees, and one part-time employee. It is committed to 

remaining solid and true to its mission while being nimble enough to 

change with the industry. A major goal is to strengthen its financial 

resources through the 150th Anniversary Campaign to build its 

endowment to $1.5 million. 

As it approach its own sesquicentennial in 2022, it is focused on 

building an organization that will serve the industry during the next 

fifty years as ably as it has since those five men met in a Cheyenne livery 

stable so many years ago. 


Like many great success stories, the inspiration for Taco John’s ® 

began with Cheyenne’s own John Turner’s simple idea: Make great 

made-to-order tacos using bold spices and sell them from a small 

taco stand during the annual Cheyenne Frontier Days TM celebration. 

Turner’s idea proved so successful that two local entrepreneurs– 

Harold Holmes and Jim Woodson—purchased the franchise rights 

in 1969 and named the restaurant after the man who started it all. 

Holmes and his wife, Nona, owned a manufactured camper 

business, which provided the earliest restaurants a way to operate 

Taco John’s using a simple trailer. The trailers were shipped via 

flatbed trailers to the location and set in place 

with a crane. The restaurants were completed 

and serving great Mexican food in a matter 

of weeks. 

Woodson, a local realtor in Cheyenne, worked 

with his wife, Marian, and with Holmes to 

sell franchise restaurants, helping investors find 

great locations. 

It was not long before Taco John’s restaurants 

began popping up across the Midwest, evolving 

to include drive-thrus, interior seating, and bold 

originals like Potato Olés ® , and pioneering the 

original Taco Tuesday ® . Since opening its first taco 

stand, Taco John’s stands as one of the leading 

quick-serve Mexican chains with 392 restaurants 

and growing. 

Despite consistent expansion 

across the United States, Taco 

John’s still calls Cheyenne “home.” 

Taco John’s International, Inc., 

employs forty-two employees at 

its historic West Edge location. It 

also employs 20 field staff in 

operations, training, marketing, 

and franchise development and has 

over 200 employees in its 

company-owned restaurants. 

Taco John’s is more than 

Cheyenne’s biggest fan; it actively works to support the Cheyenne 

community. With a mission of making a far-reaching impact, 

Taco John’s International donates food to COMEA House and 

donates money every year to Laramie County School District #1. 

Every year, Taco John’s International donates part of the proceeds 

from the annual Nachos Navidad ® campaign to a Cheyenne charity. 

Taco John’s International also supports local communities through a 

program of matching employee contributions to philanthropic causes. 

Taco John’s International looks forward to the next 150 years right 

here in Cheyenne, Wyoming! 

TACO JOHN’S ® 

Above: The original Taco John’s 

located on Carey Avenue. 

Below: The current Taco John’s 

Restaurant at the corner of 

Carey Avenue. 

T h e M a r k e p l a c e ✦ 1 0 3

SUNDAHL, POWERS, KAPP & MARTIN, LLC 

company’s in-house designer and a Boulder, Colorado, architect worked 

to restore the old building. They, and the construction company selected, 

paid special attention to recapturing the original appearance and bringing 

the building up to code. 

Matching the materials on the existing structure proved challenging 

because the brick used on the second floor had not been made in two 

decades. A recently demolished building in Denver built using the 

same brick saved the day, and after structural reinforcements were 

added and adaptations made to bring the building up to code, the 

reconstruction process started. 

Several mill shops went to work to shape wainscoting, moldings, 

and railings, and an embossed metal ceiling was purchased from a 

New York firm said to be the last known company doing such work. 

Stained glass, wooden signs, and gold leaf on the doors were added, 

and a sign painter used turn-of-the-century methods to create the 

wording found on the outside of the building. 

Since purchasing it, Sundahl, Powers, Kapp & Martin, LLC has 

maintained the historical integrity of the building. It is just one more 

way the firm has given back to the Cheyenne community and the 

entire state of Wyoming. 

Sundahl, Powers, Kapp & Martin, LLC (SPKM) has provided first-rate 

legal services to individuals and corporations throughout the state of 

Wyoming since the 1920s. Today, the attorneys bring more than 150 

years of collective experience to bear on legal issues affecting their clients. 

It is only fitting then that a firm entrenched in the history of 

Cheyenne and Wyoming would make its home in a building that dates 

to 1910. The Waldman Building has gone through several makeovers 

through the years, serving as everything from a church to a feed store 

to a restaurant before SPKM purchased the building in 1991. Located 

on the corner of Eighteenth Street and Carey Avenue, the building is 

the second structure to occupy the site. In 1910, it was torn down to 

make way for the current building. 

Throughout the next century, the building served many purposes 

and was remodeled at least twice to give the building a more modern 

look. Eventually, a fast food hamburger chain purchased the building to 

serve as a restaurant. Realizing that restoring the building to its original 

design would be the best thing for the building and the community. The 


BUDD-FALEN 

LAW OFFICES, 

L.L.C. 

Budd-Falen Law Offices, L.L.C., has been serving property 

owners for more than two decades. The firm is owned by Franklin J. 

Falen and his wife, Karen Budd-Falen, whose experience as attorneys 

representing ranchers, farmers, and other landowners is a natural 

outgrowth of their upbringings. Both grew up on and around ranches 

and bring their experience and love for ranching to their work 

representing clients. 

The firm provides legal representation regarding endangered species, 

clean water, private property ownership and use, federal lands, local 

government involvement, local zoning and property rights, energy law, 

and other areas of law affecting ranchers, farmers, and other landowners 

in the federal courts of the United States of America and in several state 

courts. The firm’s attorneys are individually licensed to appear in 

Colorado, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, South 

Dakota, Washington, and Wyoming. 

The attorneys of Budd-Falen Law Offices also have represented clients 

in other states for specific matters when those states allowed its attorneys 

to appear pro hac vice or assist in matters out of the courtroom. The firm 

represents industry clients in Bureau of Land Management and U.S. 

Forest Service appeals. It also represents clients in litigation arising under 

the Endangered Species Act, the Federal Lands Policy and Management 

Act, the National Environmental Policy Act, the Clean Water Act, and 

other environmental statutes. In addition, Budd-Falen Law Offices 

represents landowners with issues related to oil and gas, wind energy, 

solar energy, pipelines, eminent domain, and condemnation. 

Frank has served as chief administrative officer for the Washington 

Cattlemen’s Association and, in 2001, was named the Wyoming 

“Outstanding Ag Citizen of the Year.” Karen served in the Reagan 

Administration for three years in the U.S. Department of the Interior 

and was featured in Newsweek’s “Who’s Who: 20 for the Future” for her 

work on property rights issues. 

The firm traces its roots back five generations in Wyoming to the family 

ranch started by Karen’s family. Frank is a third-generation rancher in the 

Oregon, Idaho, Nevada corner. This tradition of federal land use and private 

property ownership continues today as Budd-Falen Law Offices seeks to 

protect rural traditions and ways of life, while still preserving natural 

resources in a manner consistent with multiple and wise use of the land. 

Above: The Budd-Falen Law Offices 

at 300 East 18th Street. The building 

was originally a residence. 

Below: Frank Falen and Karen 

Budd-Falen. 

T h e M a r k e p l a c e ✦ 1 0 5

CHEYENNE DOWNTOWN DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY 

The DDA has created many successful programs over the years, 

including the Façade Improvement Program, the ReRide Bike Share 

Program, and the shared art space, Cheyenne Creative, just to name 

a few. 

Downtown Cheyenne is an evolving community of wonderful 

retailers and professionals all striving to continually improve and 

solidify our district as “the” place to be. We have recently developed 

a more defined Strategic Plan to encourage an economically vibrant 

downtown. Our four goals strive to: 

• Promote a strong sense of place through design and planning; 

• Create a climate of support and foster new and existing business 

and property owners; 

• Make Downtown Cheyenne the desired destination; and 

• Create a Downtown residential community. 

Above: Downtown party at the 

historic Cheyenne Depot Plaza. 

Right: The Downtown section 

of Lincolnway. 

Established in 1984, Downtown Development Authority was created 

to benefit the businesses and help revitalize the downtown area. The 

Downtown Development Authority/Main Street (DDA/Main Street) 

has a wide variety of projects and programs to preserve Cheyenne’s 

colorful history and to enhance historic Downtown Cheyenne. 

DDA/Main Street is an advocate for downtown businesses and 

property owners, and works with community partners to encourage 

an economically vibrant downtown. 

The DDA is governed by a board of directors appointed by the 

mayor and ratified by the city council. The number of board members 

is nine, allowing for broader representation of downtown property 

and business owners. This is the maximum allowable by state statute. 

The DDA has four committees: 

• Organization; 

• Promotions; 

• Design; and 

• Economic restructuring. 

The DDA is continually striving for the future. Volunteers and staff 

members of DDA/Main Street support local organizations in order 

to help downtown Cheyenne grow. Moving forward Downtown 

Cheyenne will participate and contribute funding to infrastructure 

projects that help meet end goals. 

Visit www.downtowncheyenne.com for a calendar of events or see 

what is planned for Downtown Cheyenne in the near future. 


KGWN-TV is the number one television station serving the 

Cheyenne-Scottsbluff television market. It was the first television station 

in the State of Wyoming, starting in March 1954. The station 

signed on the airwaves under the call letters of KFBC-TV and carried 

programming from all four major networks. 

During KGWN’s early days, programming included local shows like 

“Club 5” and “The Margie O’Brien Show,” a program directed toward 

decorating, fashion, and cooking. The television station employees 

conducted double duty back in those days, whether it was working 

with the companion radio station or, in Margret O’Brien’s case, hosting 

her show and selling advertising. 

Personalities that helped build the television station included 

names such as Larry Birleffi, the sports director known throughout the 

Rocky Mountain region; Kirk Knox, the first newsman of Wyoming; 

and Robert Geha, a recent inductee into the Wyoming Association of 

Broadcasters Hall of Fame. 

Over the years and through ownership changes, the call letters 

eventually changed to KGWN. 

Today, KGWN produces nearly twenty hours of local news a week. The 

local news is complimented by network programming that includes being 

the affiliates for CBS, NBC and the CW. KGWN provides local television 

coverage to more than 57,000 households and has a total reach of more 

than 285,000 households in Wyoming, Nebraska, and Colorado. 

KGWN “Your Station” is proud to call Cheyenne home since 1954. 

KGWN-TV 

Top, left: Groundbreaking ceremony 

in 1954. 

Middle, left: An exterior view of the 

station in 1954. 

Bottom, left: The KGWN news team 

in 1979. 

Below: KGWN’s news studio in 2016. 

T h e M a r k e p l a c e ✦ 1 0 7

ROMSA 

LAW OFFICE,P.C. 

Above: Matthew H. Romsa. 

Romsa Law Office, P.C. was founded by Matthew H. Romsa in 

2002, a fifth generation Romsa of Laramie County. Romsa’s ancestors 

homesteaded in eastern Laramie County in 1906 where Matthew and 

his family currently live, continuing the family heritage of farming 

and ranching in conjunction with the law practice. Romsa began his 

undergraduate studies by obtaining degrees in diesel mechanics, 

business administration, and accounting. Romsa graduated from 

the University of Wyoming College of Law in 1989 and began his 

legal career as the assistant city attorney in Cheyenne for four years; 

in-house counsel for the board of public utilities for four years; and 

then entered private practice. 

Currently, Romsa Law Office, P.C. employs three attorneys: 

Matthew H. Romsa, Jason Johnson and Christopher Brennan. Sharon 

Sara is the paralegal on staff. Each one has deep roots in Wyoming 

and Laramie County. 

Serving the greater Cheyenne area since 2002, Romsa Law Office, P.C., 

located at 2123 Pioneer Avenue, stands prepared to provide its clients 

with full-service legal care. Romsa Law Office, P.C. is a general practice 

firm, focusing on wills, trusts, estates, business and tax planning, 

LLCs, corporations, partnerships, contracts, real estate, construction 

law, injuries, accidents, workmen’s compensation, family law, and 

non-felony criminal matters. We are a hometown firm committed to 

serving the hardworking men and women in the greater Cheyenne area. 

As business lawyers, we encourage all business owners to get an annual 

“check up” with their lawyer. If you do not have one, give us a call. 

We would be honored to serve you as your business is our business! 

Romsa Law Office, P.C. is located at www.romsalaw.com on the 

Internet, where “Hard Working Attorneys for Hard Working Men and 

Women” can be found. 


SPRADLEY BARR 

CHEYENNE 

Kriss Spradley and Bill Barr began their automotive careers in 1977 

in a small town in southern Colorado. In 1988, Kriss and Bill came 

to the beautiful city of Fort Collins, Colorado, and started what is 

now Spradley Barr Ford. 

In 1995 they purchased the Mazda franchise and opened a 

second location in Fort Collins. In 1998, Spradley Barr acquired the 

dealership in wonderful Cheyenne, Wyoming. Kriss and Bill were 

honored to begin a partnership with Bob Womack. 

The three partners have since acquired Spradley Barr in Greeley, 

Colorado. All three partners have the same values, goals, and beliefs 

in what makes a great auto dealership. At all Spradley Barr dealerships 

taking care of customers’ needs is important. Spradley Barr employees 

ensure that every interaction is a good one; from sales and service to 

the parts and body shop. 

But it is not only the customers who are looked after. Employees 

are important to Spradley Barr, too. The company believes in promoting 

from within and has promoted many employees into management 

positions throughout the years. 

Spradley Barr is a hometown family business. Kriss, Bill, and Bob 

are hands-on and readily available. Their goal is complete customer 

and employee satisfaction. Their values have never changed and they 

want everyone to feel like family when they visit. 

With more than forty years of experience selling, servicing, and 

taking care of every automotive need, Spradley Barr’s team continuously 

provides the highest quality service with a sense of warmth, friendliness, 

company spirit, and individual pride. Spradley Barr’s mission is to treat 

every customer and employee with honesty and integrity. Spradley 

Barr has a long history of success due to loyal customers, dedicated 

employees, and great communities. 

Spradley Barr’s website at www.spradleybarrcheyenne.com offers 

a magnitude of information to include but not limited to: hours of 

operation, directions, current stock of new and pre-owned vehicles, 

special deals, financing, parts and service, and much more. 

T h e M a r k e p l a c e ✦ 1 0 9

NAGLE WARREN 

MANSION BED & 

BREAKFAST 

Today, the mansion has twelve guestrooms, each with its own 

bathroom. The main house holds six rooms and the carriage house is 

home to six more. The third-floor tower and snuggery are available for 

guest use, as is the workout room on the garden level. Public areas 

include the parlor, sitting room, dining room, and library as well as 

three conference rooms on the garden level. The grounds include a hot 

tub room, patio, fountain, and gardens. 

The entire house has been decorated to recreate the elegance of the 

Victorian West while adding modern amenities like air conditioning, a 

private bath, telephone, and television in each guestroom. Business 

travelers will appreciate the services of the mansion’s fully equipped 

office and conference center. 

The Nagle Warren Mansion Bed & Breakfast is perfectly suited for 

special events such as bridal and baby showers and engagement 

parties. Enjoy a romantic weekend getaway and English High Tea 

served each Friday and Saturday by staff dressed in period costumes. 

For reservations or a tour, visit www.naglewarrenmansion.com or 

call (307)-637-3333 or (800)-811-2610. 

The Nagle Warren Mansion Bed & Breakfast remains one of 

Cheyenne’s most elegant residences as well as one its most significant 

historical structures. It combines the elegance of the Victorian West 

with amenities expected by modern travelers to provide guests with a 

leisure or business experience unlike any other. 

Erasmus Nagle, who moved to Cheyenne to start a grocery business, 

built the Nagle Warren Mansion in 1888 at a time when Cheyenne was 

one of the richest cities of its size in the world. He built the residence 

at a cost of $50,000 but died two years later of peritonitis, leaving his 

wife and son behind. 

In April 1910, Senator F. E. Warren and his wife, Clara, purchased the 

property at 222 East Seventeenth Street, where they lived for the next 

nineteen years. Upon the senator’s death, Clara donated the property to 

the YWCA, fully furnished, to be used as chaperoned housing for single 

women and as a social gathering place for Cheyenne. 

Jim Osterfoss, the current owner, purchased the property in 1997 

and converted it into the bed and breakfast that exists today. The 

carriage house, originally built as the mansion’s stables, was converted 

into guestrooms and connected to the house. 


The Romano Insurance Agency is a family-owned 

company headed by Adrian Romano. Adrian who grew up 

in a home where insurance and taking care of people 

were the frequent topics of conversation. He learned 

the insurance business from his father, Ted Romano, 

who started the agency in 1976 with a goal to provide 

the people of Cheyenne with personalized service based 

on trust. 

The agency team now consists of incredible agent 

specialists who share the same values and ethic upon 

which the agency was founded. With this philosophy, 

The Romano Insurance Agency continues to forge new 

relationships with valued clients in both Wyoming 

and Colorado. 

Its commitment to policyholders has allowed the 

company to become one of the most trusted insurance 

agencies in Cheyenne and Front Range areas. This trust 

has contributed to the agency receiving many top awards 

and honors from Farmers Companies and has led to recognition as 

being among the top one percent of Farmers agencies nationwide. 

The Romano Insurance Agency has never forgotten that it is the 

relationships it builds with people that have made itsuccessful. 

Customers and non-customers alike are always welcome, 

whether it is to ask questions or discover creative ways to 

protect what is most important to them. 

It takes time and effort to determine the best protection 

available to each customer. The company’s focus will always 

be centered on listening carefully to clients’ concerns and 

helping them care for themselves, their families, and their 

businesses. The company’s staff works hard to build 

relationships and are committed to being there to support 

clients during all aspects of the insurance experience. 

The Romano Insurance Agency understands insurance 

can be costly and confusing. The company’s staff takes the 

time to educate clients and cut through the confusion, 

designing a plan in the clients’ best interests—not the 

company’s. A company mentor once shared, “We are not in 

the insurance or the financial services business, we are in the 

people business, and the day we stop caring about people is 

the day we close our doors.” 

THE ROMANO 

INSURANCE 

AGENCY 

Adrian Romano. 

T h e M a r k e p l a c e ✦ 1 1 1

PREISS 

ENTERPRISES, 

INC. 

It was around 7:30 in the morning in the summer of 1958 when a 

short man in a black derby hat walked into a Cheyenne real estate 

office known as Wallick and Volk. He introduced himself as Ray Kroc 

and asked for help finding a location for a restaurant. His plan was to 

find investors to build and lease a fast-food restaurant to his company, 

known as McDonald’s Restaurants. 

on Yellowstone Road, Cheyenne, and Grand Avenue in Laramie. Since 

then, they have built and operated three additional McDonald’s 

Restaurants in Cheyenne and one more in Laramie. The Preisses currently 

own and operate the five McDonald’s Restaurants in Cheyenne. 

Through the years, Jack and his team developed a system of streamlined 

production and service that have become national and global 

standards. The most obvious is the double-lane drive- thru. Following 

Jack’s lead, developing the most efficient way to serve customers 

has become the norm at today’s McDonald’s Restaurants, and Jack’s 

methods are used in some form around the world. 

After a complete renovation of the East Lincolnway restaurant 

in 2013, the red-and-white tiles used in the original construction 

were used to frame a photograph of the restaurant in its original 

design. It hangs in the lobby of the current, modern version of 

the restaurant. Some customers remember patronizing the original 

restaurant as children and remain good customers today. 

The Preiss family is proud to have played an important role in the 

history of McDonald’s Restaurants in Wyoming and look forward to 

serving customers for many years to come. 

Above: The first McDonald's in 

Wyoming, c. 1959 

Right: The McDonald’s at 2535 East 

Lincolnway, Cheyenne, Wyoming. 

Although the real estate company had never heard of McDonald’s 

Restaurants, eventually it teamed up with other investors to purchase 

the north half of the block on East Lincolnway and build the first 

McDonald’s Restaurant in Wyoming. The restaurant opened in 1959 

as a walk-up service and has grown to a full-service restaurant still 

operating on the same site at 2535 East Lincolnway in Cheyenne. 

The original franchisees were Ken and Marge Reilly, who moved to 

Cheyenne from Illinois. In 1988, after Ken passed away, Jack and 

Suzanne Preiss purchased the restaurant. It was not the first 

McDonald’s Restaurant the Preisses had purchased—far from it. 

They bought their first franchise in Rawlins, Wyoming, in 1982, and, 

six years later, purchased the store on East Lincolnway along with stores 


They say you can tell a lot about a person by how they deal with 

difficulties. Some become discouraged and criticize efforts, while 

others see tough times as a challenge and an opportunity for growth. 

The people of Cheyenne chose the second path when faced with the 

economic bust of the mid 1980s, led by business and civic leaders, 

who decided to take matters into their own hands rather than waiting 

for government intervention. 

employees, only two more than when Cheyenne LEADS started more 

than three decades ago. 

Since its inception, the private sector has contributed more than 

$7.4 million to Cheyenne LEADS’ operations and the city and county 

governments have provided more than $2.2 million. In addition, 

the business community and individuals have contributed more 

than $5.9 million through the Progress and Prosperity capital 

campaigns, much of which has been used to pay for business parks 

and infrastructure. 

This investment is paying dividends with more than 80 new 

or expanded companies and more than 6,000 new direct jobs. 

The annual payroll from the jobs Cheyenne LEADS can track exceeded 

$170 million in 2016. The capital investment 

into the community from those companies 

has now exceeded $1 billion and is growing 

monthly. Millions of tax dollars annually 

flow into state and local government 

coffers, and the overall effect has had an 

overwhelmingly positive impact on the 

local economy. 

Cheyenne LEADS looks forward to 

continuing to serve as a driving force for 

economic development for Cheyenne and 

Laramie County for many years to come. 

CHEYENNE 

LEADS 

They formed Cheyenne LEADS in 1986 to serve as a vehicle 

for economic development for Cheyenne and Laramie County. 

Individuals and businesses stepped up to fund the initiative at a time 

when they could ill afford to tack another expense onto the liabilities 

side of their budgets. But they understood something that others 

might have missed—doing nothing would cost even more through 

bankrupt businesses, lost jobs, and a prolonged economic downturn. 

Cheyenne LEADS was established as a private, not-for-profit 

corporation serving as the economic development entity for the 

City of Cheyenne and Laramie County. It is funded 46 percent by 

LEADS members, 12 percent by local government, and is 42 percent 

self-funded. The Cheyenne LEADS board is a policy board with 

the work being done by a paid professional staff of five full-time 

T h e M a r k e p l a c e ✦ 1 1 3

MERIDIAN 

TRUST FEDERAL 

CREDIT UNION 

Right: Meridian Trust Federal Credit 

Union Downtown branch location 

ribbon-cutting ceremony. 

Below: Meridian Trust Federal 

Credit Union Cheyenne East branch 

location, which was opened in 2004. 

In its sixty-three years of service to people in communities around 

the State of Wyoming and beyond, Meridian Trust Federal Credit 

Union has produced landmark successes and expansive growth. 

Chartered in Cheyenne in January 1954, a small office opened 

two months later in the State Board of Charities and Reform. In 1955 

the credit union was moved to a basement storage room in the 

State Capital Building, where volunteers took deposits for their 

fellow state employees. Known then as Wyoming Employees Federal 

Credit Union, it hired its first full-time employee in 1958. 

After spending a year working out of a garage facility behind the 

Wyoming Travel Commission, the current property at 2223 Warren 

Avenue in downtown Cheyenne was purchased in 1977. Meridian 

Trust Federal Credit Union began opening more branches across the 

state, including in Lander, Jackson, and Rawlins, and its first branch 

outside the Wyoming border, in Scottsbluff, Nebraska in 2013. 

The historic success of this financial cooperative continues with 

assets at the start of 2017 exceeding $338 million with 85 employees 

serving more than 28,000 members. Kim Withers, Meridian Trust 

Federal Credit Union’s CEO since 1994, envisions a promising future 

for members and employees of the credit union. “We have always 

embraced the idea of service for our members and continuing our 

success as a financial co-op.” 

Throughout its history, the mission of Meridian Trust Federal 

Credit Union has not changed. Offering the best in personal service 

and the highest-quality financial products at the lowest possible cost 

has always been fundamental to the organization. This stands true 

whether the service is provided at a physical branch location, over 

the phone through its dedicated call center, or in utilizing the newest 

and greatest in online and electronic tools. 

As members become more interested in managing their finances 

around the clock, Meridian Trust keeps pace. The credit union 

provides easy online account opening, along with free online bill pay 

and strong electronic banking tools. All this, plus an unbeatable 

mobile app that allows members to pay their bills, deposit checks 

and conduct financial transactions anytime from anywhere all from 

their smartphone. The mission of serving members has not changed 

in sixty-three years, only the tools to meet modern demands with 

increased speed, efficiency and access. 

Additional information is available at www.MyMeridianTrust.com. 


As a young man beginning legal practice in Green River, Wyoming, 

in 1928, Carlton Lathrop had assets: intelligence, charm, and a 

competitive spirit. A clergyman’s son, he had a solid family 

background, and a Harvard degree and the offer of a Rhodes Scholarship 

highlighted his resume. 

Lathrop enjoyed a successful legal career, compiling an impressive 

record of favorable court rulings. He handled major estate and entity 

work and was a fellow in the American College of Trial Lawyers. Highly 

regarded as a lawyer and Cheyenne community leader, he served as 

chamber of commerce and Rotary Club president and as director and 

general counsel for American National Bank. 

Lathrop’s son, Carl, earned his law degree from the University 

of Colorado. He joined his father’s firm in 1955 after practicing 

law in Sundance for three years. Carl developed an impressive 

career of his own. He served as president of the Wyoming State 

Bar in 1980, was elected to fellowship in the American College of 

Trial Lawyers and American College of Trust and Estate Counsel, 

and was listed in Best Lawyers 

in America. Carl has also 

found time for his community, 

serving on the school board, 

chamber of commerce board, 

and Cheyenne Frontier Days 

Committee. As the firm’s senior 

member since his father’s 

death in 1967, Carl has led by 

example within and outside 

the firm. 

Kent Rutledge was inspired 

to go to law school because of 

Carlton and Carl, who were 

lawyers for the Rutledge Ranch 

where he grew up. Thework 

ethic and principles Kent 

learned on the ranch coincided 

with those of the Lathrops, 

and in 1974, he joined Carl 

in the law practice. Due in 

large part to the opportunities created by the Lathrops, Kent 

has enjoyed his own success as a lawyer, mainly in commercial 

and medical malpractice litigation. In 1999, he was elected to 

fellowship in the American College of Trial Lawyers. Kent also 

has been active in the community, having served on the board of 

the Cheyenne Chamber of Commerce, as chairman and as a board 

member of the Cheyenne Frontier Days Committee, and as a Rotary 

Club member. 

Lathrop & Rutledge continues to emphasize high ethical 

standards, hard work, and quality representation. The firm’s other 

shareholder is Corey Rutledge, who joined the firm in 1989 

and is involved primarily in medical malpractice litigation. Sharing 

the values ingrained in the firm by Carlton, she has contributed greatly 

to the firm’s success. Corey has served as president of 

the Wyoming Association of Defense Trial Counsel. Erin Barkley 

joined the firm as an associate in 2013. She provides support in 

litigation cases. 

LATHROP & 

RUTLEDGE, P.C. 

(From left to right) Kent and Corinne 

E. Rutledge, and Carl Lathrop. 

T h e M a r k e p l a c e ✦ 1 1 5

An aerial view of Frontier Park and 

Lions park showing Kiddieland in 

upper left hand corner. To the left of 

Kiddieland is the sunken garden and 

to the right is the “midget train.” 

When the amusement park opened for 

the season in 1952 an advertisement 

in the Wyoming State Tribune said 

the park was “Fun for All” and “Bring 

the Kiddies” to enjoy the rides and 

“help dedicate Cheyenne’s New, 

Modern Amusement Park.” 

COURTESY OF THE OLD WEST MUSEUM. 


QUALITY OF LIFE 

H e a l t h c a r e p r o v i d e r s , s c h o o l s , l i b r a r i e s , a n d o t h e r i n s t i t u t i o n s 

t h a t c o n t r i b u t e t o t h e q u a l i t y o f l i f e i n C h e y e n n e 

C h e y e n n e R e g i o n a l M e d i c a l C e n t e r .............................................................................................118 

S T R I D E L e a r n i n g C e n t e r ..........................................................................................................120 

N a t i o n a l C e n t e r f o r A t m o s p h e r i c R e s e a rc h ...................................................................................122 

L a r a m i e C o u n t y C o m m u n i t y C o l l e g e ...........................................................................................124 

L i f e C a re C e n t e r o f C h e y e n n e ....................................................................................................126 

P o i n t e F ro n t i e r S e n i o r L i v i n g C o m m u n i t y ....................................................................................127 

F ro n t i e r O r a l S u rgery & I m p l a n t C e n t e r .....................................................................................128 

S a i n t s C o n s t a n t i n e a n d H e l e n G re e k O r t h o d o x C h u rc h ...................................................................129 

L a r a m i e C o u n t y L i b r a r y S y s t e m .................................................................................................130 

C o l l e g e A m e r i c a .......................................................................................................................131 

L a r a m i e C o u n t y S c h o o l D i s t r i c t 1 ...............................................................................................132 

C h e y e n n e S y m p h o n y O rc h e s t r a ..................................................................................................133 

L a r a m i e C o u n t y C o m m i s s i o n .....................................................................................................134 

S t a t e o f Wy o m i n g ....................................................................................................................135 

P ro t e c t i o n & A d v o c a c y S y s t e m , I n c . ............................................................................................136 

S k i l s ’ k i n ................................................................................................................................137 

C h e y e n n e F ro n t i e r D a y s T M ........................................................................................................138 

S M A RT S p o r t s M e d i c i n e C e n t e r ..................................................................................................139 

Q u a l i t y o f L i f e ✦ 1 1 7

CHEYENNE 

REGIONAL 

MEDICAL CENTER 

Cheyenne Regional Medical Center has been fulfilling its mission to 

nurture and improve the health of individuals and the quality of life in 

the community long before it took on its current name and structure. 

Its roots go back as far as 1867, when the City of Cheyenne paid $125 

for hospital supplies and a tent, which had been set up a year earlier 

along the Union Pacific Railroad tracks to care for the sick working on 

the transcontinental railroad. 

Born as a “tent hospital,” Cheyenne Regional has changed, grown, 

and improved throughout several generations, and through it all the 

pioneering spirit on which it was founded has continued to lead and 

inspire healthcare excellence in the region. It is driven to provide 

patients and partners with the highest quality experience possible 

through steadfast determination to serve others. 

The tent that started it all was replaced a year later by a small, twostory 

building with a capacity to treat as many as forty patients and 

constructed at a cost of $2,500. There were no trained nurses, plumbing, 

or lights other than kerosene lamps, and although the hospital 

continued to grow, it was many years before it came to resemble a 

modern medical center. Records dated 1893 show the hospital’s 

inventory consisted of 1 hypodermic syringe, 1 clinical thermometer, 

2 pair of crutches, 8 medical reference books, 25 iron-and-wood 

bedsteads, 25 air mattresses, 1 calling bell, and several spittoons. 

Cheyenne Regional is much better equipped today. It employs 

more than 2,000 people, including more than 170 active/associate 

medical staff, and have 222 licensed beds (120 medical-surgical, 

16 pediatric medical-surgical, 19 obstetric, 15 intensive care, 

20 physical rehabilitation, 16 psychiatric care, and 16 skilled nursing 

care). Its facilities also include 10 surgical suites. 

Cheyenne Regional offers a comprehensive line of healthcare 

services including cardiovascular, cancer, orthopedics, women 

and children’s services, trauma, rehabilitation, home care, hospice, 

behavioral health, medical imaging, lab services, wound management 

and hyperbaric medicine. 

A major contributor to the growth of the hospital occurred in 

1900 when a typhoid epidemic put such a demand on the hospital 

that residents realized the necessity of having a hospital that could care 

for many patients. Several women who had assisted in treating patients 

during the epidemic formed the Hospital Aid Society, a precursor to 

the current Laramie County Memorial Hospital Foundation, which 

raises funds to support the hospital and advance its mission. 

The Hospital Aid Society raised funds to remodel the existing 

hospital of that time. In 1901, Sarah Jane McKenzie was hired as the 

first matron and superintendent. She quickly organized a training 

school for nurses, which led to the founding of the school of nursing. 

Two years later, six students graduated from the first class. 


Throughout the twentieth century, 

the hospital was remodeled and 

expanded many times. It also went 

through several mergers and name 

changes. One of the most significant 

developments was construction of the 

West Tower Building, a seven-story 

wing attached to the main complex. 

Completed in 1968, it housed new 

physical therapy and X-ray departments, 

admitting and emergency room 

areas, cafeteria and kitchen, a maternity 

floor with new labor and delivery, 

newborn nursery, postpartum nursing 

space, and 120 patient beds. 

That same year, a Cobalt 60 unit to 

treat cancer was purchased, continuing a long history of cancer 

treatment at Cheyenne Regional. In 1985 the hospital opened its 

Radiation Therapy Complex giving Cheyenne area residents access to 

a major cancer treatment center specializing in radiation oncology. 

The center is accredited by the American College of Radiology. 

Cheyenne Regional has a strong, growing hospitalist program. We 

employ an exceptional roster of highly skilled, specialized physicians 

to treat a variety of patients and diagnoses around the clock. This 

program benefits and promotes the overall goal of providing patients 

with a collaborative, seamless approach to their healthcare needs. 

Cheyenne Regional Medical Group (CRMG) is the state’s largest 

medical group with approximately seventy-five providers offering 

a complete continuum of care from pediatrics and family medicine 

to advanced specialty care such as oncology, orthopedics and 

cardiology. CRMG is part of the Cheyenne Regional healthcare system 

serving the people of Southeast Wyoming, Northern Colorado and 

Western Nebraska. 

When you come to Cheyenne Regional, passionate physicians, 

nurses and staff will be here to encourage you with confidence and 

compassion throughout the healing process. We know our region 

better than any other healthcare system, and we are committed to 

providing you with the exceptional care you seek and deserve. 

Opposite, top: Sixteenth Street, 

Cheyenne, 1868. 

Opposite, bottom: St. Johns Hospital, 

original building at Twenty-Third and 

Evans Street. 

Left: Laramie County Memorial 

Hospital, Cheyenne, Wyoming. 

Below: Cheyenne Regional 

Medical Center. 

Q u a l i t y o f L i f e ✦ 1 1 9

STRIDE 

LEARNING 

CENTER 

STRIDE Learning Center is an 

early intervention and developmental 

preschool serving children 

from birth through age five, who 

have developmental delays or 

disabilities and live in Cheyenne 

and/or Laramie County. STRIDE 

also teaches children who are 

typically developing so they may 

receive general education in 

preschool classrooms and serve as 

“Pacesetters” for children with 

educational disabilities. 

The genesis for STRIDE Learning 

Center, which incorporated as a nonprofit 501(c)(3) in 1973, goes 

back to February 1954 when seven mothers held a party for 

their “retarded” children. The meeting inspired the mothers to 

develop a school for their children they named the Opportunity 

School. Considering most children with intellectual disabilities 

were institutionalized in those days, starting a school to meet their 

developmental and educational needs was quite unusual. 

Throughout the next two decades, the school moved, changed 

names, and evolved several times until April 14, 1972, it became STRIDE 

Learning Center, serving only children age two to six with developmental 

disabilities. STRIDE stood 

for Special, Training, Research, 

Individual, Development, and 

Experience and accepted children 

with what was then known as 

“mental retardation” as well as 

children with hearing and speech 

problems, physical or neurological 

problems, and emotional problems. 

In 1989 the purchase of the 

current facility at 326 Parsley 

Boulevard was completed. 

As STRIDE continued to grow, 

new office space and classrooms 

were added to the Parsley Boulevard site. In 2009 the campus at 

5801 Yellowstone Highway was purchased to house the Infant and 

Toddler Program and to provide more preschool classrooms. To meet 

the needs of the children served, STRIDE created a specialized 

program for children on the autism spectrum and a specialized Deaf 

and Hard of Hearing Program. 


children and families. All early childhood special education teachers, 

speech language pathologists, physical therapists, occupational therapists, 

and a school nurse are highly qualified and are licensed to practice 

in Wyoming. All services are provided at no cost to the family for eligible 

children and children are never turned away or put on a waiting list. 

Through the years, STRIDE Learning Center has provided services to 

more than 10,000 children and their families. In 1960 the center served 

eighteen children in a single year, and by 2016, this number had 

grown to 695. Better child-find activities and screenings, physicians’ 

understanding of the importance of early intervention, and advances in 

medicine leading to increased survival rates have led to the steady 

increase in the number of children served. 

Today, STRIDE Learning Center employs more than eighty people in 

an array of jobs. Together, they strive to fulfill the STRIDE mission to 

provide comprehensive, quality services for children with special needs 

and their family in a safe, inclusive, and compassionate environment so 

they may achieve their fullest potential. 

STRIDE operates under a contract with the Wyoming Department 

of Health, Behavioral Health Division, to provide the services mandated 

by the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. As such, 

STRIDE operates two distinct programs, a Preschool Program and an 

Infant and Toddler Program. The Preschool Program provides for special 

education and related services for children three years old through 

five years old that are identified as educationally eligible in accordance 

with State of Wyoming requirements. The Infant and Toddler Program 

provides for early intervention for children from birth through two 

years of age who have, or are at risk for, developmental delays. 

STRIDE employees work closely with families to understand and 

build on children’s strengths and to provide services that support 

Q u a l i t y o f L i f e ✦ 1 2 1

NATIONAL 

CENTER FOR 

ATMOSPHERIC 

RESEARCH 

Above: The NCAR-Wyoming 

Supercomputing Center (NWSC) in 

Cheyenne, Wyoming, provides 

advanced computing and data services 

to researchers in the Earth System 

sciences. The facility is extremely 

energy efficient, and is powered in 

part by renewable energy from wind. 

Below: The NWSC Visitor Center 

is open to the public and offers a 

high-quality educational experience 

about the NWSC facility and NCAR 

science. It provides windows into the 

computer room, videos, animations, 

interactive games, question-andanswer 

displays, and vivid science 

images and narratives. 

The powerful supercomputers at the National Center for Atmospheric 

Research (NCAR)-Wyoming Supercomputing Center (NWSC) in 

Cheyenne, Wyoming, allow scientists to study climate and weather, 

explore the dynamics of the Earth and Sun, and better understand 

how we interact with our natural world. In the West, where weather 

extremes have long been a fact of life, gaining knowledge about 

our environment is helping us plan and respond better to the 

consequences of changing weather patterns such as wildfires, flash 

floods, and drought. 

Today’s highly detailed computer models capture science’s 

best understanding of the interplay between the natural forces that 

determine how our planet behaves. These models allow scientists to 

test ideas and serve as “virtual laboratories” allowing them to run 

experiments that would be impossible otherwise, like peering into the 

Sun’s corona, or changing the circulation of the oceans, or modifying 

the composition of the atmosphere. 

NCAR provides advanced computing services to scientists nationwide 

who pursue a broad range of research projects in disciplines 

including weather, climate, oceanography, air pollution, space weather, 

computational science, energy production, and carbon sequestration. 

NCAR also supports the university community with supercomputing 

services through the NWSC, and provides the research and teaching 

communities at U.S. universities with tools such as aircraft 

and radar to observe the atmosphere and with the technology 

and assistance to interpret and use these observations. 

NCAR scientists work with collaborators in universities, 

government agencies, and the private sector on research 

topics in atmospheric chemistry, cloud physics, climate, 

storms, weather hazards to aviation, and interactions 

between the Sun and Earth. Scientists are carefully 

investigating future climate, the predictability of severe 

weather, the availability of resources for both energy 

and water needs, and the impacts of human activities on 

the environment. 

The NWSC in Cheyenne plays an important role in 

these efforts. The scientific mission of the NWSC is to help 

scientists better understand our planet, and to apply this 

knowledge to help people. This mission also inspires the 

guiding principle at the heart of the NWSC—to maximize 

the benefits of this facility to society while minimizing its 

environmental impact. 


NCAR used this guiding principle to create a facility that uses energy 

and water resources efficiently, is adaptable to new technologies, uses 

sustainable and recycled materials, and reduces or eliminates waste 

during both its construction and its ongoing operation. The design and 

construction of the NWSC earned it the U.S. Green Building Council’s 

Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold 

certification, an exceptional achievement for a supercomputing center. 

The public is welcome to explore and learn more about science, 

supercomputing, and data center design at the NWSC Visitor Center, 

and online at www.nwsc.ucar.edu. 

NCAR is a federally funded research and development center devoted 

to service, research, and education in the atmospheric and related 

sciences, and is managed by the University Corporation for 

Atmospheric Research (UCAR), a nonprofit consortium of more than 

100 universities. The National Science Foundation is NCAR’s sponsor, 

with significant additional support provided by other U.S. government 

agencies and smaller amounts of funding from the private sector and 

international agencies. The NWSC was made possible through a 

partnership among NCAR, NSF, the University of Wyoming, the State 

of Wyoming, the Cheyenne LEADS economic development group, 

the Wyoming Business Council, and Black Hills Energy. All NWSC 

operations are housed in a sustainable state-of-the-art facility built on 

twenty-four acres in the North Range Business Park west of Cheyenne. 

Since opening in 2012, the 

NWSC has housed some of the 

world’s fastest supercomputers for 

scientific research. Supercomputers 

are used for intensive data analysis 

and other complex tasks—like 

detailed simulations and visual 

representations of global weather, 

which would overwhelm an ordinary 

computer. The supercomputer 

named Cheyenne was ranked as 

the twentieth most powerful 

computer in the world when it 

began operations in late 2016. 

The NWSC is also home to a 

premier data storage and archival facility that preserves valuable 

scientific data, including unique historical climate records. 

While no one can predict all the environmental challenges the 

Earth and its people will face in the future, the scientists who use the 

NWSC are working to help cope with the accelerating pace of changes 

in the weather and climate, and to answer some of the planet’s most 

important and difficult questions. 

Left: Performing 5.34 quadrillion 

calculations per second, the Cheyenne 

supercomputer supports scientists 

studying weather and climate, 

wildfires, seismic activity, airflows 

that generate power at wind farms, 

and much more. Simulations running 

on Cheyenne advance the knowledge 

needed for saving lives, protecting 

property, and enabling U.S. businesses 

to better compete in the 

global marketplace. 

Below: This two-dimensional image 

is derived from 3D data output by 

Yellowstone, the NWSC’s first 

supercomputer, which simulated the 

physical processes inside the Sun that 

produce a sunspot. This image shows 

detailed interactions of horizontal 

and vertical magnetic fields in the 

transition zone from the sunspot’s 

umbra (dark center) to its 

penumbra (lighter outer region.) 

A supercomputer’s ability to 

perform these physics calculations 

allows scientists to “see” below the 

Sun’s surface—something that is 

impossible through direct 

observation—and this is one reason 

why supercomputing is such a 

valuable part of modern science. 

Q u a l i t y o f L i f e ✦ 1 2 3

LARAMIE COUNTY 

COMMUNITY 

COLLEGE 

Opponents of the college had requested a “cease and desist” order, 

which was delivered to trustee J. O. Reed as he stood on the site 

with the board and other members of the community during the 

groundbreaking ceremony. Reed accepted the letter, stuffed it in his 

pocket without reading it, and proceeded with the groundbreaking. 

“The college that cannot be built” is a story of persistence and 

perseverance that led to the formation and growth of Laramie County 

Community College (LCCC) beginning a half century ago and 

continuing to this day. Throughout its existence, this can-do attitude 

has spurred the college to fulfill the mission of “transforming our 

students’ lives through the power of inspired learning.” 

It was inspired thinking that led to the creation of the college. 

Political experts claimed the county lacked the resources and 

community support to make the college a reality. Yet, on May 21, 

1968, the electorate voted in favor of establishing a community 

college in Cheyenne. 

Although the college continued 

to face opposition, 

support rapidly grew. Doran 

Lummis and the Arp family 

donated 168 acres of cattle 

pasture toward making the 

initiative a success, giving the 

land to the board of trustees 

to use as it wished. A well 

was drilled, free of charge, to 

make sure the new site had 

water, and soon ground was 

broken for the new college— 

although not without an 

element of drama. 

Today, LCCC is a full-service, comprehensive community college 

with campuses in Cheyenne and Laramie and outreach centers in 

Pine Bluffs and at F. E. Warren Air Force Base, providing a wide 

range of academic, career/technical, and community programs. The 

college is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission of the 

North Central Association of Colleges and Schools. 

LCCC understands students, regardless of who they are or how 

they arrive at the college, yearn for a better life by engaging in the 

process of acquiring knowledge. The faculty and staff of LCCC aid 

in this transformation by offering diverse educational experiences 

designed to be inspirational in the learning process. The entirety of 

LCCC’s work is grounded in the four foundational elements of the 

comprehensive community college mission: 

• to prepare people to succeed academically in college-level learning; 

• to engage students in learning activities that prepare and advance 

them through the pursuit of a baccalaureate degree; 

• to develop individuals to enter or advance in productive, lifefulfilling 

occupations and professions; and 

• to enrich the communities LCCC serves through activities that 

stimulate and sustain a healthy society and economy. 


Through the years, the campus has grown to include 

twenty-five buildings on the 271-acre LCCC campus. 

These include three residence halls with a capacity 

of 250, a recreation and athletics complex, indoor 

and outdoor rodeo arenas, high-tech health sciences 

building, library, state-of-the-art science complex, and 

fully equipped and highly functional classrooms and 

computer labs. The newest buildings, constructed 

thanks to overwhelming community and legislative 

support, are the Clay Pathfinder Building and the Flex 

Tech Building, both of which were constructed in 2016. 

Although only a third as old as Cheyenne, LCCC 

has grown and matured with the city. Originally 

designed as a place for high school graduates to take the 

first steps on their higher education journeys, the college 

now serves all students, providing educational opportunities that 

help create a bridge between high school and four-year universities 

while also launching skilled workers directly into the workforce. 

LCCC also helps unemployed or under-employed people train for 

better careers, provides education for students needing high school 

equivalency degrees, improves the skills of entire companies who 

send employees to specialized training, and creates the future leaders 

of Cheyenne, Laramie County, and the region. 

At LCCC, everyone has the freedom to innovate and take informed 

risks based on promising practices and creative ideas, learning and 

growing from failures as much as from successes. Clear academic 

pathways, high-touch services, and engaged employees are the bedrock 

of the students’ success. The entire LCCC team drives collaboration 

throughout the community to ensure the success of all students: 

improving the world of higher education, facing seemingly impossible 

challenges, and committing tirelessly to help every learner. 

Q u a l i t y o f L i f e ✦ 1 2 5

LIFE CARE CENTER OF CHEYENNE 

Surrounded by beauty and centrally located, Life Care Center of 

Cheyenne is a perfect choice for inpatient or outpatient rehabilitation 

or for the long-term care for you or a loved one. Life Care Center 

opened its doors in 1988 to provide residents with skilled nursing, 

short-term rehabilitation, and post-operative recovery services. 

Our 155-bed facility employs more than 250 people, including an 

array of specialty employees such as physicians and occupational, 

speech, and physical therapists. Life Care Center’s in-house rehabilitation 

staff offers state-of-the-art rehab equipment with an onsite 

physician offering faster, more convenient patient and resident care. 

Caregivers provide the highest levels of care and service to all, 

regardless of how basic or critical their needs. 

Life Care Centers of America—the parent company for Life Care 

Center of Cheyenne—is committed to being a premier provider of 

long-term healthcare. It is our desire to be the facility of choice in 

any community in which we operate. Our programs, services, and 

facilities are designed and operated with superior quality to satisfy 

the needs of our customers. 

The Life Care Centers of America story began in 1970 when the 

company’s founder, Forrest Lee Preston, built the first Life Care 

Center in Cleveland, Tennessee. Long before the concept of continuum 

of care became popular, Preston recognized the importance of providing 

such care. The Cheyenne site is a good example of this vision with 

Point Frontier Senior Living Community, an assisted living and 

independent living facility, located on the same campus as Life 

Care Center of Cheyenne. 

Future plans for development of a ten-acre site north of the campus 

for sixty-five new units of assisted living and memory care. Memory 

care is designed to serve dementia patients who need specialized 

attention to secure their health and safety. 

Life Care Center of Cheyenne is committed to upholding the values 

that have made the company successful. We believe our residents 

are our highest priority, deserving of dignity, respect, and rights in a 

loving and caring environment. Our resident-centered approach to 

care means meeting the total needs of residents, and we encourage 

families to be closely involved in meeting the residents’ needs. 

Life Care Centers of Cheyenne is responsive to the continuum 

of care needs of our community and will remain committed to our 

residents, community, and employees for many years to come. 


Pointe Frontier Senior 

Living Community is a 159- 

unit senior living facility 

in Cheyenne. The first 

residents were welcomed 

on March 31, 1989. It is 

proud to be part of a 

continuum of care campus, 

working closely with Life 

Care Center of Cheyenne. 

Pointe Frontier offers both independent living and assisted 

living. Independent living residents enjoy retirement surrounded 

by friendly peers and associates dedicated to creating a relaxing 

and enriching environment. Residents have the freedom to make 

their own schedules while forgetting the taxing aspects of everyday 

life, such as apartment maintenance, housekeeping, cooking, and 

laundry services. 

Assisted living residents enjoy living a fulfilling lifestyle while 

receiving help with daily activities and medication management. 

Our associates take care of the details of everyday life, freeing 

residents to enjoy what they love most. 

All residents at Pointe Frontier enjoy conveniences such as luxury 

transportation, twenty-four-hour emergency response system monitored 

by onsite staff, restaurant-style dining, fitness center, library, 

game room, live music, and a full calendar of outings and events. 

Also, available to our residents is the Life Care Center of Cheyenne, 

which is conveniently located on our continuum of care campus. 

The Life Care Center provides a full spectrum of long-term care 

services and a state-of-the-art rehabilitation therapy center. Our 

complete umbrella of care provides incomparable value and allows 

our residents to gracefully age in peace. 

Pointe Frontier offers a variety of apartment sizes designed to meet 

individual tastes and budget. Throughout the nearly thirty years of 

business in Cheyenne, Pointe Frontier has been fortunate to train and 

retain many of the seventy plus associates that service residents. 

Several of Pointe Frontier’s employees have long employment histories 

with the senior living community; some have been serving seniors 

since it opened. 

POINTE FRONTIER SENIOR LIVING COMMUNITY 

A tour of Pointe Frontier is always 

available on a scheduled or walk-in 

basis. Visitors are welcome to join 

the residents for one of the three 

chef-prepared meals served daily. 

At Pointe Frontier, you can enjoy 

a full schedule of social, recreational, 

and wellness activities while the 

friendly staff take care of the chores. 

Whether enjoying a recreational 

activity, experiencing a great meal, or 

spending quality time with friends and 

family, at Pointe Frontier you can enjoy your retirement to its fullest. 

Live the Legendary Lifestyle! 

Q u a l i t y o f L i f e ✦ 1 2 7

FRONTIER ORAL 

SURGERY & 

IMPLANT CENTER 

Frontier Oral Surgery & Implant Center provides Cheyenne-area 

patients a full scope of oral and maxillofacial surgery using the 

latest technology while focusing on comfort, safety and the overall 

well-being of its clients. Dr. Mariam Hamidi and her staff strive to 

give patients both professional and personable service for the most 

effective and pleasant experience possible. 

As an oral and maxillofacial surgeon, Dr. Hamidi treats a wide 

variety of issues relating to the mouth, teeth, and facial region with 

expertise in skeletal surgery, maxillofacial trauma, maxillofacial 

pathology, dental alveolar surgery, cosmetic surgery, reconstructive 

facial surgery, general anesthesia, and dental and facial implants. 

Her expertise ranges from dental implant surgery and wisdom tooth 

removal to corrective jaw surgery. This includes techniques to rebuild 

bone structure with minimal surgical intervention and optimal patient 

comfort. She also diagnoses and treats facial pain, facial injuries, 

and fractures. 

commission in the Army, completing a one-year training in advanced 

education in general dentistry before matriculating into a four-year 

oral and maxillofacial residency at Madigan Army Medical Center 

in Tacoma, Washington, one of the Army’s most respected hospitals. 

Dr. Mariam Hamidi. 

Dr. Hamidi earned a biology degree from the University of 

California at Riverside and a doctorate of medical dentistry from 

Tufts School of Dental Medicine, graduating at the top of her 

class. After graduating from dental school, Dr. Hamidi received a 

After completing her advanced degree in oral and maxillofacial 

surgery, Dr. Hamidi worked at Evans Community Hospital where 

she mentored residents of a one-year advanced education in general 

dentistry residency. She was awarded the Army Commendation 

Medal with three oak leaf clusters and was rated superior in every 

evaluation period. 

As a board-certified oral and maxillofacial surgeon, Dr. Hamidi is 

a member of several organizations, including the American 

Association of Dental Anesthesiology, the International Congress of 

Oral Implantology, and the American Association of Oral & 

Maxillofacial Surgeons. 

Dr. Hamidi speaks several languages, enjoys golf, hiking, and 

cycling and is deeply involved in charities helping third-world 

countries. Having served in the Army, Dr. Hamidi will always have 

a special place in her heart for the men and women in uniform, 

and as a lover of the great outdoors is excited to call Cheyenne 

her home. 


SAINTS CONSTANTINE AND 

HELEN GREEK ORTHODOX CHURCH 

By Father Jason Dickey 

If a city’s vitality and richness of life depends on its faith and 

culture, then you need not fear Greeks bearing gifts. As a matter of 

fact, Cheyenne owes its unique character to the Greeks who left 

poverty and oppression behind them while seeking a better life in the 

American West at the turn of the twentieth century from halfway 

across the world. 

Like many immigrants, they came to Wyoming to support their 

families with the hope of returning to Greece. They worked in mines 

and on the rails, which had brought them here in the first place. 

In their spare time, they also managed to establish Wyoming’s 

first Orthodox Church in 1922 on the corner of Twenty-Seventh 

and Thomes—the same street corner where the late Archbishop 

Athenagoras stood in 1931 on the day of its consecration, pointing 

to the dome of the State Capital saying: “Never forget how blessed 

you are to be here. Always be proud to be both Greek and American.” 1 

Athenagoras was as insightful as he was prophetic. By the time 

construction was complete in 1934, Saints Constantine and Helen 

had become more than a Church building. It had become a spiritual 

home for Orthodox Christians, and was well on its way to becoming 

Cheyenne’s Orthodox Church. 

We are blessed at Saints Constantine and Helen to have predecessors 

who were faithful in pursuing a hope for a better life. As we honor 

our past, and build upon our future, our prayer is that our spiritual 

family will continue to grow as we serve our brothers and sisters 

in Cheyenne realizing that “no one can lay a foundation other than 

the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.” 2 

Whether it be in prayer, helping those in need, or partying at 

the Annual Greek Festival, Cheyenne’s Orthodox Church has 

been sharing a culture of 

faith, love, and hospitality 

for nearly a century. Come 

join us! Our doors are 

always open! 

1 

Archbishop ATHENAGORAS 

later served as the Ecumenical 

Patriarch of Constantinople 

and leader of all Orthodox 

Christians from 1948-1974. 

2 

1st Corinthians 3:11 

Top, left: Saints Constantine and 

Helen shortly after construction was 

first completed, c. 1936. 

Above: Saints Constantine and 

Helen present-day located at 

501 West Twenty-Seventh Street. 

Left: The inside dome depicting 

Christ the “Pantokrator” 

(Christ the “Almighty.”) 

Q u a l i t y o f L i f e ✦ 1 2 9


LIBRARY SYSTEM 

by Laramie County Librarian 

Carey D. Hartmann 

Top: Laramie County Library in the 

former Carnegie building located at 

the southeast corner of Twenty-Second 

Street and Capitol Avenue. Built in 

1902 and torn down in 1969. 

Above: The Laramie County 

Library, from 1969-2007, located at 

2800 Central Avenue, is now the 

Wyoming State Library. 

Top, right: Bookmobile parked in 

front of the current Laramie County 

Library located at 2200 Pioneer 

Avenue. This branch opened in 

September 8, 2007. 

Established in 1886 when Wyoming was a territory, the Laramie 

County Library System in Cheyenne is the oldest, continually 

operating county library system in the United States. Citizens of 

Cheyenne rallied to fund the first library building, located on Carey 

Avenue and later in the basement of Central School. When Wyoming 

became a state in 1890, state statute dictated library service be 

provided by county government. 

American philanthropist Andrew Carnegie offered $50,000 

toward a new building in 1899. Three years later, on May 19, 1902, 

the Laramie County Library opened on the southeast corner of 

Twenty-Second Street and Capitol Avenue, offering 10,000 square feet 

of space. 

Branches have opened and closed since 1923, with branches in 

Pine Bluffs and Burns, Wyoming, still in operation. A bookmobile has 

been in operation for decades. 

Sixty years after the Carnegie building opened, the need arose 

for a larger building in Cheyenne, and on October 19, 1969, a new 

building at 2800 Central Avenue opened with 38,000 square feet. 

Ownership of the historic Carnegie Library building reverted to 

the City of Cheyenne at that point. No one came forward with 

adequate funding for major renovations and repairs needed to bring 

the building up to code; sadly, it was torn down in 1969. 

On September 8, 2007, Laramie County Library in Cheyenne 

moved to 2200 Pioneer Avenue. Thanks to money approved by 

voters, the new library, a three-story, 100,000-plus-square-foot 

experience, has become a destination for the community and the first 

public building in Wyoming to achieve a LEED ® Gold Certification. 

Laramie County Library System was named the 2008 Library of the 

Year for innovative programs and services. The children’s area of 

the library has regularly been noted as one of the top ten children’s 

libraries in the United States, most recently by websites such as 

mommynearest.com in 2015. 

Seventeen individuals have held the title of County Librarian since 

1886 and numerous citizen volunteers have governed the library serving 

on the five-member board of directors. Since 1890 the board of directors 

have been appointed by the Laramie County Commissioners. 


With more than fifty years of experience behind them, CollegeAmerica 

has found winning strategies to help students graduate and obtain 

better jobs. 

The focus is clear. 

The college, accredited by the Accrediting Commission of Career 

Schools and Colleges, wants to educate people for rewarding careers 

fast, so they can improve their lives without further delay. 

“We accomplish this through tailored programs, scholarships for 

those who qualify, accelerated programs, flexibility, convenience, 

certifications, and career services,” says Executive Director Jaime Davis 

at CollegeAmerica’s Cheyenne campus. 

Tuition goes directly to programs and services to help students 

graduate quickly and begin working in the fields of healthcare, 

business, information technology, or graphic arts. CollegeAmerica 

offers hundreds of scholarships annually and actively seeks scholarship 

donors. But its commitment goes deeper. Through the Good 

Neighbor Initiative, CollegeAmerica offers free programs and services 

to help people who may not otherwise be able to move toward obtaining 

a college degree. GED ® test preparation classes and other services 

provide a bridge to degrees that can improve lives. These free services 

are not within the institution’s scope of accreditation. 

What appeals to many students are the college’s fast degree programs, 

which makes it possible to earn an associate’s degree in twenty 

months or a bachelor’s degree in thirty-six months. Students are 

encouraged to work toward certification programs. (Certifications and 

licenses may require additional study and cost and are not awarded 

by the college.) 

Flexibility and convenience are added bonuses. Students need not 

wait for the beginning of a year or semester to enroll. CollegeAmerica’s 

flexible course options enable students to get started almost immediately 

in day, evening, or online courses and continue working 

while going to school. Online programs are offered by their affiliated 

institution, Independence University. 

Of high value is CollegeAmerica’s commitment to programs packed 

with career-specific knowledge and skills, including critical thinking, 

communications, problem solving, and technology. One of the best 

reasons to select a CollegeAmerica education is its dynamic career 

services department. The career services staff helps students write 

resumes, identify job opportunities, set up interviews, and practice 

for interviews, including what to say and how to dress. Of course, 

while the college offers employment assistance, gaining employment 

is the graduate’s responsibility. 

CollegeAmerica celebrates future success from the beginning by 

giving each student a new laptop to help them during their college 

experience. Students use the laptops while in school and are able 

keep them when they graduate. 

Cheyenne is one of the school’s six campus locations in Wyoming, 

Colorado, and Arizona. Students who do not live near a campus 

can take a variety of programs online through the college’s affiliated 

institution, Independence University. 

Please visit www.ucanmakeithappen.org or www.collegeamerica.edu/ 

cheyenne for more information. 

GED ® is a registered trademark of the American Council on Education (ACE) 

and is administered exclusively by GED Testing Service, LLC under license. 

This material is not endorsed or approved by ACE or GED Testing Service. 

COLLEGEAMERICA 

Q u a l i t y o f L i f e ✦ 1 3 1


SCHOOL 

DISTRICT 1 

Central School was built in 1871, 

facing south on the north side of the 

100 block West Twentieth Street. 

In the fall of 1867, before Wyoming became a United States 

territory, Cheyenne residents requested the city establish a public 

school for their children. A few months later, on January 5, 1868, 

people gathered in a newly built, two-room wooden structure on 

Eighteenth Street, where they witnessed the dedication of Laramie 

County School District 1’s (LCSD1) first school. 

On July 25, 1868, Wyoming Territory came into existence and 

new settlers arrived. The district replaced their original school in 

1871 with a brick building named Central School, which offered 

primary courses to grade-school students and English, U.S. history 

and physiology to eighth graders. High school subjects included 

math, science, foreign language, English and literature. 

The district built Wyoming’s first high school, Cheyenne High, 

in 1875. Wyoming became the forty-fourth state admitted to the 

Union in 1890 and Cheyenne continued to grow. 

After nearly five decades of use in 1922, Cheyenne High’s aging, 

two-story structure was demolished and replaced by Cheyenne 

Central High. The district replaced Central School’s old structure with 

McCormick Junior High in 1929. 

As time passed, the district added more buildings, preserving some 

of its older schools, which are still in use today. 

Today, LCSD1 covers 1,592 square miles in southeast Wyoming, which 

includes 3 rural elementary schools, 26 urban elementary schools, 

1 charter school, 3 junior highs, 3 high schools and 1 alternative 

high school. As the largest school 

district in Wyoming, enrollment 

exceeds 13,800 students. 

One of the first accredited 

districts in the region, LCSD1’s 

efforts ensure all students achieve 

academic success, graduate from 

high school, become college 

and career ready and become 

responsible citizens. 

LCSD1 promotes core subjects 

along with athletics, fine arts 

activities and technology education. 

The district’s mission, in 

cooperation with students, parents, 

staff and the community, is to 

guarantee a high-quality education 

in a safe and orderly environment 

for all students, inspiring them 

to become lifelong learners and 

responsible, productive citizens. 

Information regarding school 

calendar and locations, district 

employment opportunities and 

much more is available on the 

Internet at www.laramie1.org. 


CHEYENNE 

SYMPHONY 

ORCHESTRA 

The Cheyenne Symphony Orchestra (CSO) is a professional orchestra 

serving the City of Cheyenne and Southeast Wyoming. Musicians travel 

from many Western states in order to perform with CSO’s esteemed 

conductor, Dr. William Intriligator. His musicianship, energy, and 

personality have made a strong impression on the orchestra, its 

audiences, and the Cheyenne community. 

Each season, CSO offers a five-concert subscription season and a 

Holiday pops concert in the Cheyenne Civic Center. CSO also presents 

a series of guest-artist recitals held in Cheyenne homes or smaller 

venues. CSO’s extensive educational outreach programs to the Laramie 

County schools impact approximately 6,000 students a year, and 

range from youth concerts, guest artist and conductor visits, to Art and 

Writing contests. CSO hopes to help inspire the next generation 

of concert-goers through these insights into the lives and work of 

professional musicians. 

CSO can trace its roots from the Cheyenne Little Symphony, which 

was organized in 1935 by Clyde G. and Alice Ross, both prominent 

Cheyenne musicians. The early orchestra, conducted by Clyde, a 

violinist, while Alice played the piano, had twenty-five members. 

In 1951, Alice organized the Cheyenne Civic Symphony and served 

as its first president. Eugene Adams served as conductor. 

In July of 1954, the Cheyenne Civic Symphony and the Cheyenne 

Community Chorus joined forces. During this period, several conductors, 

including local educator Rex Yocum, led the ensembles. The merger 

of the Symphony and Chorus lasted for nearly thirty years; 

the influence is still apparent in today’s strong ties with local choral 

ensembles, like the Cheyenne Chamber Singers. 

By 1981, community support and demand for high-caliber entertainment 

created an opportunity for the organization to expand. Robert 

Carter Austin was hired as music director and helped to lead the initial 

transition from amateur to professional ensemble. Over the years, the 

baton has been passed to many internationally acclaimed Maestros 

including David Lockington, Mark Russell Smith, and Stephen Alltop. 

Above: Members of the 

Cheyenne Symphony Orchestra 

perform under the direction of 

Maestro William Intriligator. 

PHOTO BY MICHAEL SMITH. 

Below: The Cheyenne Symphony 

Orchestra on-stage at the Cheyenne 

Civic Center, under the direction of 

Maestro William Intriligator. 

PHOTO BY GREG SINGER. 

Q u a l i t y o f L i f e ✦ 1 3 3


COMMISSION 

Above: Laramie County Courthouse, 

at the corner of Nineteenth and 

Carey Streets. 

A large section of Wyoming 

became United States territory 

in the 1803 as part of the 

Louisiana Purchase. Wyoming 

means, “At or on the great 

plain” and is attributed to 

the Delaware Indians. Indians 

were the first people in the 

Wyoming region. In 1812, 

Jacques LaRamie, a French- 

Canadian fur trapper and one 

of the first white men in the 

region, passed through the 

area, leaving behind his name. 

Laramie County was one 

of five counties established 

by the Dakota Legislature in 

1867. It covered the east side 

of the territory from the northern border to the southern border. 

The earliest authorized government was the Dakota Legislature 

located in South Dakota. Laramie County residents were part of 

the Wyoming Territory and desired to establish their own local 

government. The first county officials were elected October 8, 1867. 

At the same election, Cheyenne won the votes as permanent 

County Seat. Laramie County now encompasses approximately 

2,660 square miles of rolling plains in the eastern portion of the 

county to the rising foothills of the Southern Laramie Mountain Range 

to the west. 

The Transcontinental Railroad was pushing across the nation. After 

crossing Nebraska, it entered Wyoming, reaching Cheyenne in 1867. 

General Grenville Dodge and a party of surveyors had discovered a 

fairly flat route through the Laramie Mountains, which was eventually 

chosen for the Union Pacific Railroad. On November 14, 1867, the 

first train came to town and for the rest of the winter, Cheyenne was 

the “end of the line” and grew substantially in population. Cheyenne’s 

unique location has established the county as a transportation hub 

with rails reaching border to border and Interstates 25 and 80, which 

carry thousands of tons of freight every day. 

Originally established to protect the railroad and travelers migrating 

west, F. E. Warren Air Force Base has been in existence, albeit under 

other names, since 1867. Today, it is known as the nation’s largest 

nuclear arsenal. 

The grand days of the Cowboy live on in the “Daddy of ‘em All,” 

Cheyenne Frontier Days TM . The worlds’ largest outdoor rodeo 

celebration draws thousands of tourists from across the country 

and around the world. 

Agriculture in the form of livestock grazing and high plains crops 

is still alive and well in Laramie County; however, oil and natural gas 

production has increased since 2012. Wyoming wind also makes it a 

prime location for wind production, dotting the landscape with both 

oil rigs and wind farms. 

Laramie County’s population is estimated at 97,121 as of 2016. 

The County Government employs 435 people and operates out of two 

main complexes. One located in downtown Cheyenne on the original 

site of the Historic Laramie County Courthouse and Annex, which 

houses courts, the jail and all elected county officials. The Archer 

complex ten miles east of the city, houses the Planning Department, 

Emergency Management, Coroner facilities and Public Works along 

with the Laramie County Fair offices. City and County Health 

Department is in South Cheyenne. 


Before it became the state capital, Cheyenne was the capital of the 

Wyoming Territory. The Governor, Secretary of State, Auditor, Treasurer, 

State Superintendent of Public Instruction and Wyoming Supreme 

Court are all located in Cheyenne. The Wyoming State Legislature 

and most state agencies are headquartered here. State government 

contributes to the vitality of this wonderful city in many ways. 

The State Capitol is an historic and prominent Cheyenne landmark. 

The 10th Territorial Legislative Assembly first met in the building 

in the late nineteenth century. Its turn-of-the-century beauty, rich 

history and important government functions draw visitors from near 

and far. During the Capitol renovation project, currently ongoing, 

offices in the building, including Governor Matt Mead’s office, have 

been temporarily located elsewhere in Cheyenne. The Governor’s 

office is in the Idelman Mansion. 

The Wyoming State Museum, within walking distance of numerous 

state facilities and Cheyenne businesses, is a treasure. It is a 

fascinating, educational place where visitors can discover Wyoming’s 

history from prehistoric to present and experience Wyoming art, 

artifacts and culture. The Office of Tourism’s Southeast Wyoming 

Welcome Center, off I-25 south of town, is innovative inside and out. 

It has a green roof system and interpretive displays that show what 

visitors can see and do on their 

travels around the state. 

The Department of Education, 

Department of Environmental 

Quality, Wyoming State Library, 

and Wyoming Business Council 

(WBC), as well as other state 

agencies, are part of downtown 

Cheyenne. The WBC is the 

state’s economic development 

agency. Its goal is to grow and 

diversify the economy and 

strengthen Wyoming communities. 

It administers a grant and 

loan program and works with 

private businesses, state agencies, 

local governments, local 

economic development groups, partners and nonprofits. 

This page whets the appetite but can only scratch the surface 

of state government operations in Cheyenne. The state website, 

www.wyo.gov, is a source of additional information. The State of 

Wyoming is proud to be an integral part of this great western city— 

Cheyenne, Wyoming. 

STATE OF 

WYOMING 

Above: The Southeast Wyoming 

Welcome Center. 

COURTESY OF WYOMING OFFICE OF TOURISM. 

Left: The State Capitol building. 


Below: The Wyoming State Museum. 


Q u a l i t y o f L i f e ✦ 1 3 5

PROTECTION & 

ADVOCACY 

SYSTEM, INC. 

Below: First P&A Board of Trustees 

President, Ellen Crowley. 


RIGHT: COURTESY OF ANGELA MASON, 

P&A STAFF. 

Helping the most vulnerable in our society is the mission of 

Protection & Advocacy System, Inc. (P&A) of Wyoming. Founded 

on June 16, 1977, P&A exists to protect the rights of people with 

disabilities. It does this by working to establish, expand, protect, and 

enforce human and civil rights of the disabled through administrative, 

legal, and other appropriate remedies. 

P&A implements certain mandates of 

several federal laws. Enacted by Congress, 

these laws provide various protection and 

advocacy services. The P&A network is the 

largest provider of legally based advocacy 

services for persons with disabilities in the 

United States, with similar organizations in 

every state and territory. 

P&A was created as a nonprofit corporation 

to implement the provisions of Public 

Law 94-103. It initially was created to protect 

the rights of persons with developmental disabilities 

and to have the authority 

to pursue legal, administrative, 

and other appropriate remedies 

to ensure that the rights of 

persons with developmental 

disabilities were protected. In 

accordance with federal law, the 

agency was created as a nonprofit 

corporation to be independent of 

any state agency that provides treatment, services, or 

habilitation to persons with developmental disabilities. 

Funded with a $20,000 federal grant, P&A began 

operating one-and-a-half rooms with only a full-time 

director and a part-time assistant. In the early days, 

P&A relied on donated legal and other services as it 

worked to expand its resources and abilities to address 

the many needs of its clients. Throughout its history, 

P&A has utilized the dedicated services of volunteers 

throughout Wyoming who have served on the board of 

trustees and the agency’s advisory council. 

P&A has helped advance disability law in Wyoming and the nation. 

Long before the U.S. Supreme Court addressed the issue, P&A obtained 

institutional protections and community integration rights for 

hundreds of Wyoming citizens with intellectual disabilities. Building 

on that success, P&A obtained improved institutional conditions and 

community based services for persons with mental illness. 

Throughout its existence, P&A has been guided by Chief Executive 

Officer Jeanne A. Thobro, M.A., a fourth-generation Wyoming pioneer, 

daughter of Lieutenant Colonel William J. Strike and Ruth Jenkins 

Strike, and the great-granddaughter of Theresa Jenkins, who gave the 

statehood speech when Wyoming became a state and was the first 

female delegate to a major national political convention. 

Today, P&A works with sixteen employees and contractors and 

its federally and privately funded budget is $1.3 million or more. 

P&A operates eight federal programs with statewide impact and 

will continue to seek additional opportunities to serve the needs of 

persons with disabilities. 


SKILS’KIN 

Skils’kin is a nonprofit organization that provides employment, 

representative payee, and supported living services to adults with 

disabilities, helping them grow and thrive within the community. 

Through these collaborative services, Skils’kin helps individuals 

with disabilities find meaningful employment, effectively manage 

their financial resources, and receive habilitative care that promotes 

integration and, ultimately, a top quality of life. 

Skils’kin has been active in the AbilityOne program since 1978. 

The AbilityOne program is a federal program that creates jobs and 

training opportunities for people who are blind or who have other 

disabilities, empowering them to lead more productive, independent 

lives. Through this AbilityOne program, Skils’kin currently provides 

employment opportunities to individuals with disabilities in such 

areas as food services, custodial services, and grounds maintenance. 

Skils’kin’s AbilityOne employees work in a variety of different positions 

at the F. E. Warren Air Force Base in Wyoming, the Fairchild Air Force 

Base in Washington, the Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana, and 

the Altus Air Force Base in Oklahoma. At F. E. Warren AFB, through 

the AbilityOne program, Skils’kin provides employment opportunities 

for adults with disabilities in food services and grounds maintenance. 

Recognized as a leader in the disability community, Skils’kin and its 

employees have received numerous honors and accolades, including 

the 2015 CRSA Emerging Leaders Award, the 2016 SourceAmerica 

NCSE Management Excellence Award, the 2016 SourceAmerica 

Regional Evelyne Villines Award, and the 2017 Washington State 

DSP of the Year Award. 

Skils’kin is rapidly becoming the company most known for 

creating and implementing the model for the delivery of collaborative 

services for adults with disabilities. Through innovation, integrity, 

and purpose, Skils’kin is changing the conversation surrounding 

disability employment while continuing to enrich the quality of life 

for adults with disabilities at all sites of operation. 

Q u a l i t y o f L i f e ✦ 1 3 7

CHEYENNE 

FRONTIER DAYS TM 

PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY OF CHEYENNE 

FRONTIER DAYS. 

Each July, thousands of visitors descend on Cheyenne, Wyoming, 

to enjoy the World’s Largest Outdoor Rodeo and Western Celebration. 

Cheyenne Frontier Days TM (CFD) is an annual festival celebrating the 

Old West Roots that make Cheyenne one of the most interesting and 

memorable destinations in the United States. 

The “Daddy of ‘em All ® ” celebrates over 120 years as the leader in 

rodeo action. During the last full week in July, the rodeo draws top 

professionals who compete for more than $1 million in cash and prizes. 

Cheyenne Frontier Days TM began in 1897 as a cowboy roundup 

featuring bronco busting, steer-roping contests, and pony races. Today, 

more than a century later, it as a ten-day festival with non-stop activity 

and hospitality that brings a $28 million economic impact to the Capitol 

City. Livability.com named Cheyenne Frontier Days TM as one of the top 

festivals in the nation in its annual list of “Top 10 Summer Festivals.” 

Complementing the daily rodeo action are Behind-The-Chutes 

tours, trick riding and a wild horse race. A Native American village, 

Old Frontier Town, saloon, dancing, chuck wagon cook-off, pancake 

breakfasts, and an art show carry the frontier theme throughout the 

week’s activities. A new stage for Frontier Nights ® concerts provides 

fans with an improved concert experience, and is ranked one of the 

largest portable stages in the world. A carnival midway, the USAF 

Thunderbirds, top-name musical entertainment, Championship 

Bull Riding, and several parades that include antique carriages and 

automobiles round out the celebration. 

Cheyenne Frontier Days TM celebrates Wyoming’s mountain vistas, 

forested wilderness, blue skies, and golden sunsets. It commemorates 

one of the few remaining parts of the United States where you can 

get an up-close-and-personal glimpse of the true American West. 

In the state where the myth of the cowboy was born, you will discover 

a genuine culture untrampled by the wheels of time. 

The Magic City of the Plains brings together rodeo fans, country 

music lovers, Western enthusiasts and fun-seekers from all 50 states 

and 23 foreign countries on five continents. Bring the whole family 

for an unforgettable experience in the real West, beginning with 

Cheyenne Frontier Days TM , for an experience that will leave you 

wanting more and provide memories that will last a lifetime. 


SMART SPORTS 

MEDICINE 

CENTER 

SMART Sports Medicine Center has been a significant contributor 

to the diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of orthopedic and 

sports injuries in the Cheyenne area for more than a quarter 

century. It is the fulfillment of a dream that the center’s founder, 

Vincent “Skip” Ross, M.D., first envisioned when he was eight years old. 

Dr. Ross, a Cheyenne native, finished his family medicine 

residence in 1988 and began his career in the emergency room at 

Cheyenne’s DePaul hospital. In 1990 he began searching for space 

where he could begin to fulfill his dream, eventually locating a site 

at 5307 Yellowstone Road. 

He went to work on the build-out of the 6,000-square-foot space, 

which originally had been a fitness center, with some talented 

tradesmen. Jim Anderson, Mike Bowen, Ed Hunt, and Kevin Williams 

applied their knowledge and skills to transforming the space. 

The center opened in May 1992. 

By the Grace of God, through the years, the center expanded into 

the entire 16,000-square-foot building, which Dr. Ross purchased in 

1994. In 1997 he expanded the space further by 2,000 square feet, 

adding a swimming pool that is now used for therapy and for the 

fitness center. 

After opening the clinic, Dr. Ross worked there by day and continued 

working in the emergency room during nights and weekends. His job 

in emergency medicine provided funding for the center. Although he 

averaged only three to four hours of sleep per night, he maintained 

that regimen for two years. He married his wife, Sasha, (R.N.) in 1996 

and she helped in the management and expansion of SMART. She has 

also run her aesthetic practice at SMART for fifteen years now and 

continues this trade. 

The center’s success would not have been possible without help 

from Dr. Kieffer, Dr. Curnow, and Dr. Kuhn, who treated patients 

there at various times. Dr. Kuhn, who joined the center in 1994, continues 

to work there as an orthopedic surgeon. Through the years, the 

staff has grown from 2 people to around 15 full-time and 15 parttime 

employees. 

In 2008, Dr. Ross began seeing patients at the Orthopedic and 

Spine Center of the Rockies in Fort Collins, Colorado, and continues 

to work with them. He also provides sports coverage for East High 

School, South High School, Laramie County Community College, 

Stampede Hockey, Cheyenne Frontier Days, and Eagles Hockey. 

He has served as physician for Bull Riders Only, PBR, Professional 

Rough Stock Series, and ASP-Professional Surfing Association. 

Dr. Ross plans to further develop his relationship with Orthopedic 

and Spine Center of the Rockies. He hopes to increase services by 

adding more healthcare professionals, surgeons, therapists and staff, 

and to continue providing fitness services with one central goal: to 

provide the best possible facility for sports training and conditioning. 

Above: The fitness center’s founder, 

Vincent “Skip” Ross, M.D. 

Q u a l i t y o f L i f e ✦ 1 3 9

A postcard of the “new” viaduct 

constructed in 1929. According to the 

postcard the viaduct offered “a much 

more direct course for auto traffic to 

the south.” Concurrently, “a new 

section of highway was built south 

from the viaduct connecting with the 

Denver Road.” 


BUILDING A GREATER CHEYENNE 

C h e y e n n e ’ s r e a l e s t a t e d e v e l o p e r s , c o n s t r u c t i o n c o m p a n i e s , e n e r g y 

c o m p a n i e s , h e a v y i n d u s t r i e s , a n d m a n u f a c t u r e r s p r o v i d e t h e 

e c o n o m i c f o u n d a t i o n o f t h e c i t y 

D u k e E n e rgy R e n e w a b l e s ...........................................................................................................142 

R e i m a n C o r p . .........................................................................................................................144 

C a p i t o l R o o f i n g , I n c . ................................................................................................................146 

H i g h We s t E n e rgy ....................................................................................................................148 

C o l d w e l l B a n k e r T h e P ro p e r t y E x c h a n g e ......................................................................................150 

S i m o n C o n t r a c t o r s ...................................................................................................................151 

M o o re I n s u l a t i o n C o m p a n y, I n c . 

M o o re F o a m S y s t e m s , L L C ...................................................................................................152 

D y n o N o b e l , I n c . .....................................................................................................................153 

E l l e n b e c k e r O i l , I n c . ................................................................................................................154 

L a r a m i e C o u n t y A b s t r a c t & Ti t l e C o . ..........................................................................................155 

M e r i l l , I n c . ............................................................................................................................156 

S t e i l S u r v e y i n g S e r v i c e s , L L C ....................................................................................................157 

F i r s t A m e r i c a n Ti t l e I n s u r a n c e C o m p a n y .....................................................................................158 

H o l l y F ro n t i e r C h e y e n n e R e f i n i n g L L C .........................................................................................159 

B l a c k H i l l s E n e rgy ...................................................................................................................160 

A d d i s o n C o n s t r u c t i o n C o . .........................................................................................................161 

B u i l d i n g a G r e a t e r C h e y e n n e ✦ 1 4 1

DUKE ENERGY 

RENEWABLES 

Duke Energy is the largest electric power holding company in 

the United States, supplying and delivering energy to more than 

7.5 million U.S. customers by providing electric and gas services in 

a sustainable way–affordable, reliable, and clean. 

Duke Energy Renewables, a commercial business unit of Duke 

Energy, primarily acquires, develops, builds and operates wind 

and solar renewable generation throughout the continental U.S. 

The portfolio includes nonregulated renewable energy and energy 

storage assets. 

Duke Energy Renewables began to build its first wind projects in 

2007 in Cheyenne, Wyoming. Happy Jack Windpower Project 

reached operation in 2008 and Silver Sage Windpower Project 

began service in 2009. Since then, the company has built two 

additional wind sites near Casper, Top of the World and Campbell 

Hill Windpower Projects. In total, these Wyoming sites produce 

370 megawatts, enough to power more than 100,000 homes. 

Today, Duke Energy Renewables’ 

owns and operates 21 wind and 

63 solar utility-scale projects, which 

total 2,900 megawatts across 14 

states. The power produced from 

renewable generation is primarily 

sold through long-term contracts 

to utilities, electric cooperatives, 

municipalities and commercial and 

industrial customers. 

As part of its growth strategy, Duke 

Energy Renewables has expanded its 

portfolio through the addition of 

distributed solar companies, energy 

storage systems and energy management 

solutions specifically tailored to 

commercial businesses and other institutions. These investments 

include the 2015 acquisition of REC Solar Corp., a California-based 

provider of solar installations for retail, manufacturing, agriculture, 

technology, government and nonprofit customers across the U.S 

and Phoenix Energy Technologies Inc., a California-based provider of 

enterprise energy management and information software. 

Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, its parent company, 

Duke Energy, is a Fortune 125 company traded on the New York 

Stock Exchange under the symbol DUK. With more than $121 billion 

in assets and 52,700 megawatts of generating capacity, it is hard to 

imagine it all began more than 100 years ago, with three visionaries 

seeking to spur economic growth in the North Carolina countryside. 

Duke Energy’s history began with the Catawba Power Company in 

the early 1900s. Three individuals founded the company because they 

believed the South’s heavy dependence on agriculture was prohibiting 

growth of other industries. By developing an integrated electric system 

of hydro-powered generating stations, they envisioned linking customers 

by transmission lines. Over the next several years, the company’s 

hydroelectric fleet grew to serve commercial textile mills and the region’s 

growing appetite for the conveniences that electricity could provide. 


The economic boom after 

World War II brought unprecedented 

demand for electric power. 

The thriving economy helped 

fuel demand for modern-day 

conveniences. By the mid-1950s, 

Duke Power was looking to 

nuclear power as a clean, safe 

and economical alternative for 

meeting electric energy needs. The 

first nuclear project, the Keowee- 

Toxaway Project, was launched 

in 1965. The project earned Duke 

Power its first of three Edison 

Awards, the power industry’s 

highest honor. 

The 1990s ushered in natural 

gas industry deregulation in the United States, culminating in the 

“unbundling” of natural gas transportation, gathering, and storage 

services from the government-regulated pipeline industry. Duke 

Power and PanEnergy merged in 1997 to create Duke Energy. 

The new company made, moved, managed and marketed energy. 

About this same time, the Cincinnati Gas & Electric Co. and 

PSI Energy, Inc., merged to form Cinergy Corp., a major energy 

player in the Midwest. In 2006, Duke Energy and Cinergy Corp. 

became one company, retaining the Duke Energy name and 

expanding service to Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana. 

The early twenty-first century ushered in an era of transformation 

for the energy industry. Standing at the forefront of innovation, 

Duke Energy targeted its focus on environmental and economic 

sustainability. Meanwhile, the Raleigh, North Carolina-based energy 

company, Progress Energy, adopted a similar focus, sharing Duke 

Energy’s commitment to improving energy efficiency, developing 

renewable energy, keeping nuclear power a viable option, and 

modernizing existing power plants. 

In 2012, Duke Energy and Progress Energy combined, expanding 

Duke Energy’s services to Florida and forming the largest electric 

utility in the United States. 

As Duke Energy moves forward, it is working 

to reduce the environmental impact of existing 

plants and investing in energy efficiency 

initiatives that can reduce the need to build 

new ones. The company is also developing 

smart grid technologies that will create a digital, 

interconnected network—giving customers 

new ways to save energy, money and the 

environment. In the meantime, Duke Energy 

continues to invest in renewable energy 

sources, adding aggressively to its portfolio of 

wind and solar assets. 

Today, energy is about more than keeping 

the lights on. The twenty-first century electric 

company is a technology company disguised 

as a utility—identifying, integrating and scaling 

up new technologies that make electricity 

cleaner, more reliable and affordable. Duke 

Energy is poised as an industry leader in sustainable 

innovation, providing solutions to help 

customers and communities thrive and grow. 


REIMAN CORP. 

No matter where you go in Wyoming, you are likely to see a 

building, bridge, or roadway built by Reiman Corp. 

Since 1948 the locally owned and operated firm has completed 

more than 2,500 projects in a variety of sectors—starting with 

the Barrett Building in Cheyenne, just two years after the firm 

was founded. 

employees and to each employee’s commitment to living out the firm’s 

core values. These values are: 

• Wyoming True Grit–the firm’s perseverance and commitment; 

• “Oh, yes, we can!”–the firm’s can-do attitude; 

• “Build bridges, don’t burn them”–the high value the firm places 

on relationships; 

• “Live the legacy”–speaking to the firm’s commitment to stay true 

to their values; and 

• “Ride for the brand.” 

Though the firm initially began as a commercial building 

contractor, it has since grown and evolved to match and meet the 

region’s needs. Reiman Corp. is now a general contractor (licensed 

in Wyoming, Colorado, Nebraska, and New Mexico) focusing on 

bridges, commercial buildings, and construction management. 

Above: Cheyenne Depot Plaza. 

Right: Norris Viaduct. 

Each and every project completed since then reflects the Reiman 

Corp. commitment to professional excellence in construction, with 

extra emphasis on construction supervision, subcontractor relations, 

scheduling, procurement, coordination, claims resolution, bonding, 

insurance, and risk management. 

Before Reiman Corp. was “Reiman Corp.,” it was Riedesel-Lowe— 

a company founded in Cody, Wyoming, through a partnership 

between W. R. (Bob) Reiman, Bill Lowe and Russ Riedesel. 

Today, Reiman Corp. is proudly operated by CEO Tom Reiman, 

President Rich Bolkovatz, Vice President Wally Reiman, 

alongside an aspiring third generation of Reimans and new, 

talented leaders. 

Over the years, Reiman Corp. has earned a solid reputation for 

integrity and skill. This is a credit to both the caliber of the firm’s 

The firm’s heavy highway sector builds bridges, parking structures 

and stadiums; drives H piling and sheet piling; and completes 

work in the areas of concrete paving, structural steel, precast erection, 

curb and gutter, sidewalks, and box culverts. 


The firm’s commercial building sector has completed many 

recognizable projects around the state, including Cheyenne’s Central 

High School, many elementary schools, numerous government 

buildings, hotels, and tenant finishes. 

As a part of the local community, Reiman Corp. strongly believes 

in giving back. Not only does the firm offer the Bob Reiman 

Scholarship and the Reiman Corp. Scholarship at the University 

of Wyoming, it is also an ongoing sponsor of the Boys & Girls 

Club of Cheyenne; Cathedral Home for Children; the YMCA; 

United Way; Cheyenne Frontier Days; and a wide variety of local 

events and charities. 

Within the industry, Reiman Corp. maintains membership in 

WCA and WYCA. Looking toward the future, Reiman Corp. plans 

to continue bridging the Rockies and building Wyoming…just as 

they have been doing for almost seventy years now, and just as 

they plan to continue doing for generations to come. 

Top, left: Cheyenne 

Community House. 

Above: Reiman’s crew and their 

“Oh, yes, we can!” attitude. 

Left: The Dinneen Building is a 

renovated Car Dealership originally 

built in 1927 which was also owned 

by the Dinneen Family. Reiman Corp. 

has been providing the Construction 

Management for all of the remodel 

and addition work on the building. 

The Building is now home to the Rib 

and Chop House Restaurant, a Law 

Office, and many other Downtown 

Cheyenne businesses. 

Right: The University of Wyoming’s 

War Memorial Stadium. 


CAPITOL 

ROOFING, INC. 

Our mission is “To provide our customers superior value, through 

courteous, knowledgeable salespeople, experienced project management, 

outstanding customer service, fair business practices and skilled workers.” 

The roofing business and the rodeo circuit might not have much in 

common, but had it not been for the friendship of two young cowboys 

and their love of riding bucking horses and bulls, Capitol Roofing, 

Inc., might never have come to be. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, 

two young cowboys named Dennis Humphrey and Craig Boheler 

found a way to help finance their love of rodeo. 

In the early days, they worked with no business structure, but 

simply with a mantra that screamed…“Whatever they can do, we can 

do better, faster, and at a better price.” They rode, roofed, rode again, 

and roofed some more. They sometimes hauled hay, killed gophers 

and even built fences for money to fund their first love, while they 

operated out of Craig’s house. Steve Robertson joined the team in the 

late 1980s and quickly became 

the “do-everything” guy, which 

lightened the load for Dennis 

and Craig. 

It was not until 1985 that 

a business license, building 

permits, insurance, labor laws 

and the like became a reality. 

Through hard, honest work 

and fair dealings, Capitol 

Roofing became more than just 

a way to finance trips to rodeos. It became a job, then a business, and 

ultimately, a way of life. Due to Craig’s tenacity at home, Dennis 

enjoyed a successful career as a professional bull rider through the 

decade of the eighties, while contributing to Capitol Roofing on a parttime 

basis. Dennis retired from bull riding in 1992. In early 2003, 

Craig left the company to pursue other business ventures, which have 

gone well for him. Capitol has flourished since his departure as well. 

To this day, Dennis remains thankful to Craig for keeping Capitol 

moving forward through the early years. 

After Craig moved on, Capitol operated out of a thirty by forty foot 

Morton Building, with a dirt floor on a five-acre residential lot where 

Dennis grew up. Steve remained a loyal mainstay in sales and service. 

Jeanette Nusbaum came on board in May 2003, and in 2008, her 

husband, Cody, became a part of Capitol and has led the team in sales 

nearly every year since. In May 2009, Capitol moved across Cheyenne 

to a 10,500-square-foot commercial building on 2.6 acres. Locally 

owned and operated since its inception, Capitol has enjoyed a long 

history of being a respected and trusted service provider. While 

starting as a residential shingling outfit, Capitol has expanded its 

offerings to include commercial roofing, gutters, and limited sheet 

metal and siding related work. 

The “10 Principles to Live By,” made famous in the Jim Owens 

book Cowboy Ethics, are proudly displayed on the wall and guide 

Capitol’s culture. Today, Capitol Roofing, Inc., employs twenty fulltime 

employees, works with six to eight contract labor crews and 

serves the southeast Wyoming and northern Colorado areas. Capitol 

Roofing’s commitment to delivering a quality product at a fair price, 

while insisting on superior customer service, has established it as 

the region’s premier roofing company. Focusing on the customer’s 

satisfaction is central to the company’s DNA. Employment at Capitol 

Roofing has a family feel, and Capitol prides itself on being a 

company with small-business service with large-business capabilities. 

The mindset of “We ain’t perfect but we’re here…and if it ain’t right, 

we’ll make it right” is a well-known staple of Capitol’s commitment 

to customer service. 

Today, in her fourteenth year with Capitol, Jeanette runs the show 

as finance and operations manager and is responsible for all daily 

operations. She directly oversees a team of three incredible ladies, 


Liz, who runs production, plus Carol and Diane, who share numerous 

administrative and customer care duties. Cody has continued his 

winning ways in selling, and has been joined by others who press 

him and “challenge him for the crown.” Shon is Cody’s northern 

Colorado counterpart in sales supremacy. Jeff, a former bull riding 

buddy of Dennis, is also part of the sales team. Steve has expanded his 

sales role and continues to be responsible for overall performance and 

quality of activity in the field. Field Superintendent Pat, a friend of 

Dennis from their teen years and another former bull rider, steers 

the commercial crew, while Lloyd leads the service team. Safety 

Director Kelly, yet another former bull rider, keeps the employees and 

contract laborers trained and safe. Rumor has it that “Capitol Roofing 

is where old cowboys go to die.” 

Through the years, Capitol Roofing has installed, replaced, or 

serviced thousands of roofs, both residential and commercial, in 

southeast Wyoming and northern Colorado. Capitol’s crews and 

service techs, whether employees or contract laborers are skilled, 

safe, talented and customer friendly folks. Capitol offers a standard 

five-year workmanship guarantee, in addition to the manufacturer’s 

product warranty. Choosing Capitol Roofing for your roof contracting 

needs assures the customer a job well done, with peace of mind and 

a feeling of being treated right and fair. 

Roofing is a very weather influenced industry, and storm restoration 

has become a very large part of Capitol’s livelihood. The company is 

deliberately focusing on further developing its commercial and service 

divisions, as well as the new construction area, in hope of removing 

some of the hair-raising peaks and valleys related to storm work. 

Capitol’s success can be attributed to the company’s reputation for 

providing value and instilling trust in the mind of customers. In 2014, 

Capitol Roofing was awarded the Torch Award for Business Ethics 

by the Better Business Bureau of Wyoming and Northern Colorado. 

Capitol believes in giving back to the communities where it lives, 

serves and works. The folks at Capitol love supporting local and area 

youth in addition to numerous worthwhile causes and events. Capitol 

Roofing is a member of the Greater Cheyenne Chamber of Commerce, 

National Roofing Contractors Association, Cheyenne Association of 

Realtors and the newly formed Cheyenne Roofing Alliance. 

“Doing the right thing, because it’s the right thing” adds value and 

creates raving fans who tell their friends. Repeat customers and 

referrals of past customers make up over half of Capitol’s client base. 

“10 Principles to Live By” (Authored by Jim Owens and adopted by 

Capitol Roofing, Inc.): 

• Live each day with courage. 

• Take pride in your work. 

• Always finish what you start. 

• Do what has to be done. 

• Be tough, but fair. 

• When you make a promise, keep it! 

• Ride for the brand. 

• Talk less, say more. 

• Remember, some things are not for sale. 

• Know where to draw the line. 

Opposite: Capitol Roofing, Inc. 

is known for quality, service and 

innovation. You can depend on 

Capitol for your residential needs. 

Above: Capitol Roofing, Inc. 

provides a full range of commercial 

roofing services including re-roofing, 

roof repair, new construction 

and maintenance. 


HIGH WEST 

ENERGY 

High West Energy has a rich heritage that forms the foundation for 

the company’s future. Even as we evolve and grow into a solutionsoriented 

membership corporation, focusing in the areas of energy 

delivery/management and information/communications, we continue 

to preserve the core values and code of ethics on which we were 

founded many decades ago. 

For home and business owners in the tri-state region of South 

Eastern Wyoming, Northern Colorado, and Western Nebraska who 

need accessible and friendly service, the High West Energy family of 

companies remain member owned and locally operated, delivering 

solutions to a number of energy and communications needs. 

High West Energy began in the late 1930s when some farms and 

ranches had windmills and batteries to generate and store power. 

A need for more reliable and robust energy solutions led farmers and 

ranchers to band together to form Rural Electric Company to develop 

a solution and improve their quality of life. 

The solution, as they saw it, was to build infrastructure to the 

countryside to receive central station electricity through a company 

organized, owned, and controlled by those it served. The first board 

of directors was named in November 1936 with H. O. Cooper 

from Albin, Wyoming, serving as president. The board appointed 

George Phillips, a local Pine Bluffs farmer, to promote and organize 

membership drives in various communities with a five-dollar fee 

collected with each signed membership. Phillips later was appointed 

as the first manager of the Rural Electric Company. 

In 1939, word was received that a loan for 162 miles of line had 

been approved for Rural Electric Company. In May 1940 the first 

lines were energized and the Rural Electric Company was in business, 

with 500 consumers and $234,000 invested. Phillips continued to 

serve as general manager until February 1946. B. E. Lyons was 

then selected to supervise operations, and under his management, 

Rural Electric Company grew to 2,675 miles of distribution line with 

4,900 consumers, including 700 irrigation wells. The company grew 

quickly during the 1950s and 1960s as oil wells, and irrigation wells 

were converted to electric power and line extensions reached new 

consumers in the tri-state area. 


In 1962 the missile program brought new growth to the area, 

so much so that Rural Electric Company found itself with more load 

than the lines could carry. A building program strengthened the 

system to provide adequate power for ninety-eight missile sites. 

Eventually, on July 15, 1999, Rural Electric Company changed its 

name to High West Energy to reflect its expanded programs and 

services. Today, High West Energy serves Laramie and Albany 

Counties in Wyoming; Weld and Logan Counties in Colorado; and 

Cheyenne, Kimball, and Banner Counties in Nebraska. 

The cooperative is governed by seven directors and a general 

manager who, along with all High West Energy employees, are 

responsible for providing the very best service to the member 

consumers. High West Energy recognizes the need to continue evolving 

from an electric distribution cooperative into a more dynamic 

business where change and growth and providing new value are the 

norm. The addition of High West Digital Solutions and High West 

Wiring are examples of this. A hallmark of the cooperative 

has been our relationship with members and local communities. 

We continue offering personalized service and remain involved in 

our communities, both financially and socially. The power of human 

connections is what separates us from other providers and has 

been an integral part of who and what a cooperative is. As we 

preserve our core, we recognize the importance of stimulating 

progress. We also understand the importance of managing our 

costs and maintaining financial strength as these have been the 

hallmark of our success and will continue to be imperative as we 

go forward. 

Likewise, safety of our employees and the public has always been 

a priority and must continue to be so, and reducing inconveniences, 

whether it be from the interruptions of power or communications, 

will continue to be the focus of improving our members’ experience 

with us. High West Energy recognizes its need to continue 

evolving, but at the same time, we recognize the importance of 

continuing to abide by our code of ethics. At High West Energy, 

our code is one of respect, honesty, teamwork and cooperation, 

accountability, continuous improvement, and professionalism. 

Having a code makes each of us a better employee serving the 

membership, whether in the workplace, at home, or in the community. 


COLDWELL BANKER THE PROPERTY EXCHANGE 

Coldwell Banker The Property Exchange is one of the few Realtor ® - 

owned real estate companies in Wyoming. With more than seventy 

full-time real estate agents, we consistently sell more than $250 million 

in residential and commercial real estate in Cheyenne, Laramie, 

Laramie County, Wyoming, and the entire Rocky Mountain Region. 

After obtaining his real estate license in 1979, Kent Jesperson 

moved to Cheyenne to work for the company 

as sales manager. By 1983, Jesperson had 

purchased the company from the previous 

owner and began the process of building it 

into the successful enterprise it is today. 

Coldwell Banker The Property Exchange 

is proud to have created a company made 

up of the best and most-diligent real estate 

agents who have a vested interest in the 

company’s success. Patrick Graham, joined 

the business as sales manager in 2010, now 

serves as managing broker and president. 

We operate out of a single, 18,000-squarefoot 

office building constructed in 2007. 

Our convenient, local location serves the 

needs of customers and clients throughout 

the areas. 

All Coldwell Banker The Property Exchange agents are highly 

trained in residential, commercial, farm and ranch, and unimproved 

land. But our real estate agents do more than find buyers and 

sellers for property. Our commercial division has some of the 

brightest minds in the business who continually work to come up 

with ideas for commercial and housing developments to help our 

communities grow. Our latest projects include a 500-unit storage 

facility, a restaurant site, and several office buildings. More projects 

will be announced in the future. 

Our Realtors ® 

strive to be very active in the Cheyenne community 

by serving on boards and committees, chairing fundraisers, and 

volunteering. Coldwell Banker developed the Adopt-A-Block Program 

for Downtown Cheyenne and started Back the Blue with Beef, 

an event to raise funds for first responders. Graham also created “The 

Cycle of Life” raising more than $20,000 for Across the Street Homes, 

which helps families get into permanent housing, Cheyenne Day of 

Giving, and Laramie County Habitat for Humanity. 

As a locally owned, independent real estate company, we live here, 

work here, and raise our families here. We are committed to helping 

build a strong community in Laramie County and making it a great 

place to live. 


Simon Contractors has a long and successful history in Cheyenne. 

The great people and “western spirit” here have served both the 

business side of our company and provided the quality of life our 

employees want. 

Simon Contractors was founded sixty-three years ago, in 1954 

by James E. Simon, who started his company by taking on any 

kind of construction job he could get his hands on. The projects 

started with minor building, concrete and pipe—and eventually 

asphalt work. 

As project scope and size grew, so did Simon Contractors. To better 

accommodate increasing asphalt projects, Simon Contractors opened 

an asphalt plant in North Platte, Nebraska, in the late 1960s. The 

North Platte plant enabled the company to make asphalt a predominate 

part of Simon Contractors’ business. 

Throughout the seventies, Simon 

Contractors opened three more locations. 

In 1983, Simon purchased Read 

Ready Mix in Cheyenne, which led 

eventually to the move to Cheyenne 

for the corporate headquarters. 

Simon Contractor’s bridge division 

was another intuitive and decisive 

move by Simon. James E. Simon 

observed the tremendous financial 

opportunity in bridge building and 

maintenance. He aligned with the most capable professionals and 

made the new venture work. 

The growth, diversity and quality work of Simon Contractors drew 

the attention of a major company, Colas, the worldwide leader in 

transportation technology, infrastructure construction and maintenance. 

In November of 1994, the Colas Group acquired Simon Contractors. 

Simon has continued to grow with the acquisitions of Hills 

Materials of Rapid City, South Dakota; Intermountain Construction 

in northeast Wyoming; Osborne Concrete in Laramie; and Willits 

Aggregates located in Harriman, Wyoming. Simon has also moved 

into Northern Colorado with the addition of a concrete plant 

in Wellington. Currently, Simon employs nearly 800 individuals 

at the height of construction season. 

Simon Contractors has 

completed projects in 

many states west of the 

Mississippi River. Today, 

Simon Contractors, a Colas 

company, still operates 

with the safety, integrity, 

quality, and reliability it 

was founded on sixty-three 

years ago—a distinction the 

company is proud to have 

fostered, and one that it is 

determined to continue. 

SIMON 

CONTRACTORS 


MOORE 

INSULATION 

COMPANY, INC. 

MOORE FOAM 

SYSTEMS, LLC 

Leo Moore saw something missing in Cheyenne when he started 

Moore Insulation Company, Inc., in 1978. He saw a need for homes 

and buildings in Cheyenne to become more energy efficient with 

insulation and solar, so he took a leap of faith and started the 

business out of his home. He kept his day job and worked nights 

and weekends at his new business, while his wife, Kristen, ran 

the office and took care of the home and their two children. 

Through the next four 

decades, Leo and Kristen 

found hard-working people 

to join their business and 

together they helped the 

company earn a reputation 

for quality work, professionalism, 

and dependability. 

That explains why the 

company has grown from a 

mom-and-pop operation to 

one of the leading installers 

of insulation products in Wyoming, northern Colorado, and 

western Nebraska. As the company grew, it added spray foam 

insulation to its services and formed a second company known as 

Moore Foam Systems, LLC. 

Karl Redlich began working for the company in 1997 as an insulation 

installer. His responsibilities grew over time, and when the company 

added spray foam insulation, he became the lead installer for Moore 

Foam Systems, LLC. After ten years, Leo asked him to serve as general 

manager of both companies, and, in 2015, turned the reins over to 

Karl, who now serves as vice president and future owner. 

Moore Insulation Company, Inc. and Moore Foam Systems, LLC 

have become insulation experts by learning and developing to meet 

the ever-changing industry standards for energy efficiency. Installers 

are trained according to these standards, resulting in hundreds of 

satisfied residential customers and long-standing relationships with 

many respected commercial contractors. Our team is dedicated to 

growing with the business, partnering with organizations to support 

our local communities, and continuing the legacy Leo Moore started 

as one of the best subcontractors in the area. 


DYNO NOBEL 

INC. 

Dyno Nobel Inc.’s plant 

in Cheyenne, Wyoming, 

has been producing quality 

ammonia-related products 

since the construction of 

the plant in 1964. The facility 

was originally owned 

by WYCON Chemicals, a 

co-op between Wyoming, 

Colorado, and Nebraska. At that time, it produced three products 

and had a capacity of 50,000 tons of ammonia per year and employed 

134 individuals. The plant was originally constructed to consume 

stranded natural gas and produce agricultural products, ammonia and 

ammonium nitrate. 

Since then, the plant has been bought and sold multiple times with 

the most recent acquisition in 2005 by Dyno Nobel Inc. The facility 

has undergone several expansions since the original construction, 

including adding the capacity to produce urea, urea ammonium 

nitrate, low density ammonium nitrate and carbon dioxide, along 

with several other products. Currently, the plant has 175 employees 

and produces 12 products that serve the mining, construction, 

agriculture and transportation industries. Ammonia remains the 

plant’s lifeblood as it is used as the feedstock for production of 

the other products. Annual production has now increased to 192,000 

tons of ammonia. 

Dyno Nobel Inc.’s strategic location provides for an 

excellent distribution system for ammonium nitrate to 

service the local community, including the Powder 

River Basin. This location also allows for distribution 

of UAN to the local agriculture and fertilizer industry 

and CO 2 to the malt beverage industry. 

Over the years, the plant has been actively 

involved in the local community, sponsoring such 

events and organizations as Frontier Days, Cheyenne 

Chamber of Commerce, LEADS and the Boys and Girls 

Club of Cheyenne. Dyno Nobel Inc. is continuing 

a fifty-year business tradition to meet tomorrow’s 

challenges with enthusiasm while remaining committed 

to the changing needs of its customers as well as 

the environment. 


ELLENBECKER 

OIL, INC. 

Above: Dan Ellenbecker, 

(Don’s father), founder of 

the company. 

Right: Left to right, Don, Shelly and 

Tyler Ellenbecker. 

The history of Ellenbecker Oil, Inc., goes back more than half a 

century spanning three generations. The company is now owned and 

operated by Don and Shelly Ellenbecker. In 2005, their son, Tyler, 

joined the company. Tyler is carrying on a family tradition that 

began when Dan Ellenbecker (Don’s father) founded the company. 

Dan began his petroleum career with 

Chevron Oil in 1962 as a commission 

agent. He also managed two Chevron 

stations at the time. As a commission 

agent, Dan bought his own fuel trucks, 

and Chevron supplied the fuel. Chevron 

paid a commission per gallon sold 

along with mileage required for delivery 

distance zones. Dan also sold Atlas 

tires, batteries, and accessories to the 

public and to Chevron stations. 

In the mid 1970s, Don began 

working for his father. He expanded his 

area to Laramie and the two of them 

worked together to expand their customer base and service area. 

Dan purchased the Cheyenne and Laramie properties from Chevron 

in 1982, and in doing so went out on his own, starting the company 

known today as Ellenbecker Oil, Inc. 

The company purchased its own gasoline and diesel and sold it to 

customers, becoming a fuel jobber or wholesaler. The fuels they sold 

came unbranded from Chevron, Sinclair, and Conoco. Don’s main goal 

was to deliver the fuels while Dan focused on promoting the packaged 

oil until his retirement in 1992. Don and Shelly have continued to 

run the business after Dan’s retirement and death in 1995. 

When Tyler joined the company, he joined his dad in delivering 

fuel. Through the years, the family has grown the business in 

Cheyenne and Laramie and now deliver in five counties. Ellenbecker 

Oil’s base includes agriculture, commercial, and government agencies. 

Both Cheyenne and Laramie have an office and oil warehouse and 

offer 24/7 private card-lock fueling service. 

Don and Shelly hope Tyler will someday take over the company 

and continue serving old customers while attracting new ones. 

Repeat customers make up the bulk of their customer base. They are 

thankful for their customers, friends, and community. They say 

Cheyenne has been a great place to run a small business and a 

wonderful town in which to live and raise a family. 


Laramie County Abstract & Title Co. (LCA) provides clients with 

the best of both worlds: a hands-on approach from a staff that has 

spent many years building strong relationships in the local real estate 

community combined with the resources and strength of a regional 

holding company with offices in Wyoming, Idaho, and Montana. 

Title Financial Corporation located in Blackfoot, Idaho, is LCA’s 

parent company. LCA joined the Title Financial Corporation family 

in 2014 and has been encouraged to continue its involvement in the 

Cheyenne community. LCA is proud of its seventy year commitment 

to Cheyenne and appreciates the ongoing support of the local real 

estate professionals and community. Protecting property rights and 

providing outstanding escrow settlement services for property owners 

in Cheyenne and Laramie County are of utmost importance and 

remain the focus of the company and its employees. 

Lewis F. Hanson founded Laramie County Abstract & Title Co. in 

1947. It occupied several locations until the early 1960s, when 

Hanson purchased the building at 1819 Warren Avenue, where 

LCA remains to this day. The company started with abstracts and 

moved into title insurance in the 1970s. Around that time, LCA 

established a long relationship with Chicago Title Insurance as one 

of its underwriters, a relationship that is still in place today. 

Hanson passed on his legacy to his two sons, Keith and Norman, 

who ran the company until 1989 when Keith moved to California. 

In 1987 an addition to the existing building was added to the 

back, enabling the company to continue to grow. Then, in January 

1994, Norman sold the company to Sharon Radomicki but continued 

to stay with LCA until December 1998. Radomicki served as 

president and owner of LCA until selling the company in April 2014 

to Title Financial Corporation. 

Title Financial Corporation, founded in 1906 by William Herman 

Stufflebeam, is a family-owned regional company that believes 

local commitment is critical to its success. It prides itself on hiring 

locally, actively supporting local community affairs, and keeping 

earnings local. 

Title Financial Corporation is committed to unrivaled customer 

service. It is customer focused and strives to provide a world-class 

experience at every level. It blends hometown customer service 

with sophisticated, cutting-edge technology to meet its customers’ 

LARAMIE COUNTY ABSTRACT & TITLE CO. 

real estate transaction needs. With the backing of Title Financial 

Corporation, Laramie County Abstract & Title Co. has the resources to 

compete without losing its identity and local, personalized approach. 


MERRILL, INC. 

Merrill, Inc., is an award-winning construction company that has 

grown enormously in the past decade even as other companies have 

struggled to remain in business. Its success is tied to the “give-it-everything-you’ve-got” 

spirit of its owner, Jennifer Merrill, and astute business 

moves that have paid off and will pay dividends well into the future. 

Merrill, Inc., opened for business on January 2, 1991, originally as a 

livestock operation and slowly evolved into a construction company. 

This Class A general contracting company specializes in site excavation 

including football and soccer fields, underground utilities, concrete, 

trenching, road construction, footer-foundation excavation, and building 

erection/remodel/renovation. It also works on erosion control, 

demolition, drainage, and miscellaneous grading. While Merrill works 

primarily in Wyoming, Colorado, and Nebraska, they also rebuilt the 

Trailhead of the Bright Angel Trail at the Grand Canyon in Arizona and 

restored several historic buildings on the South Rim. 

That is quite a repertoire when you consider it all started when Merrill 

grossed $74,000 the first year and topped out at $13M in 2013. 

Merrill kept her day job to pay the bills and worked at Merrill, Inc., 

at night. The firm grew slowly during the first fifteen years before 

experiencing a growth spurt that would make any business owner proud. 

During a four-year period, Merrill, Inc.’s contract revenues climbed 

nearly 250 percent from $912,992 in 2007 to $3,191,166 in 2009, 

and during the next four-year period contract revenues averaged more 

than $9 million annually. Merrill attributes her success to the many 

talented people who are part of the Merrill, Inc. team. 

For her efforts, Merrill was selected as the Wyoming Small Business 

Person the Year in 2014 and, in that same year, was a second runnerup 

for the National Small Business Person of the Year. With the excellent 

work ethic of Merrill and her employees, you can expect continued 

growth and accolades in the years to come. 


Steil Surveying Services, LLC is a professional consulting firm that 

has provided customers with land, GPS and construction surveying, 

CADD drafting, and computer applications for more than twenty years. 

John A. Steil, managing partner, has more than forty years of experience 

in all phases of land and construction surveying and is licensed 

in Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, Montana, Arizona, South Dakota, 

and Minnesota. 

Steil Surveying Services specializes in all types of boundary retracement, 

GPS, topographic, construction, subdivision, title and as-built 

surveys. The company employs the latest technology in surveying instrument 

and data collection. Technology—along with the ability to adjust to 

the market’s needs—plays an important role in the company’s success, 

giving it a huge advantage over competitors. Ninety percent of the 

company’s work is GPS and the other technological advances allow it to 

cover a large area and do so quickly and efficiently. Work now handled by 

10 to 12 employees would have taken 25 to 35 employees a few years ago. 

Steil Surveying Services uses technology and design skills to produce 

products that are accurate, easy to use, and aesthetically pleasing. This 

dedication to detail and meeting customer needs has earned the 

company national awards from the American Congress of Surveyors 

and Mappers (ACSM) and the National Society of Professional 

Surveyors (NSPS) for map and plat design work. 

Research is important to these designs, but the key is the quality 

and design of the actual presentation. Steil Surveying Services spends 

time and effort on the design aspects to make its maps readable and, 

therefore, easier to use. The presentation of its work is an important 

part of the quality the company provides its clients. 

Subdivision work has been a mainstay of the company, but its 

biggest jobs in recent years have been cross-country pipelines. For 

instance, the company surveyed half of the route for a 400-mile-long 

pipeline between Douglas, Wyoming, and Fountain, Colorado. 

Steil Surveying Services employs approximately ten people with 

increased staffing in the summer to meet the demands of the region’s 

prime construction period. Their employees provide the best possible 

service to their clients and strive to get the job done right the first time 

and to meet all deadlines. 

Steil Surveying Services is located at 1102 West Nineteenth Street 

in Cheyenne and on the Internet at www.steilsurvey.com. 

STEIL 

SURVEYING 

SERVICES, LLC 

Top (from left to right): Partner 

Jeffrey Jones, Founder John Steil, and 

Partner Bradley Steil. 


FIRST AMERICAN TITLE INSURANCE COMPANY 

The Laramie County offices of First American Title Insurance 

Company provide customers with friendly, personalized service you 

would expect from a company with a long history in Wyoming, along 

with the products and services only available from one of the largest 

title insurers in the nation. 

First American Title, the largest subsidiary of First American 

Financial Corporation, provides comprehensive title insurance coverage 

and professional services for real estate purchases, construction, 

refinances, and equity loans through its direct operations and 

an extensive network of agents throughout the United States 

and abroad. 

Since the company’s formation in 1889, First American has been 

dedicated to maintaining the integrity of land records and delivering 

the information, products, and services needed with unparalleled service. 

For more than a century, First American has focused on serving 

customers with the most efficient, personalized services and products 

while adhering to its core values of integrity, commitment, service, 

leadership, and teamwork. 

This commitment continues as the company develops advanced 

technology solutions to speed processing, while providing accurate 

and complete information. With automated processes, advanced technology, 

innovative solutions, and a focus on long-term success, First 

American continues to be an industry leader. 

First American entered the Wyoming market in 1968, when it gained 

a controlling interest in Title Guaranty Company of Wyoming, Inc., 

which had been a leading title company in the state since the early 1900s. 

Until the turn of the century, property ownership was agreed upon 

by word of mouth, but the growth of cities, such as Casper and 

Cheyenne, spurred a need for property records. By the early 1900s, 

Casper had progressed from the status of a village, where everyone 

knew the history of each lot and block, to a city where property transactions 

were more frequent and complicated. 

To address the changing needs of the community, C.H. Townsend, 

proprietor of the general store, joined with rancher B.B. Brooks and a 

handful of other prominent men to form Natrona County Abstract & 

Loan Company in 1914. Four decades later, after the state legislature 

changed laws barring domestic title insurance firms, leaders sold their 

interest in the company and Title Guaranty Company of Wyoming, 

Inc. was formed in 1955. Title Guaranty became a wholly-owned 

subsidiary of First American in 1969, and later changed its name to 

First American Title Guaranty of Wyoming in 1980. 

First American continued to grow, and by 1982 was serving every 

region of the nation. Today, First American is one of the largest title 

insurers in the country. Even though First American provides the 

benefits of a large national underwriter, the company emphasizes 

the personalized customer-focused service that First American’s local 

offices are known for. With offices in 18 of Wyoming’s 23 counties, 

First American’s Wyoming operations are the result of combining 

19 local abstract companies whose roots go back to statehood. As 

Wyoming’s pioneer title company, each office maintains real estate 

records from sovereignty. 

First American was built more than 125 years ago on a foundation 

of integrity and service. The company’s philosophy of providing 

customers the respect they deserve and the services they need endures. 

It is a commitment the company continues to emphasize with its 

clients every day. 


HOLLYFRONTIER 

CHEYENNE 

REFINING LLC 

HollyFrontier Cheyenne Refining LLC (Cheyenne Refinery) is a 

subsidiary of HollyFrontier Corporation (HFC). HFC is an independent 

petroleum refiner and marketer that produces high-value, light products 

such as gasoline, diesel fuel, jet fuel and other specialty products. 

The Cheyenne Refinery was founded in 1934 when two entrepreneurs 

formed the Capitol Oil and Refining Company. It had an initial 

processing capacity of 700 barrels per day. In 1940, the refinery was 

purchased by M. H. “Bud” Robineau, and its name was changed to 

Frontier Refining Company. In 1945, through the joint effort of 

Robineau and Wyoming Senator Joseph C. O’Mahoney, an $8 million, 

forty-acre facility adjacent to the existing refinery was constructed to 

produce 100-octane aviation fuel for the Army Air Forces as part of 

the WWII effort. At the end of the war, Frontier purchased the 

additional facility and converted it to produce automotive fuel and 

other petroleum products. Once in operation, twice as much crude oil 

was purchased for processing from oil fields in Niobrara and Natrona 

counties, and an additional 165 workers were employed—this was an 

estimated $328,500 annually that was added to the Cheyenne economy 

(today’s equivalent would be more than $4 million). By 1966, the refinery’s 

production capacity reached 20,000 barrels per day. From 1968 to 1986, 

the refinery was owned by subsidiaries of Husky LTD. During that 

time, a $60 million modernization and expansion program was initiated, 

and by 1979, a new crude unit, vacuum unit, and sulfur recovery 

unit was completed. In 1986, the refinery was purchased by a group of 

independent investors and renamed Frontier Oil and Refining 

Company. In 1988, construction was completed on a state-of-the-art 

$2.9 million Wastewater Treatment Plant. In 1991, Wainoco Oil 

Corporation purchased the refinery and subsequently changed its name 

to Frontier Oil Corporation. In 2011, Frontier completed a merger of 

equals with Holly Corporation and changed the refinery’s name to 

HollyFrontier. 

The Cheyenne Refinery currently has a crude oil capacity of 

52,000 barrels per day and produces 1.5 million gallons of gasoline 

and diesel per day. It employs 270 local residents full-time with 

an additional 100 to 500 contract employees working any given day. 

On average each year, it spends almost $40 million in payroll and 

benefits, over $3 million in local, county and state taxes, and over 

$170 thousand in charitable contributions. 

HFC understands that it is a privilege to conduct its business in the 

communities where it operates. This is why it is committed to minimizing 

environmental impacts by reducing wastes, emissions and other releases. 

The Cheyenne Refinery works closely with state and federal regulatory 

agencies to guarantee it is operating in a way that keeps Cheyenne safe, 

healthy and beautiful. 

For more information, please visit www.hollyfrontier.com. 


BLACK HILLS 

ENERGY 

Black Hills Energy is proud of our more than 

130-year history in Cheyenne, Wyoming. We are a 

customer-focused, growth-oriented energy company 

with a mission of improving life with energy and 

a vision to be the energy partner of choice. 

What began with a few streetlights in Deadwood, 

South Dakota, in 1883 evolved into 1.2 million 

electric and natural gas customers in 790 communities 

throughout Arkansas, Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, 

Nebraska, Montana, South Dakota, and Wyoming. 

Today, we provide customers with electricity and natural gas while 

mining for coal and operating power plants and exploring for and 

producing oil and gas. 

Black Hills Energy entered the Cheyenne market in January 2005 

when we purchased Cheyenne Light, Fuel & Power. Despite several 

ownership changes before we bought the utility, employees maintained 

continuity and commitment to providing customers with reliable, 

dependable gas and electric service. 

We are proud to be active members of our communities. We provide 

leadership, knowledge and the resources to help our communities create 

jobs, help fuel local business expansion, and help build a platform to 

grow. We are building not only today but for the future as well. 

Social responsibility plays a vital role in helping fulfill our vision 

and mission, and we embrace the following core values: 

• Agility: We embrace change and challenge ourselves to adapt quickly 

to opportunities. 

• Communication: Consistent, open, and timely communication 

keeps us focused on our strategy and goals. 

• Creating Value: We are committed to creating exceptional value 

for our shareholders, employers, customers, and the communities 

we serve—always. 

• Customer service: We are committed to providing a superior 

customer experience every day. 

• Integrity: We hold ourselves to the highest standards based on a 

foundation of unquestionable ethics. 

• Leadership: Leadership is an attitude. Everyone must demonstrate 

the care and initiative to do things right. 

• Partnership: Our partnerships with shareholders, communities, 

regulators, customers, and each other make us all stronger. 

• Respect: We respect each other. Our unique talents and diversity 

anchor a culture of success. 

• Safety: We commit to live and work safely every day. 


ADDISON 

CONSTRUCTION 

CO. 

Founded by Charles S. “Chuck” Thompson on January 1, 1965, 

and incorporated on September 10, 1968, Addison Construction Co. 

has provided outstanding manpower and unparalleled service as 

an electrical substation contractor across the United States. Wellknown 

as one of the best substation builders in the business and 

often finishes jobs under budget and ahead of schedule, employees 

have long believed in and followed the motto of their company: 

“To give a little bit more than the customer pays for.” 

Nearly twelve years of experience in the construction industry, 

working primarily in the field of transmission construction, Chuck 

created Addison Construction Co. with $6,000, a pickup truck, one 

trailer, and a second-hand line truck originally owned by Southern 

Cal Edison. The first bid was made on an addition to the Cheyenne 

Substation, Stage 02, for the Department of Interior, Bureau of 

Reclamation. The contract date was February 12, 1965, in the amount 

of $96,697, and with this first success, Addison was up and running. 

From this simple beginning, Addison Construction Co. now has 

projects extending from the East Coast to the West Coast and from 

near the Canadian border, down near the Mexican border. Current 

owners: CEO Gary D. Bindert, President Bobby D. Bindert, and Vice 

President Michael M. Kaiser oversee substations ranging from 12.47kV 

to 500,000 volts. Seven employees are in the main office in Cheyenne, 

Wyoming, and 5 superintendents with crew sizes ranging from 2 to 10 

can be found completing projects across the U.S.A. The average gross 

revenue of the company tops $10 million annually with forty percent 

of the revenue coming from the federal government, the Department 

of the Interior through the Bureau of Reclamation, and the Department 

of Energy through the Western Area Power Administration and 

Southwestern Power Administration, as well as other local entities like 

Black Hills Energy, Hi-West Energy, and Carbon Power & Light, Inc. 

Addison Construction Co. remains active in its support of the 

community and surrounding areas through the Salvation Army, 

Special Olympics, Wyoming Open, Cheyenne ARC of Laramie 

County, Frontier Lion’s Club, Multiple Sclerosis Society, Scleroderma 

Cure Research, Ducks Unlimited, Pheasants Forever, and Cheyenne 

Police Protection Association. 

Above: Cheyenne Prairie Substation 


Below: Two views of the King Ranch 

Substation in Cheyenne. 


SPONSORS 

16th Street Mercantile ............................................................................................77 

Addison Construction Co.....................................................................................161 

Black Hills Energy ................................................................................................160 

Blue Federal Credit Union......................................................................................80 

Budd-Falen Law Offices, L.L.C. ............................................................................105 

Capitol Roofing, Inc. ............................................................................................146 

Cheyenne Downtown Development Authority......................................................106 

Cheyenne Frontier Days TM ....................................................................................138 

Cheyenne LEADS .................................................................................................113 

Cheyenne Regional Medical Center ......................................................................118 

Cheyenne Symphony Orchestra............................................................................133 

Coldwell Banker The Property Exchange ..............................................................150 

CollegeAmerica ....................................................................................................131 

Duke Energy Renewables .....................................................................................142 

Dyno Nobel, Inc...................................................................................................153 

Ellenbecker Oil, Inc. ............................................................................................154 

First American Title Insurance Company..............................................................158 

First Cheyenne Federal Credit Union .....................................................................98 

Frontier Oral Surgery & Implant Center...............................................................128 

Greater Cheyenne Chamber of Commerce............................................................100 

High West Energy ................................................................................................148 

Holland & Hart, LLP..............................................................................................77 

HollyFrontier Cheyenne Refining LLC..................................................................159 

KGWN-TV ...........................................................................................................107 

Laramie County Abstract & Title Co. ...................................................................155 

Laramie County Commission ...............................................................................134 

Laramie County Community College....................................................................124 

Laramie County Library System............................................................................130 

Laramie County School District 1.........................................................................132 

Lathrop & Rutledge, P.C.......................................................................................115 

Life Care Center of Cheyenne...............................................................................126 

Little America Hotel & Resort ................................................................................96 

Meridian Trust Federal Credit Union....................................................................114 

Merill, Inc. ...........................................................................................................156 

Moore Insulation Company, Inc./Moore Foam Systems, LLC ................................152 

Nagle Warren Mansion Bed & Breakfast ...............................................................110 

National Center for Atmospheric Research ...........................................................122 

The Nomadic Northern Arapaho ............................................................................92 

The Plains Hotel.....................................................................................................88 

Pointe Frontier Senior Living Community ............................................................127 

Preiss Enterprises, Inc. .........................................................................................112 

Protection & Advocacy System, Inc. .....................................................................136 

Reiman Corp........................................................................................................144 

The Romano Insurance Agency ............................................................................111 

Romsa Law Office, P.C..........................................................................................108 

Saints Constantine and Helen Greek Orthodox Church ........................................129 

Searing Industries...................................................................................................77 

Sierra Trading Post .................................................................................................90 

Simon Contractors ...............................................................................................151 

Skils’kin ...............................................................................................................137 

SMART Sports Medicine Center............................................................................139 

Spradley Barr Cheyenne .......................................................................................109 

State of Wyoming.................................................................................................135 

Steil Surveying Services, LLC ...............................................................................157 

STRIDE Learning Center ......................................................................................120 

Sundahl, Powers, Kapp & Martin, LLC ................................................................104 

Taco John’s ® .........................................................................................................103 

Visit Cheyenne .....................................................................................................101 

Western States Asphalt, LLC...................................................................................77 

Western Vista Federal Credit Union .......................................................................94 

Wyoming Lottery Corporation................................................................................84 

Wyoming Stock Growers Association ...................................................................102 


ABOUT THE AUTHOR 

Rick Ewig 

Rick Ewig recently retired from the American Heritage Center at the University 

of Wyoming. He served many years as the Center's associate director and a UW faculty 

member. Before his tenure at the AHC he worked for the Wyoming State 

Archives, Museums and Historical Department. He has been a longtime member 

of the Wyoming State Historical Society and he served four years as the Society's 

president. He currently serves as the editor of the state's historical journal, Annals 

of Wyoming: The Wyoming History Journal. 

PHOTOGRAPH BY RICHARD COLLIER. 

A b o u t t h e A u t h o r ✦ 1 6 3

For more information about the following publications or about publishing your own book, please call 

HPNbooks at 800-749-9790 or visit www.hpnbooks.com. 

Albemarle & Charlottesville: 

An Illustrated History of the First 150 Years 

Bakersfield: It’s the People, And a Whole Lot More 

Black Gold: The Story of Texas Oil & Gas 

Black Gold in California 

Carter County, Oklahoma: Then and Now 

Coastal Visions: Images of Galveston County 

Davis County: On the Move 

Fort Myers - City of Palms: A Contemporary Portrait 

Garland: A Contemporary History 

Historic Abilene: An Illustrated History 

Historic Alamance County: An Illustrated History 

Historic Albany: City & County 

Historic Albuquerque: An Illustrated History 

Historic Alexandria: An Illustrated History 

Historic Amarillo: An Illustrated History 

Historic Anchorage: An Illustrated History 

Historic Austin: An Illustrated History 

Historic Baldwin County: A Bicentennial History 

Historic Baton Rouge: An Illustrated History 

Historic Beaufort County: An Illustrated History 

Historic Beaumont: An Illustrated History 

Historic Bexar County: An Illustrated History 

Historic Birmingham: An Illustrated History 

Historic Brazoria County: An Illustrated History 

Historic Brownsville: An Illustrated History 

Historic Charlotte: 

An Illustrated History of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County 

Historic Chautauqua County: An Illustrated History 

Historic Cheyenne: A History of the Magic City 

Historic Clayton County: An Illustrated History 

Historic Comal County: An Illustrated History 

Historic Corpus Christi: An Illustrated History 

Historic DeKalb County: An Illustrated History 

Historic Denton County: An Illustrated History 

Historic Edmond: An Illustrated History 

Historic El Paso: An Illustrated History 

Historic Erie County: An Illustrated History 

Historic Fayette County: An Illustrated History 

Historic Fairbanks: An Illustrated History 

Historic Gainesville & Hall County: An Illustrated History 

Historic Gregg County: An Illustrated History 

Historic Hampton Roads: Where America Began 

Historic Hancock County: An Illustrated History 

Historic Henry County: An Illustrated History 

Historic Hood County: An Illustrated History 

Historic Houston: An Illustrated History 

Historic Hunt County: An Illustrated History 

Historic Illinois: An Illustrated History 

Historic Kern County: 

An Illustrated History of Bakersfield and Kern County 

Historic Lafayette: 

An Illustrated History of Lafayette & Lafayette Parish 

Historic Laredo: 

An Illustrated History of Laredo & Webb County 

Historic Lee County: The Story of Fort Myers & Lee County 

Historic Louisiana: An Illustrated History 

Historic Mansfield: A Bicentennial History 

Historic Midland: An Illustrated History 

Historic Mobile: 

An Illustrated History of the Mobile Bay Region 

Historic Montgomery County: 

An Illustrated History of Montgomery County, Texas 

Historic Ocala: The Story of Ocala & Marion County 

Historic Oklahoma: An Illustrated History 

Historic Oklahoma County: An Illustrated History 

Historic Omaha: 

An Illustrated History of Omaha and Douglas County 

Historic Orange County: An Illustrated History 

Historic Osceola County: An Illustrated History 

Historic Ouachita Parish: An Illustrated History 

Historic Paris and Lamar County: An Illustrated History 

Historic Pasadena: An Illustrated History 

Historic Passaic County: An Illustrated History 

Historic Pennsylvania An Illustrated History 

Historic Philadelphia: An Illustrated History 

Historic Prescott: 

An Illustrated History of Prescott & Yavapai County 

Historic Richardson: An Illustrated History 

Historic Rio Grande Valley: An Illustrated History 

Historic Rogers County: An Illustrated History 

Historic San Marcos: An Illustrated History 

Historic Santa Barbara: An Illustrated History 

Historic Santa Maria Valley 

Historic Scottsdale: A Life from the Land 

Historic Shelby County: An Illustrated History 

Historic Shreveport-Bossier: 

An Illustrated History of Shreveport & Bossier City 

Historic South Carolina: An Illustrated History 

Historic Smith County: An Illustrated History 

Historic Temple: An Illustrated History 

Historic Texarkana: An Illustrated History 

Historic Texas: An Illustrated History 

Historic Victoria: An Illustrated History 

Historic Tulsa: An Illustrated History 

Historic Wake County: An Illustrated History 

Historic Warren County: An Illustrated History 

Historic Williamson County: An Illustrated History 

Historic Wilmington & The Lower Cape Fear: 

An Illustrated History 

Historic York County: An Illustrated History 

Iron, Wood & Water: An Illustrated History of Lake Oswego 

Jefferson Parish: Rich Heritage, Promising Future 

More Than a River: Decatur-Morgan County 

Loudoun County, Virginia: 

Preserving Tradition, Embracing Innovation 

Miami’s Historic Neighborhoods: A History of Community 

Old Orange County Courthouse: A Centennial History 

Plano: An Illustrated Chronicle 

The New Frontier: 

A Contemporary History of Fort Worth & Tarrant County 

Rich With Opportunity: 

Images of Beaumont and Jefferson County 

Salt Lake City: Livability in the 21st Century 

San Antonio, City Exceptional 

The San Gabriel Valley: A 21st Century Portrait 

Southwest Louisiana: A Treasure Revealed 

The Spirit of Collin County 

Terrebonne Parish: Stories of the Good Earth 

Tyler: A Natural Beauty 

Utah Valley: Heart of Utah 

Valley Places, Valley Faces 

Water, Rails & Oil: Historic Mid & South Jefferson County

Cheyenne: A Sesquicentennial History

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