Wyoming Statehood Day - WTP

Wyoming Statehood Day was held at the Wyoming Territorial Prison State Historic Site in Laramie on July 10. 

Bill is behind the US flag

Dr. Joyce Thierer, of Ride into History, a historical performance touring troupe based in Kansas, performed “Coming to Wyoming Territory,” a look back at the state in 1890.  Her performance told of Mary Fix and her family’s homesteading adventures.  The family hoped that this would be their promised land.  Dr Thierer told a story of life on the land and about Mary’s adventures, challenges, and joys of building a new home in the West.  Dr Thierer teaches history classes at Emporia State University and authored “Telling History:  A Manual for Performers and Presenters of First Person Narratives.”  She is known for portrayals of Calamity Jane and Amelia Earhart. Dr. Thierer and Dr. Ann Birney held a workshop on 1st person interpretation for the staff and volunteers.  It was very interesting and informative.  We are doing first person interpretation in the prison.

 

56 Chevy

 

Conner Battlefield State Historic Site - Ranchester, WY

This is the site where General Patrick Connor attached Black Bear's Arapaho camp on the Tongue River. 

Medicine Wheel Passage Scenic Byway - near Sheridan, WY

This scenic byway is between Dayton, WY and Lovell, WY over the Big Horn Mountains.  What beautiful scenery!!!  We even saw two female moose.

Looking east toward Dayton, WY

Still a little bit of snow and some beautiful flowers

 

Looking west toward Lovell, WY

Two female moose that crossed the road right before we arrived

Fort Phil Kearney

Fort Phil Kearney is named for a popular Union General, the fort established in 1866 to protect immigrants on the Bozeman Trail on their way north to the gold fields in Montana, and also to prevent intertribal warfare between Native American tribes.  A major player in the Plains Indian wars, the Fort stands as a testament to the clash between the US Army forces and the Sioux, Cheyenne, and Arapaho Indians.  No structures remain - Fort was abandoned in August 1868 and then burned by the Cheyenne.

 

Diorama of fort

 

 

Entrance to the historic site - notice the Indians at the top of the hill and the tepee on the bottom right

View from the fort

 

Fort McKinney- Buffalo, WY

A range war (Johnson County War) unfolded in April 1892 between wealthy cattle ranchers and small farmers.  The final standoff saw 50 hired killers from the Wyoming Stock Growers Association holed up at the TA Ranch (today a guest ranch).  Outside a posse of 200 men, led by the sheriff of Johnson County, lay siege.  The stalemate finally ended with the intervention of President Benjamin Harrison and the Sixth Calvary of Forth McKinney.  Today, Fort McKinney is the site for the Wyoming Soldiers and Sailors Home.

 



Cloud Peak Skyway Scenic Byway - near Buffalo, WY

Between Buffalo, WY and Ten Sleep, WY is the beautiful Cloud Peak Scenic Byway.  Ten Sleep gets its name from by being ten sleeps (nights) between the Great Sioux Camps to the south and the northern camp located near Bridger, MT.

 

Como Bluff - near Medicine Bow, WY

Between Rock River, WY and Medicine Bow, WY there is an interesting roadside stop.

 

 

Laramie, WY - Historic West Side



The West Side is a neighborhood bridges-the Curtis Street Bridge, Clark Street Bridge, the Pedestrian Bridge, the Garfield Street Bridge, even the Greenbelt bridges.  The neighborhood is bounded on the east by the railroad tracks, on the west by the river and the interstate, on the south by Spring Creek, and on the north by Curtis Street.  As much as these are geographical markers, they are cultural.  Today, many Laramie residents choose to live in the "other tree area".  They enjoy trains in their backyards, neighbors on very small lots, and a mixed use residential/industrial neighborhood.  The West Side is close to downtown yet on the way to small area communities.

Lincoln Community Center

For almost 100 years, there was a school in the West Side neighborhood.  The Lincoln School (on the National Register of Historic Places) served a small, blue-collar neighborhood, separated from the rest of Laramie by railroad tracks.  The school closed in 1978 and now the building is a community center.

 

Swedish Lutheran Church

Built in 1885, the church is one of the oldest surviving churches in Wyoming.  Originally, services in Swedish.  In 1885 there were about 250 Scandinavians in Laramie and the church served the entire Scandinavian community, including Norwegians and Danes.

 

Clyde Garcia House

This house predates the founding of Laramie and appears to stand in the middle of the street.

 

Queen Anne Cottage

This house, built in 1883, is made of brick covered by stucco.  The brick came from a local brickyard and was produced by the Wyoming Territorial Prison inmates.

 

Bud's Bar

The first business at this site was a malt shop.  After Prohibition, the second liquor license in the state was issued in this establishment.  When a viaduct (now gone) was built the traffic passed right by here and the place was known as the Viaduct Tavern.

 

Clark Street Viaduct Murals

The murals on the concrete supports were designed by a member of a Laramie railroad family and painted by local teens.















Wyoming State Museum-Cheyenne, WY

The Wyoming State Museum is in downtown Cheyenne.  It is very interesting and informative.

 
Artistic boot in front of State Museum.  Others are displayed throughout Cheyenne.