Laramie gets a univerisity.

Our Spectacular Stromatolites (Say what??)

 High in the Medicine Bow Mountains west of Laramie, near the base of the Snowy Range, lie spectacular finely-layered rounded rock structures reminiscent of cabbage. These are stromatolites—in fact, some of the most spectacular stromatolites on Earth

Warmed by a roaring fire, Governor Nellie Tayloe Ross (standing on makeshift platform) dedicates the "Great Skyroad" over the Snowy Range on July 4, 1926.

In the Laramie Basin just west of Laramie lies an exceptional hole in the ground—the Big Hollow

There was a time when back doors served a well-defined purpose in the Laramie home. First, and most importantly, it was the route to the “backhouse,” otherwise known as the privy, john, necessary or whatever euphemism served the purpose.

Celebration of Memorial Day 1884 in Laramie, Wyoming.

Laramie Gets its First Reliable and Safe Drinking Water

Interstate 80 winds its way up and east from Laramie, through a canyon that locals call “Telephone Canyon.” But the canyon was used long before the telephone.

April 1948 fire destroys much of downtown Laramie.

A Laramie membership club, the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States, commonly known as the VFW, has a proud history in Laramie.

The Laramie Rivers Conservation District (LRCD) was formed in 1945, as a result of those Federal and state efforts to avoid another Dust Bowl. Unlike many other conservation districts, ours encompasses the entire county.

There is no doubt that some of the earliest residents of Laramie were just passing through.  Exactly one year after Laramie was founded, the two great railroads, the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific, met at Promontory, Utah on May 10, 1869. The great migration to California could now begin by rail.

In Wyoming towns like Laramie, new styles in furniture, wallpaper and accessories came via railroad; city dwellers with the money to spend could have homes that looked a lot like those east of the Mississippi.   But for ranches, hunting lodges and rural second homes in the west, a more rustic style gained favor in the late 1800s and has persisted.

Whatever possessed me to agree to stand by my new husband’s side while he SAT for our wedding portrait?  I can still hear someone yelling out “don’t smile!”  And another saying “put your hand on his shoulder!”

There was a time when nearly all Laramie buildings had privies out back.

July 10 is the day on which Wyoming became a state. When Laramie first began “Jubilee Days” in 1940, the July celebration was intended to celebrate “Statehood Day” and always is centered around that day no matter how long the celebration lasts.

On September 6, 1870, Laramie women were the first in the world to vote in a general election. But what about the rest of the voters that day? Who were they, how did they vote and what were the results?

“There ought to be some sort of a fire organization here,” wrote Editor J.H. Hayford in the Laramie Daily Sentinel, in November, 1870, two years after Laramie’s founding. Luckily, no major fire had yet occurred, but that was no reason to oppose forming a fire department, Hayford reasoned.

In 1898, a few Laramie women put out an announcement that they were calling all interested women to a meeting in the Albany County Courthouse to form a woman’s club for Laramie. Over 100 showed up.