The Wyoming National Bank in downtown Casper celebrated its 50th anniversary in 1964 with a modern building complex unlike any in Wyoming. The bank was designed by Denver architect Charles Deaton, who also designed the so-called “Jetson House” west of Denver, which was featured in Woody Allen’s 1973 movie Sleeper.
Castle Gardens gets its name from the outcropping of sandstone that the wind has eroded into fanciful shapes resembling the turrets and towers of castles. This unusual formation has been luring visitors for thousands of years, and many of them left their mark in the soft sandstone.
The first owner of the building was Charles Henry King, one of the earliest settlers to arrive in the area. He arrived in Shoshoni from Omaha in 1905. Upon arrival King bought three lots that would become in the following year the first lumber company in town. During this period, the lumber company’s main business came from homesteaders who had headed out west to claim the land that was promised by the Homestead Act.
“Wyoming’s sense of preservation is unmatched. Without this Trail, we would find life today far different. I cannot convey how strongly I feel when I see the Trail in Wyoming. And not just that Trail, but the assorted stage routes and the Overland Trail, an Indian trail across Weston County, the Lander Road, etc.” – Cori Clements, Wyoming resident who hiked the Oregon Trail all the way across the state over 10 years. Read her inspiring story here!
The AMK Ranch represents two important phases of settlement in the Jackson Hole valley: homesteading and vacation homes. The property demonstrates a cultural shift from using the land for basic daily needs and economic sufficiency to a more dominant appreciation of land as scenery and a place for recreation.
On the western edge of the University of Wyoming campus stands a largely forgotten monument to a former Cowboy. The Lowell O’Bryan monument is an unassuming stone drinking fountain located directly west of Old Main. It bears a plaque that reads “He gave himself to insure the safety of others.”
The first library in Cheyenne was located in Central School in a relatively small room. As the town grew and its needs multiplied, a committee to build a new library was established in 1900, and two years later, Cheyenne had a Carnegie Library.
The $64,000 monument project was designed by Henry Hobson Richardson and was completed in 1882. It features two bas-relief sculptures of the Ames brothers, Oakes on the east side and Oliver on the west
Hynds Lodge, built by Cheyenne businessman Harry P. Hynds in 1922 for $25,000, was constructed as a lodge at the recreation camp for the Boy Scouts of America. Hynds came to Cheyenne in 1882 and worked as a blacksmith for the Cheyenne-Deadwood Stage Line before acquiring several gambling saloons and making a fortune.
Chinese workers who lived in Chinatown in Rock Springs were attacked in 1885 and the neighborhood was destroyed. Unlike the buildings, the history and stories of their community was not lost.