Cities, Towns & Counties

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Title Article Type Author
A.M.E. Church, Rock Springs Encyclopedia Brigida R. (Brie) Blasi
African-American women voters, early Wyoming elections Encyclopedia Wyoming State Archives
Airmail, U.S. in Wyoming Encyclopedia Steve Wolff
Albany County, Wyoming Encyclopedia Marguerite Herman
Atlantic City, Wyo. Encyclopedia Lori Van Pelt

Casper’s Odd Fellows Building, constructed in 1952, reflects the modern-style architecture that was popular during the postwar era and serves as a reminder of the community development, planning and the social history of the time. This structure is named on the National Register of Historic Places.

Founded in 1868, the short-lived town of Carbon provided crucial coal supplies for the Union Pacific Railroad. Its rough reputation was boosted in 1881, when a mob of miners pulled Dutch Charley Burris, accused of the murder of a popular lawman, from a train and hanged him from a telegraph pole. Many Finnish men worked in the coal mines until 1902, when the mines closed. Today, there are only a few ruins to mark the site, but the Carbon Cemetery has been recently refurbished and is still being used.

Beautiful Carbon County in south-central Wyoming was established in 1868 and named for its coal. Since fur-trade days, through coal, copper, cattle, sheep, uranium, coal again, natural gas and wind power, booms, busts, and new booms have dominated the economy. The Union Pacific Railroad has by contrast offered a steadying influence, as has the state prison in Rawlins, the county seat. And the North Platte River, locals say, offers the best trout fishing in the world.

The Carbon cemetery has been in use since 1868, when the town of Carbon was founded next to coal mines on the Union Pacific Railroad. The town has long been a ghost town, but interest in the cemetery revived in 2002, when a local association began refurbishing it and researching the lives of the people buried there.

Coal, railroads and oil have helped make Campbell County, Wyo., the second wealthiest county in the state, and the county’s coal mines are the largest in the world. Though coal production has begun to fall slightly in recent years, mining continues to be the main engine of the Campbell County economy. The county’s history is rich in Paleo-Indian and bison-bone discoveries as well.

White settlement in Sublette County, Wyo. traces its roots to the late 1870s, when cattlemen brought herds to the pastures where North, Middle and Piney Creeks join the Green River. The town of Big Piney was incorporated there in 1913. The next year, neighboring Marbleton was incorporated a mile away, on higher ground on the bench above Piney Creek. Every effort to combine the two towns has failed, and they continue to maintain separate governments though they share most other services. The energy industry is now the major employer in both communities. Big Piney registered a population of 552 in the 2010 census, and Marbleton, 1,094.

The scenic Bighorn Basin and world-class fishing opportunities on the Bighorn River have made Big Horn County, Wyo., a tourist destination, but the area is also rich in oil and natural gas—and history. People have lived in the area since ancient times, as evidenced by the Medicine Wheel near the county’s northern corer. Ranch families still raise cattle and sheep, and farm families still raise sugar beets as they have for more than a century.

Bessemer, Wyo., on the North Platte River west of Casper, was founded in 1888 but disappeared after failing to win the status of county seat of the brand-new Natrona County in 1890.

Created in 1868 before Wyoming was even a territory, Albany County and its vast plains are still good for livestock grazing. Thanks to the Union Pacific Railroad and early gold and copper mining, however, the county was industrial in its earliest times. Laramie, the county seat, was chosen as the site of the University of Wyoming in 1886, and the university stabilizes the town’s economic and cultural life.

Hanna, Wyo., best known for its coal mines, was founded in 1889 by the Union Pacific Coal Co. as a company town. It has survived mining disasters and a long cycle of booms and busts. The last mines around Hanna closed in the mid-2000s. The town survives today as a bedroom community, with hopes of future mineral development.