Wyoming History

As Christians across the Cowboy State prepare to celebrate Easter, here's an amazing gallery of photographs from the Wyoming State Archives featuring some of our most historic churches. There are over 400 pictures of churches in the State Archives Photo Database...

By all accounts, John Winchester wasn't very popular. Luckily for him, the few people he did know had a good reason to attend his funeral...or so they thought. In the early 1960s, Winchester purchased the property surrounding Sister's Hill, several miles west of Buffalo, Wyoming, in the Bighorn National Forest...

There are many legendary saloons here in the Cowboy State. Some of them even have a few bullet holes behind the bar. Amazingly, one of Wyoming's most historic watering holes proudly boasts 56 bullet holes in its building. Since 1893, the Cowboy Bar and Outlaw Cafe has hosted thirsty gunslingers, bandits, gamblers, vagabonds and tourists in the tiny town of Meeteetse...

The poet John Dryden famously wrote that "dead men tell no tales". Clearly, he never visited Wyoming. Here in the Cowboy State, the legends of the old west are still alive, including some who continue to leave their mark from beyond the grave...

Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch calls Colorado home, but his mother is a Wyoming native.

According to Beer Advocate, there are now 29 breweries in Wyoming. Here's a toast to one of the Cowboy State's original beer makers, the legendary Casper Brewing Company. Casper Brewing was the second business in the state to produce their own beer...

In honor of St. Patrick's Day, here's a tribute to some legendary "Patrick's" from here in the great state of Wyoming. Nic Patrick - In 2013, Patrick was working on his ranch near Cody when he was attacked by a grizzly bear. After fending off the animal, he walked a quarter mile into town to get help...

Independence Rock was a pit stop on the Oregon Trail. It is astounding to think the ground is the same land where over half a million souls crossed the state.

Irish immigrants were among the first European settlers here in the Cowboy State. They first came as Army soldiers in the 1840s, assigned to protect wagon trains travelling on the Oregon Trail. When the railroad arrived in the 1860s, more Irish workers followed...

Patrick Joseph Sullivan ranks among the most prominent political leaders in Wyoming history. He is also credited for throwing the craziest St. Patrick's Day party the Cowboy State has ever seen. Sullivan arrived in Wyoming in 1888. Like many other Irish immigrants in the area, he found work on a sheep ranch...

Just in time for St. Patrick's Day, here's a salute to the tiny ghost town of Patrick, Wyoming. In 1876, a man named Ed Patrick arrived in Wyoming and found work as a driver on the stage line that ran from Cheyenne to Deadwood, South Dakota...

Wyoming earned its nickname as the "Equality State" before it even became a state. In 1869, 21 years before it was officially granted statehood, Wyoming was the first territory in America to give women the right to vote. Over the years, Wyoming women have continued to make historic progress...