Cheyenne: 1867-1917

by Nancy Weidel

Overview

Cheyenne, known from its earliest days as the "Magic City of the Plains," sprang up almost overnight in 1867 to meet the Union Pacific Railroad's anticipated westward expansion. Named after the Cheyenne Indian tribe that lived in the area, the wild frontier settlement quickly evolved from a tent town to one of the most sophisticated cities west of the Mississippi River. Cheyenne was settled by a variety of people, including cattle barons, soldiers from nearby Fort D. A. Russell, merchants, railroad workers, prostitutes, and gamblers. Buildings such as the Cheyenne Club, the Opera House, the Inter Ocean Hotel, the mansions along Ferguson Street, and a lively downtown defined Cheyenne as a prosperous city by the early 1880s. As Wyoming's capital grew, annual events such as Frontier Days brought the legend of Cheyenne into the first two decades of the 20th century.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780738558936
Publisher:	Arcadia Publishing SC
Publication date:	04/27/2009
Series:	Images of America Series
Pages:	128
Sales rank:	1,039,092
Product dimensions:	6.56(w) x 9.26(h) x 0.41(d)

About the Author

Author Nancy Weidel is a writer and historian who has worked at the Wyoming State Historic Preservation Office in Cheyenne since 1992. In this volume, readers may explore Cheyenne's history through vintage images, many of which have never been published. These photographs are drawn primarily from the extensive collection of the Wyoming State Archives.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments 6

Introduction 7

1 Magic City of the Plains 9

2 Work and Play 27

3 The Rich Are Different 43

4 School Days and Sundays 57

5 Fort D. A. Russell 65

6 Big Fish in a Small Town 71

7 Out and About 79

8 When Giants Ruled the Earth 83

9 The New Century 97

10 Frontier Days 115

Bibliography 126

Editorial Reviews

It's easy to date the effective beginnings of what is now Cheyenne, Wyoming. On Independence Day, 1867, General Grenville M. Dodge and his survey team platted this future metropolis, which was then in Dakota Territory. Within four months, over 4,000 settlers had migrated to this boom town on the path of the Union Pacific Railroad. Nancy Weidel's Images of America installment offers visual evidence of the rapid transformation and growth of "the Magic City of the Plains."