Wyoming Territorial Prison

TERRITORIAL CRIME AND CONFINEMENT
WYOMING STATE PARKS, HISTORIC SITES & TRAILS
Wyoming Territory was created in July 1869. Outlaws, violent and desperate men (as well as women),
plagued the territory, and as more settlers moved into the area, they demanded law and order. In 1872,
United States Marshal Frank Walcott accepted the keys to the new Wyoming Territorial Prison, and
Warden N. K. Boswell prepared for prisoners. The Auburn Prison System was adopted by Wyoming
Territorial Prison (WTP). This system required convicts to be silent at all times, wear black and white
striped uniforms, replace names with numbers, and move about the prison in “lockstep”.
Wyoming
Territorial
Prison
975 Snowy Range Road
Laramie, WY 82070
307-745-3733
1-800-845-2287
HOURS
April – open for school groups
NO CHARGE for school tours.
Work for the convicts was mandatory. They
grew potatoes and cut ice blocks for the Prison
and Union Pacific Railroad, quarried stone,
manufactured bricks, brooms and candles.
Convicts became skilled artisans working in the
prison industries building creating hand carved
furniture, horse-hair braided bridles, taxidermy
and hand rolled cigars. Convict labor was also
hired out to local businesses and the prison
received the monies for its operation.
WTP was both a federal (1872 – 1890) and later
state (1891 – 1903) penitentiary. During these
years, 1,063 malicious and desperate convicts,
both men and women, walked through the iron
doors and occupied the cells.
Wyoming became a state in 1890, and a new
state penal institution was built in Rawlins,
Wyoming. Completed in 1901, the last of
WTP’s convicts were transferred to the new state
penitentiary by 1903.
Although no longer a prison, the prison grounds
still played an important role for Wyoming.
WTP was turned over to the University of
Wyoming for use as an Agricultural Experiment
Station. It was as an experiment station that the
abandoned prison had its most use (from 1903
until 1989), using science to improve farming
and ranching in Wyoming and around the world.
One hundred and seventeen years after the first
convicts walked into the prison, the massive
stone structure was restored and converted
into a historic site attributable to the dedicated
efforts of the citizens of Laramie. Through
an impressive display of private sector and
government cooperation, the Territorial Prison
re-opened its doors in 1991 as a museum.
May 1 – October 31
Open to public Daily 8 a.m. – 7 p.m.
Open Memorial Day, Independence Day
and Labor Day
ADMISSION CHARGE
Adults: $5.00
Students ages 12-17: $2.50
Children 11 and under: FREE
Located on 197 acres,
this imposing stone structure
was built in 1872 and held
the most notorious outlaws
in the territory.
DIRECTIONS
Located in Laramie, WY
just off Interstate 80 at exit 311.
SPECIAL ANNUAL EVENTS
Historic Lecture Series, June - October
Butch Cassidy Day Festival, June
Xtreme Event, August
Equestrian Event, September
Ghost Tours of Laramie City, October
Kids’ Pumpkin Walk, October
Please Recycle or return to site for reuse
1/2012
ARTS. PARKS.
HIS
Y.
Wyoming State Parks, Historic Sites & Trails
Wyoming Territorial Prison State Historic Site is administered by the Division of State Parks, Historic Sites & Trails,
Wyoming Department of State Parks and Cultural Resources.
http://wyoparks.state.wy.us
CAPTIVATING
THE CONVICTS
Listed on National Register of Historic Places, the Wyoming
Territorial Prison incarcerated vicious thieves and murderers
(including the notorious outlaw “Butch Cassidy”) during
the dramatic times of Wyoming’s Territorial days and early
Statehood. The “Big House across the river” was dedicated
to “evil doers of all classes and kinds.” This Prison is
significant as one of only three federally constructed
territorial penitentiaries still existing in the western United
States, and the only one in which most of the original
structure is preserved. The Prison’s establishment and
operation had a vital impact on the social development of
Wyoming during its early years.
Now a museum, visitors can walk into the strap iron cells
where convicts were locked up, worked and lived during
the 30 years the prison operated. The building now houses
convict photographs and displays relating their confinement.
Wyoming outlaws hold a prominent place
in history and they earned it! Horse thieves,
cattle rustlers,
train robbers,
murderers, con
artists, forgers
and rapists.
Housing and
guarding these
criminals was a
difficult task. As
formidable as the
prison seems, it
was not escapeproof.
FROM PRISON CELLS TO STOCK PENS
DO TIME
WITH US
Site offers visitor center, restored
historic buildings, museum exhibits
as well as diverse natural and
cultural landscape features.
AMENITIES…
Today, Wyoming Territorial Prison site’s rich history not only focuses
on crimes, convicts and confinement but also the quest for agriculture
knowledge using science. The “Science on the Range” exhibit, located
in the historic 1910 Horse Barn, delves into the different experiments
conducted on the old prison grounds. For 86 years, the University of
Wyoming’s (UW) research advanced farming and ranching practices in
Wyoming resulting in greater economic returns and quality of life.
UW Agricultural
Experiment
Station stock
corrals.Photo
courtesy of UW
American Heritage
Center.
Existing prison buildings were repurposed for livestock and scientific
studies. Over time, the 320-acre UW Experiment Station expanded
to include more than 30 buildings, numerous stock pens, pastures and
experimental crop fields. The Experiment Station not only advanced the
farm and stock interests of Wyoming but provided students essential handson learning experience toward agricultural degrees, including agronomy,
farm economics and veterinary sciences.
UW Horse Barn.
Photo courtesy
of Wyoming
State Archives
Interpreted Nature Trail
Stream fishing
Picnic area
Gift Shop
RV Dump Station
EASY TO FIND US
Located just off Interstate 80 at exit 311.
• 2 hours 30 minutes north of Denver, CO
• 1 hour 15 minutes north of Ft. Collins, CO
• 50 minutes west of Cheyenne, WY
• 3 hours south of Casper, WY
MISSION STATEMENT
To preserve the Cultural and Natural
Environment of the Wyoming Territorial
Prison State Historic Site while providing
a safe, enjoyable, and informative visitor
experience.