LibGuides: American Heritage Center, Laramie History Subject Guide: Wyoming Territorial Prison

Wyoming Territorial Prison

Within a few years of the Union Pacific Railroad reaching Laramie, a new stone structure arose in the area, soon to be home to “evil doers of all classes and kinds.” Built as one of the few Federal Prisons of the time, and the only one in Wyoming, the imposing stone structure that would eventually become known as the Wyoming Territorial Prison was built in 1872. From its opening to 1873, it served as a Federal Prison and would eventually serve as the Wyoming State Penitentiary from Wyoming’s initial statehood until 1903.

When the Wyoming State Penitentiary moved to a new building in Rawlins in 1903, the Territorial Prison came under the university’s ownership and served as a stock farm for the next few decades. In 1989, the university’s experiment station left the prison grounds to its home west of Laramie.

Eventually, the prison grounds would be restored and turned into a museum and historic site, and would find its place on the National Register for Historic Places.

Image: Sheep in Front of Wyoming Territorial Prison, undated, AHC Photo Files, University of Wyoming, American Heritage Center.

Wyoming Territorial Prison Collections

Gladys B. Beery Papers, 1868-2008

Acc. #12556

Gladys Beery was a Laramie, Wyoming, author and historian. Her books included "Front Streets of Laramie City" (1990); "Mule Woman" (1992), a fictional book based upon Laramie history; and "Sinners and Saints: Tales of Old Laramie City" (1994.) She also wrote a regular column for the Laramie Boomerang titled “Historic Homes” (1976-1980s), which featured detailed histories of Laramie-area houses and their owners. She wrote numerous short stories in a variety of genres, some of which were published in books and magazines. Beery was born in Nebraska in 1913. She, her husband Lloyd, and their three children moved to Laramie in 1956. She retired in Greeley, Colorado, where she passed away in 2008.

The Gladys Beery Papers include research files for her books and other publications. The focus of the research is the history of Laramie, Wyoming, houses and buildings, as well as residents and personalities of note. Research files consist of hand-written notes, newspaper clippings and other printed sources, legal documents, maps, photographs, interviews, and written summaries. Also included are files on the communities of Horse Creek, Elk Mountain, Centennial, Rock Creek, Fort Sanders, and Fort Fetterman. Other files relate to walking tours of Laramie and the development of the Wyoming Territorial Prison into an historic site and theme park. Numerous manuscripts of her published and unpublished books, short stories, and newspaper columns are included in the collection. Included with the manuscripts are related correspondence, publishing information, and publicity. There is also biographical material about Gladys Beery and her family.

B. C. Buffum Papers, 1890-1972

Acc. #400055

Burt C. Buffum joined the faculty of the University of Wyoming in 1891 as professor of Agriculture. In 1893 Buffum was in charge of the Wyoming exhibits at the Chicago World’s Fair. He left briefly to teach at the Agricultural College in Colorado in 1900 but returned to the University of Wyoming in 1902. He became director of the university's Experiment Stations throughout the state. He was especially interested in the cultivation of emmer wheat, which was well-adapted to the high dry climate of Wyoming. He was also an enthusiastic amateur photographer and created many images of the university, the experiment stations, and his travels. Buffum resigned in 1907 to found the Wyoming Plant and Seed Breeding Company in Worland, Wyoming. He moved the operation to Denver, Colorado, in 1916 and retired in 1919.

The collection contains glass plate negatives depicting the University of Wyoming, agricultural experiments stations, crops, livestock, and exhibits. There are also images of President Theodore Roosevelt visiting Wyoming in 1903. In addition, the collection includes correspondence and printed material about emmer wheat, B.C. Buffum, and the Buffum family.

Mary Amanda Grimes Photographs, 1903-1904

Acc. #10704

Mary Amanda Grimes was from Lusk, Wyoming. She attended the University of Wyoming's Normal School from 1903-1906, graduating with a Bachelor of Pedagogy in 1906. She married James M. Elliott soon after graduating and the couple lived in Lusk.

The Mary Amanda Grimes collection contains early photographs of the University of Wyoming and the town of Laramie, ca. 1903 and 1904. Included are views of students, several sports teams, faculty, Old Main, the University library, the geology museum, the UW Stock Farm (formerly the Territorial Prison), and an aerial view of Laramie.

T.A. Larson Papers, 1870s-1997

Acc. #400029

T. A. (Taft Alfred) Larson was a highly respected and popular professor of history at the University of Wyoming from 1936 to 1975. He was hired by the University of Wyoming as a temporary lecturer for one year. Larson then attended the University of London. He was asked to return to the University of Wyoming to teach, and, among other classes, he was assigned the duty of teaching Wyoming history. This was the beginning of his scholarly fascination with Wyoming history. In 1943, Larson entered the Navy, and during his service he wrote a history of the Great Lakes Naval Training Center. He was discharged in 1946. Upon his return to Wyoming, Larson began writing "Wyoming’s War Years: 1941-1946," which was published in 1956.. T. A. Larson was head of the History Department from 1948-1968, and he directed the School of American Studies from 1959-1968. Larson retired in 1975 and was elected to the Wyoming State House in 1976. He was appointed to the Joint Appropriations Committee during his first term and remained on that influential committee throughout his tenure in the House. He served four terms, retiring in 1984.

The T. A. Larson papers contain biographical material, correspondence, manuscripts, subject files, notes, recordings, and maps. Most of this material comes from his years as a professor of Wyoming history at the University of Wyoming from 1946 to 1975. Other materials come from his years of service as a Wyoming State Representative from 1976 until 1984. A collection of subject files includes general western, Wyoming, and University of Wyoming subjects. Women suffrage materials are included throughout.

Alan K. Simpson Papers, 1911-2018

Acc. #10449

Former United States Senator Alan Kooi Simpson was born September 2, 1931, in Denver, Colorado, the second son of former Wyoming Governor and U.S. Senator Milward Lee Simpson and Lorna Kooi Simpson. He attended public schools in Cody, Wyoming, and spent a post-graduate year at Cranbrook School in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, before entering college. He entered the University of Wyoming in 1950 and received a bachelor of science in law degree in 1954. While at the university, he was a member of the Student Senate, a member of Alpha Tau Omega Fraternity, president of the “W” Club Lettermen's organization, and lettered in both varsity football and basketball.

Upon graduation from college, Simpson joined the U.S. Army and was commissioned as a second lieutenant. He served overseas in the 5th Infantry and 2nd Armored (Hell on Wheels) Divisions in the final months of Army occupation in Germany. Following his discharge from the Army in 1956, Simpson returned to the University of Wyoming to study law and earned his Juris Doctorate in 1958. He joined his father and later Charles G. Kepler in the law firm of Simpson, Kepler and Simpson, practicing law in Cody for the next 18 years. During that time he also served ten years as city attorney (1959-1969) and for a short time in 1959 as assistant attorney general of Wyoming.

Simpson began his political career in 1964 when he was elected to the Wyoming State Legislature as a state representative of Park County. He served for the next 13 years in the Wyoming House of Representatives, holding the offices of majority whip, majority floor leader, and speaker pro-tem. In 1978, he ran for and was elected as a Republican to the United States Senate for the six-year term beginning January 3, 1979. He was re-elected in 1984 and again in 1990. While in the Senate, Simpson served as majority leader, assistant minority leader, and chairman of the Veterans' Affairs Committee. He also served on the Judiciary Committee and chaired its Subcommittee on Immigration and Refugee Policy, the Environment and Public Works Committee, the Finance Committee's Subcommittee on Social Security and Family Policy, the Special Committee on Aging, and the Select Committee to Investigate Undercover Operations of the FBI and the Department of Justice. Simpson completed his third and final term on January 3, 1997.

The Alan K. Simpson papers are arranged in 8 series. The bulk of the collection is contained in the Press relations/Media activities records (Series I) and the Legislative records (Series IV).