Wyoming (state)

A

Principal Cities

In 2006 only six cities had a sizable population: Cheyenne (55,314), Casper (52,089), Laramie (25,688), Rock Springs (19,324), Gillette (23,899), and Sheridan (16,429). Cheyenne, the state capital, is a commercial, industrial, and transportation center and a gateway to the Rocky Mountains. It is the site of the Francis E. Warren Air Force Base, an important United States defense arsenal. Casper is located in the heart of Wyoming’s oil fields. With its refineries and oil-field equipment industry, it is the state’s chief manufacturing and wholesale trade center. Laramie is the home of the University of Wyoming and several museums, including the Ivinson Mansion, and a park that features the recently restored Territorial Prison as well as displays dedicated to the lives of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, of the late 1800s. Rock Springs, Gillette, and Sheridan are smaller trade centers for mining, agriculture, and associated enterprises.

Although more than 50 nationalities are represented in some of the mining communities, such as Rock Springs, 92.1 percent of the people are of European descent. Native Americans make up 2.3 percent of the state’s total population. A majority of them live on the Wind River Reservation, 900,000 hectares (2.2 million acres) in west central Wyoming, the home of the Shoshone and Arapaho tribes. Some 0.8 percent of the population is black, 0.6 percent is Asian, 0.1 percent is Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander, and 4.3 percent are of mixed heritage or did not report race in the 2000 census. Hispanics, who can be of any race, represent 6.4 percent of the population.

B

Religion

A majority of Wyoming’s church members are Protestants. Among the largest denominations are the Methodists, the Mormons, the Presbyterians, and the Baptists. About 18 percent of the population belongs to the Roman Catholic Church.

V

Education and Cultural Institutions

A

Education

The first school in Wyoming was established at Fort Laramie in 1852. In 1869 the territorial legislature passed Wyoming’s first school law, one of the earliest in the United States to provide for a system of free public schools supported by general taxation. Further legislation, enacted four years later, emphasized uniformity of curricula and standardization of requirements for teacher certification. It laid the groundwork for the present system of public education in Wyoming, enacted by the first state legislature in 1890. A constitutional amendment, enacted in 1948, provided for the establishment of a statewide property tax for the support of public schools. The state system of public education is supervised by a state superintendent of public instruction and a state board of education.

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A

1

Higher Education

The state-supported University of Wyoming, the only four-year institution of higher education in Wyoming, opened in Laramie in 1887. In 2006–2007 the state had 8 public and 2 two-year institutions of higher learning, including Casper College, in Casper; Eastern Wyoming College, in Torrington; Sheridan College, in Sheridan; Northwest College, in Powell; Central Wyoming College, in Riverton; Western Wyoming Community College, in Rock Springs; and Laramie County Community College, in Cheyenne.

B

Libraries and Museums

The largest library in Wyoming is the William Robertson Coe Library of the University of Wyoming in Laramie. The second largest is the Wyoming State Library in Cheyenne.

The University of Wyoming Art Museum in Laramie features contemporary art, American art, and a diverse array of ethnographic material. The Wyoming State Museum and the Wyoming State Archives are in Cheyenne. The state maintains historical museums in Fort Bridger and South Pass City, the Wyoming Pioneer Memorial Museum in Douglas, and the American Heritage Center on the University of Wyoming campus. The Buffalo Bill Historical Center and the Whitney Gallery of Western Art are located in Cody. Western art is also exhibited at the Bradford Brinton Memorial, in Big Horn, and the National Museum of Wildlife Art, in Jackson. The Wyoming Territorial Prison in Laramie has been restored with state and local funds, and is a popular attraction for visitors with an interest in the Old West. The prison is part of the Wyoming Territorial Park, which includes the National U.S. Marshals Museum and exhibits provided by other groups. Fort Laramie National Historic Site, operated by the National Park Service, attracts those interested in the history of the Oregon Trail, Pony Express, and United States Cavalry. In Pinedale, the Museum of the Mountain Man features exhibits about life in Wyoming before the opening of the Oregon Trail.

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