1836 Wyoming Illinois founded.
1881 Grounds of Camp Stambaugh transferred to the Department of the Interior.
1885 Post hospital opens at Ft. Fetterman.
1898 All of the Wyoming units mustered for service in the Philippines assembled in Laramie County. Attribution: On This Day.
1917
1917
The Casper Daily Tribune for May 3, 1917: Lazy men and soldiering, and the start of a Casper landmark
There are a couple of items in this May 3, 1917 issue of the Casper Daily Tribune that are relevant for later eras.
For one thing, the boom in the town was now reflecting itself in the new
professional appearance of the newspaper. Gone was the small town
appearance of purely local news. Casper, for the first time, now had a
paper that was starting to rival the big established papers in other
regions of the state. This paper doesn't even resemble the appearance
of the Casper papers of just a couple of months ago.
The church, as can be seen above, is of substantial size and that also
points to the change in Casper's economic fortunes in this period.
Finally, from the various news articles I've seen, I've sort of taken it
to be the case that Casper, which was a tiny town prior to 1917, did
not have a National Guard unit up until this time. I could be in error,
however, as Casper's newspapers were of a fairly poor quality and they
aren't all available by any means. Douglas had one, however, and its
small papers reported on that unit extensively. Over the last couple of
issues, however, its clear that the National Guard, which was actively
recruiting for new units in the opening weeks of American participation
in World War One, was recruiting for just such a unit to be formed in
Casper.
Earlier we noted that 1917 was the year that really made Casper. This newspaper, in and of itself, provides some pretty good examples of how that is true.
1918 The News. May 3, 1918.
I don't point these papers out today for the war news, although there was plenty of it. No, I'm pointing them out for the local goings on in Cheyenne and Casper.
Let's look at Cheyenne:
This issue is remarkably similar to an issue of this Cheyenne paper that ran a year ago. We learn here that, once again, a bevy of Cheyenne high school beauties were the "sponsors" of the Annual Cadet Show, an even that no doubt took on more meaning in 1917 and 1918 than it ever had before.
And once again, oil prospects near Cheyenne were in the news. Those prospects were real, but it wasn't until the 2010s that they'd be developed. New technology made that possible.
A school nurse was recommending something that was fairly radical at the time. . . but as this came at the tail end of the Progressive Era, it was a somewhat radical age.
Around the state 167 men were called to the colors. Elsewhere, a terrible military balloon tragedy had occurred.
And in Casper:
Casper's newspapers, now larger with a larger reading audience, continued to improve and at least this issue of the Casper Daily Press was real news. . . not all optimistic petroleum boosterism.
A real city improvement, sanitary and storm sewers were being put in. And that was big news.
William Ross, who would become governor. . . as would his wife, was rising in the Democratic ranks.
And the balloon tragedy also made the front page news in Casper.
1918 The News. May 3, 1918.
Let's look at Cheyenne:
This issue is remarkably similar to an issue of this Cheyenne paper that ran a year ago. We learn here that, once again, a bevy of Cheyenne high school beauties were the "sponsors" of the Annual Cadet Show, an even that no doubt took on more meaning in 1917 and 1918 than it ever had before.
And once again, oil prospects near Cheyenne were in the news. Those prospects were real, but it wasn't until the 2010s that they'd be developed. New technology made that possible.
A school nurse was recommending something that was fairly radical at the time. . . but as this came at the tail end of the Progressive Era, it was a somewhat radical age.
Around the state 167 men were called to the colors. Elsewhere, a terrible military balloon tragedy had occurred.
And in Casper:
Casper's newspapers, now larger with a larger reading audience, continued to improve and at least this issue of the Casper Daily Press was real news. . . not all optimistic petroleum boosterism.
A real city improvement, sanitary and storm sewers were being put in. And that was big news.
William Ross, who would become governor. . . as would his wife, was rising in the Democratic ranks.
And the balloon tragedy also made the front page news in Casper.
1933 Nellie Tayloe Ross becomes the Director of the Mints, an office she would hold until 1953.
1944 The Soviet Union decorated a Wyoming officer with the "Order of the Fatherland's War". Such awards by the Soviets to Western servicemen were not uncommon. Attribution: Wyoming State Historical Society.
1946 Military Tribunal in Tokyo begins war crimes trials. One of the principal Japanese defendants was defended by Cheyenne lawyer George Guy.
1968 Colorado Air National Guard 120th Tactical Fighter Squadron, flying F-100Cs, becomes the first Air Guard unit to arrive in Vietnam.
1980 First Wyoming History Day. Attribution: Wyoming State Historical Society.
