1860 Frank L. Houx, who became Wyoming's acting Governor in 1917 upon Gov. Kendrick's resignation, was born near Lexington, MO.
1873 Laramie incorporated by the Territorial Legislature.
1873 Wyoming's third Territorial Legislature concluded.
1888 Herman Glafcke takes office as Territorial Bank Examiner.
1910 William Howard Taft nominated Willis Van Devanter to the position of Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court.
Van Devanter was born in Indiana and was a 1881 graduate of the Cincinnati Law School. Like many of Wyoming's early political figures, the young Van Devanter saw opportunity in Wyoming and relocated to Cheyenne after obtaining his law degree where he became a significant practicing. He served as the Chief Justice of the Territorial Supreme Court after being appointed to the post at age 30. And he was Chief Justice of the Wyoming Supreme Court for four days prior to returning to private practice after Wyoming achieved statehood. During his period of private practice he was the legal strategist for the large cattlemen following their arrest for the invasion of Johnson County.
In 1896, after becoming afflicted with Typhus, he relocated to Washington D. C. From 1896 to 1900 he served as an Assistant Attorney General assigned to the Department of the Interior and was a professor at George Washington University's department of law. In 1903 President Roosevelt nominated him to the 8th Judicial Circuit Court of Appeals, where he was serving when nominated to the United States Supreme Court. In remarkable contrast to today, his nomination was approved by the Senate on December 15..
1916 Chugwater's business district destroyed by fire. Attribution. Wyoming State Historical Society.
1917 Father Edward Flanagan founded Boys Town outside Omaha, Neb. From our companion blog:
Boys Town Founded, December 12, 1917
Monsignor Edward J. Flanagan
On this date in 1917, Monsignor Edward J. Flanagan founded an orphanage
outside of Omaha Nebraska which was called the City of Little Men.
Later changing its name to Boys' Town, the orphanage for boys pioneered
the social preparation model for orphanages. It still exists.
Monsignor Flanagan was Irish by birth and the son of a herdsman. He
immigrated to the United States at age 18 in 1904 and received a
bachelors degree just two years later, going on to receive a MA two
years after that. He then entered the seminary in New York and
completed his studies in Italy and Austria, being ordained there in
1912. He was then assigned to Nebraska as a Priest. He became a US
citizen in 1919.. His views on the care and development of orphaned
children were far ahead of their time.
1919 Fourteen Spanish Flu deaths were reported in Washakie County for this week, which of course occurred during the Spanish Flu Pandemic.
The Spanish Influenza was a disaster of epic proportions which managed to impact nearly the entire globe. While accounts vary, some accounts indicate that the flu epidemic first broke out, at least in its lethal form, in Camp Funston, Kansas.
1925 The first motel, the Motel Inn, opened, in San Luis Obispo, Calif. Another sign of the rise of the automobile. Prior to this, hotels had often been situated relatively near railroads, and they did not feature parking lots.
1941 British decide to abandon northern Malaya. Japanese abandon their first attempt to capture Wake. Japanese complete the occupation of southern Thailand. Japanese invade Burma. Japanese troops land at Legaspi, southeastern Luzon and advance from Vigan and Aparri. Naval Air Transport Service is established Germans begin house-by-house search for Jews in Paris. U.S. Navy takes control of the ocean liner Normandie while it is docked at New York City. UK declares war on Bulgaria. Hungary and Romania declare war on the United States. India declares war on Japan. Adolf Hitler announces extermination of the Jews at a meeting in the Reich Chancellery.
1941 The Wyoming Township, Michigan, Police Department founded.
2016 Wyoming Governor Mead addressed the Joint Appropriations Committee in Cheyenne, telling them that budget cuts enacted in prior years were deep enough and not to cut further. The committee, made up of fiscal conservatives, was largely non reactive to that, but it did have questions about the funding of the Tribal Liaison position which is funded for a reduced $160,000. Questions were made about whether one liaison for two tribes, now that the tribes cooperation is reduced over prior years, was appropriate, and whether support for the position would remain if the Tribes were asked to fund 10% to 20% of the position.
2016 The Federal Government agreed to buy an inholding belonging to the State in the Grand Teton National Park for $46,000,000. The State had threatened for some time to sell the land if the Federal Government did not buy the 640 acres on the basis that it had to do that to maximize returns for the schools given that the grazing lease only brought in $2,000 per year.
