Our Purpose

The purpose of this organization shall be, first: to plan, to promote and to sponsor educational programs for the Chapter and the public on historical subject pertaining to Albany County and to Wyoming in genera; second, to collect source materials and other historical data pertaining to the early history peculiar to Albany County and nearby areas; third, to encourage its members and other local residents to do research, author articles and reports and accomplish publication of the same, and fourth, to promote interest and support for the Laramie Plains Museum, which the Chapter helped to establish.

EARLY HISTORY OF THE ALBANY COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY

In the 1920's, members of the Laramie Woman's Club started a museum in a closet in the Albany County Library.  The first meeting recorded in the minutes of the Albany County Historical Society was held on February 10, 1943. Mrs. S.S. Wheeler, president of the Woman's Club, and curator of the museum, called a public meeting for the purpose of forming an Albany County Historical Society. The public was invited, and notices were sent to the Chamber of Commerce and to all of the service clubs.

Mrs. Wheeler outlined the following reasons for forming the society: 1. To promote financial and legal backing for the museum. 2. To collect material pertaining to the early history of Albany County.  3. To collect current data on events of World War II. 4. To collect, classify and preserve relics appertaining the museum.

The group agreed to form a society with the following officers: president, vice-president, secretary and treasurer. Directors were to be chosen from the Woman's Club, the Chamber of Commerce and the outlying rural district. The membership fee was set at $1.00.

The constitution of the society was ratified and adopted by the group on April 13, 1944. At the monthly meeting of the society on October 12, 1944, the Executive Committee of the Woman’s Club agreed to turn the museum over to the Albany County Historical Society, provided that the exhibits that had been collected by the Woman 's Club be designated as  such. The society's museum was housed for several years in the basement of City Hall at Fourth and Ivinson.

In January,1950, the society received official notice from the City of Laramie that the museum must be moved from the basement of the City Hall. Mrs. Allen reported that 400 people, in addition to school children, had visited the museum during 1949. At the February 1950 meeting, it was reported that the Albany County Commissioners had agreed to allow the museum to be moved to the County Courthouse. It was stipulated that the American Red Cross be allowed to retain a desk in the room, and that the museum visiting hours would coincide with the Red Cross office hours.

The Wyoming State Historical Society was organized in 1953. Dr. T.A. Larson reported at the March 1,1954 meeting that the Albany County Society could become a chapter of the state association if the constitution could be amended to meet the approval of the State Society.  He distributed proposed amendments and the group agreed to vote on adoption at the next meeting. These amendments were approved at a meeting on March 20, 1954, and the society became the Albany County Chapter of the Wyoming State Historical Society. A new constitution was drawn up and adopted on May 3, 1954. This constitution retained the original museum promotion purposes and added, “and to function as a chapter of the Wyoming State Historical Society." The present constitution is a revision of the constitution of 1954 which was adopted February 20,1977.

During the early years of the society, its main objective had been the development and maintenance of the museum and related activities. By the late 1950's, quarters for the museum were becoming a critical problem. President George Dodge reported that the museum must be moved from the Albany County Courthouse by early 1958. On November 5,1957, the Executive Board was asked to negotiate with the director of the Wyoming State Museum in Cheyenne, and with the University Archivist, about placing the museum collection on a temporary loan with either or both of these institutions. A committee was set up to investigate possible storage space.

During 1958, the museum collection was placed in storage, and at the meeting of February 26, 1959, President Robert Burns stated that an inventory would be made and preserved for future reference.

Mr. Neal Roach, a member of the Laramie pioneer family, made the proposition to the society that if it could raise $35,000 in six months, he would match it from his estate. The society sponsored a successful community-wide drive for funds and raised $47,000. After Mr.  Roach’s death, his house was deeded to the society as the fund match, and the museum was moved to the Roach House. The program was now becoming too large for the society to administer effectively. Under the tutelage of Alice Hardie Stevens, an active member of the society and a dynamic community leader, a new organization, the Laramie Plains Museum Association, was formed. Historical Society members predominated on the board of the Museum Association for several years thereafter, and the president of the society is an ex-officio member of the Museum Board.

Divested of its direct responsibility for museum activity, the Historical Society broadened its purpose and activities with the adoption of the 1977 constitution. At the same time, it left as one of its primary objectives "to promote interest and support for the Laramie Plains Historical Museum, which the chapter helped to establish."

In addition to the promotion of the museum during the early years, the society has carried out many programs that have contributed to the preservation of Albany County history. An activity not stated in the constitution as a defined purpose, but one which has been very important through the years, is the sponsoring of public social and educational meetings on a regular basis throughout the year. At these meetings, some aspects of local history are presented and discussed. At the first regular meeting of the society in April 1943, Mrs. Wheeler discussed the sale of the first lots in Laramie in April,1868. Historical sketches were given on Elizabeth Stewart Boyd, early Laramie school teacher and member of the first woman’s jury; D.G. Finfrock, Army Surgeon at Fort Halleck, and pioneer Laramie Physician and surgeon; and the Wanless building. Almost without exception, some person, event or site, important to the history of Albany County has been the subject of every meeting of the society. In many cases, pioneers have been brought in to talk about the area as they knew it many years before,

Old time ranch tours have been a society sponsored project since 1950. In the minutes of the September meeting of that year, it was reported that a ranch tour conducted by Dr. R. H. Burns was very successful. Twenty five cars and some 100 persons made the trip in spite of heavy rain. Dr. Burns was very instrumental in organizing and conducting these tours until his death in 1973. A.S. Gillespie and Jack Corbett were also very active in this program. William Reidl and Fred Dudley have been members of the tour committee for a number of years. The 1986 tour was the 35th. Tours have been held every Year since 1950, with the exception of 1982, and are now a community institution. In 1960, the Laramie Kiwanis Club became a co-sponsor of the tour, and subsequently the Laramie Corral of Westerners International and the Albany County Historic Preservation Board have become cosponsors as well.

Locating and marking sites of historical interest and importance has been a long-term goal of the society as well. In the minutes of the March 16, 1959, meeting, retiring President Clarice Whittenburg and incoming President Robert Burns outlined plans for the coming year. Heading the list was the proposal to "locate all sites of historical interest in and around Laramie and cause markers to be placed on them." By October of that year, six sites had been selected: The Hutton-Alsop Ranch; King Brothers Ranch; the Little Laramie Station; the Fort Laramie- Fort Halleck Road; the site where the last buffalo was killed in Albany County; and the Swan Land and Cattle Company Shearing Pens at Lookout.

Dr. T.A. Larson, the Society's representative on the Wyoming Pony Express Centennial Board, reported on the marking of the Pony Express stations located in Wyoming. The Albany County Historical Society was very active in the Pony Express Centennial Celebrating in 1960.

According to the Laramie Daily Boomerang, the Albany County Historical Society met at the Hutton-Alsop Ranch, located ten miles west of Laramie on June 19, 1960. The Society agreed that this ranch "could well be designated as the most interesting historical site in Albany County." It was the obvious place for the State Historical Society to install a marker.

A composite photograph of old Laramie was published in the Boomerang in the Fall of 1960.  The cutline stated that this and other photos were aiding the Albany County Historical Society in its campaign to locate and to mark all important sites early in day Laramie.

Dr. Larson states that the society's major project in 1962 was saving an historic house which had been moved to Laramie in 1882 from Fort Sanders where it had been used as the officer's quarters. In Laramie, it had been the home of N.K. Boswell, famous Laramie peace officer.  When it was scheduled for demolition in 1962, Alice Hardie Stevens again led the society in a fund-raising campaign to save it. $10,000 was raised and the building was cut in two and moved to LaBonte Park where it now serves the city as the Fort Sanders Center.

Under the leadership of Lawrence Walker and Dan Nelson, the Society became active in promoting and supporting the State Historical Society History Day and Junior Historian programs. Past President Murray Carroll had led the Albany County Society in cooperative efforts with the Albany County Genealogical Society and the Albany County Historical Preservation Board. George Shelton, who has served as secretary-treasurer for many years, was instrumental in carrying out many of the society’s programs and for keeping detailed records of the society’s activities.

The society currently (12986) has seventy- five members. The officers are president, Ken Faulkner; vice-president, T.A. Larson; secretary, Ann Lindhal; treasurer, Ruth Dudley and directors, Agnes Burns, Lillian Hein, Leslie Crawford, George Shelton, Nancy Rymill. Ex-officio, immediate past president, Murray L. Carroll.

Current activities and programs of the society are: 1. Monthly meetings, September through May, featuring local historical topics. 2. Joint meetings and special programs with the Laramie Corral of Westerners International. 3. Continuing support of History Day and the Junior Historian Programs. 4. Cooperation with other history-oriented organizations in the community. 5. Promotion and co-sponsorship of the annual Old Time Ranch Tour. 6. Locating, identifying and obtaining historical information on graves and cemeteries in Albany County in cooperation with the Wyoming State Historical Society's Historical Cemetery and Grave Inventory Program.

From: “History of the Albany County Historical Society through 1987”, by E. K. (Ken) Faulkner, published in Laramie - Gem City of the Plains, Volume 1, Mary Kay Mason, Book Project Director, 1987, Curtis Media Corporation, pages 215-217. Republished with permission from the Faulkner family;

Chartered:
May 7, 1954

What We’ve Achieved

• Establishment of the Laramie Plains Museum

Partners and Affiliations

• Albany County Wyoming Ranch Histories

• Albany County Cattle Women

• Laramie Plains Museum

• Laramie Railroad Depot Museum

• Laramie Woman's Club

• Nici Self Museum

• Wyoming Women’s History House