Wyoming Territorial Prison: A View From The Past, When Convicts Were Trained As Skilled Artisans

Wyoming Territorial Prison is now one of the historic American museums, where visitors can see the actual photographs of convicted prisoners locked up in their cells for the past 30 years that it operated.

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, according to WyoParks State, the Wyoming Territorial Prison site received and detained ferocious thieves and criminals during the state's early years including the infamous Butch Cassidy. A "Big House" located across the river is known as the place for "evil doers of all classes and kinds." It is marked as one of the historic places of Wyoming that contributed to its social development during the early times.

Today, the Wyoming Territorial Prison site is considered valuable as it has been preserved in its original state and remains as one of the only three state built penitentiaries that stands in the Western part of the United States. Spread in an area of 197 acres, and located in Laramie, I-80, exit 311, Snowy Range Road, it now displays pictures of the state's criminals and tools used for the production of brooms made by the prisoners as early as 1890's.

"You must take time to stop at the Territorial Prison and take the self guided tour of the grounds, you will not be disappointed. There are too many to mention historical artifacts to see on the tour," one person wrote in Trip Advisor, who visited the historical site.

The Wyoming Territorial Prison site was constructed in 1869 and accepted prisoners in 1872. It received men and women violators and outlaws since then. It is an organized prison cell site and operated based on the Auburn Prison System. Convicts wear black and white striped uniforms, they use numbers instead of names, and the site requires prisoners to be silent at all times.

Wyoming Territorial Prison locked up different abusers and outlaws including cattle rustlers, liars, cheaters, forgers, train robbers, Horse thieves, murderers, con artists and rapists. They were mandated to work by cutting ice blocks, quarried stone, grow potatoes, manufacture brooms, candles and bricks. Convicts were developed into skilled artisan creating furniture, hand rolled cigars, horse-hair braided bridles and taxidermy.

A visit to the site has a fee of $5 for adults, $2,50 for youths ages from 12 to 17 while kids under 11 have free entrance. It is open 7 days a week from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. during summers, according to Wyoming Tourism Org. Special events are scheduled during June for Butch Cassidy Day, July for Statehood Celebration and in October for Kids and Pumpkin Walk and Ghost Tours.

From time to time, the Wyoming Territorial Prison site also holds seasonal activities like the Archaeology Fair that happened on Sept. 12. Activities on the site include: Bird watching, Arts and Entertainment, Historic Attractions, Marker & Interpretive Station, Paleontology, Children's Programs, State Parks & Historic Sites and Shopping. Are you interested to visit Wyoming Territorial Prison site?