Fort Laramie National Historic Site
At a river crossroads, surviving buildings and treaty grounds expose how trade and migration became military occupation and contested federal promises.
Artwork inspired by William Gollings
The confluence of the Laramie and North Platte rivers made this a gathering and travel corridor long before traders built Fort William in 1834. Fort John followed, then the U.S. Army purchased the post in 1849 and expanded it into the northern Plains’ largest military installation. Oregon, California, Mormon Pioneer, Pony Express, stage, and telegraph routes all passed through, turning geography into logistics—and logistics into federal power.
Do not let furnished rooms turn that story into frontier nostalgia. The 1851 treaty council convened nearby at Horse Creek, and the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty remains a living, contested agreement whose promised protections were violated. Begin with the official park film, cross the parade ground to 1849 Old Bedlam, compare restored buildings with foundations and hospital ruins, and read each space through Native nations, emigrants, soldiers, civilian workers, women, and families rather than one heroic narrative.
- Old Bedlam
- Built in 1849
- Historic landscape
- Buildings, ruins, and foundations
- Allow
- 3–4 hours
Quick guide
- Begin
- Watch the park film, then locate both rivers and the trail corridor.
- Do not miss
- Read the 1851 and 1868 agreements through tribal continuance and federal obligations.
Quick guide
- Begin
- Watch the park film, then locate both rivers and the trail corridor.
- Center
- Separate Fort William, Fort John, and the Army post.
- Compare
- Read the 1851 and 1868 agreements through tribal continuance and federal obligations.
- Walk
- Compare Old Bedlam, enlisted spaces, trader complex, ruins, and parade ground.
Good to know
The grounds stay open sunrise–sunset even when the visitor center is closed, but some historic interiors close in winter. The optional Confluence Trail is a separate 1.6-mile loop from the Old Army Bridge parking area, not part of the central parade-ground walk.
Notice these
- Old Bedlam’s 1849 frame structure
- 1868 treaty grounds
- Parade-ground buildings and ruins