Wyoming Territorial Prison State Historic Site
Enter Wyoming’s 1872 stone prison to read confinement, forced routine, reform experiments, and outlaw fame through cells, records, and prison-made brooms.
Artwork inspired by Harry Jackson
Built in 1872 and receiving its first prisoner in 1873, this was Wyoming Territory’s federal penitentiary and later the young state’s first prison. Its iron cellblock held 1,063 people before incarceration moved to Rawlins in 1903; Butch Cassidy’s 1894–1896 sentence is the famous hook, but prisoner photographs, intake records, punishment rules, health conditions, and escape files make the institution more than an outlaw shrine. Use a prisoner identity card or the self-guided route to follow one documented life through the building.
The Prison Industries Building is the essential second stop. Inmates produced brooms there in the 1890s, making labor simultaneously a revenue source, discipline, and claimed rehabilitation; demonstrations can turn abstract policy into material process. The 1875 warden’s house shows family life beside confinement, while the horse barn’s Science on the Range exhibit explains the property’s next chapter as a University of Wyoming agricultural experiment station from 1903 to 1989.
- Built
- 1872
- Documented
- 1,063 incarcerated people
- Allow
- 1½–2½ hours
Quick guide
- Begin
- Choose one prisoner record before entering the cells.
- Do not miss
- Compare Cassidy lore with intake and conduct records.
Quick guide
- Establish the chronology
- Begin the Wyoming Territorial Prison State Historic Site visit with one deliberate choice.
- Read surviving evidence
- Trace the next connection instead of collecting isolated facts.
- Recover a missing perspective
- Watch for the relationship between place, object, and interpretation.
- Finish with access in mind
- Before visiting Wyoming Territorial Prison State Historic Site, check the condition that controls this part of the route.
Good to know
The last admission ticket is sold one hour before closing, so arriving at the posted closing time will not get you inside. Most visits are self-guided; seasonal guided tours are included when offered, but their days and times change. Leashed pets may use the grounds but cannot enter public buildings, while service animals are permitted. Do not confuse this Laramie site with the Wyoming Frontier Prison in Rawlins, a different prison with a different tour system.
Notice these
- 1872
- 1,063 incarcerated people
- Original iron cells and broom factory