Cheyenne is the capital and largest city of the US state of Wyoming. The town’s history began on July 4, 1867, when Grenville M. Dodge of the Union Pacific Railroad announced the site of the company’s new town in connection with the construction of the Crow Creek Railroad. The next day, Crow Creek Crossing was founded, and the inhabitants later named the town after the Cheyenne tribe.

The first train arrived to town in November 1867, and the U.S. Army founded a fort in the area the same year. The following year, Wyoming Territory was established from a part of the Territory of Dakota, and Cheyenne was chosen as the capital. Wyoming became a US state in 1890, and the state capitol was dedicated the same year. There was also a courthouse, an opera house and other institutions, and by the end of the 19th century there were approximately 14,000 inhabitants in the city.

Today, Cheyenne is a pleasant city, where you can enjoy a nice walk in the oldest part of the town, which is in the streets north of the station. The railroad was the one that established Cheyenne, and today you can see the Cheyenne Depot Museum, housed in the Union Pacific Railroad’s old station building from the 1880s.

The station was built as the company’s largest station west of Iowa, and the style was the so-called Richardsonian Romanesque, a neo-Romanesque style often used in the United States and Canada. In front of the station is the Cheyenne Depot Plaza, from which there is easy access to the city’s central streets.

From Cheyenne Depot, you can walk along Capitol Avenue, which connects the station with the Wyoming State Capitol, which is the government building and political center of the state of Wyoming. The Capitol building was constructed starting in 1886 and was completed in 1890, which was also the year Wyoming became a state in the United States. Initially, a smaller version of the Capitol than the current one was used, and in 1917 the chambers for the state senate and the house of representatives were completed.

The most visible architectural detail is the gilded dome, which can be seen from large parts of the city. In the area around the Wyoming State Capitol, you can see other large public buildings, such as the Wyoming Supreme Court building. You can visit the Historic Governor’s Mansion as well, which was the governor’s official residence from 1905 to 1976.

The Wyoming State Museum is an interesting museum close to the Capitol. It is the national museum of Wyoming for history and heritage. Here you can e.g. see exhibits about the cultures of Native American tribes, about the settlement of Wyoming and other historical highlights. You can learn more about the city’s history at the Cheyenne Frontier Days Old West Museum, located north of the city, and nearby you can take a nice walk in the city’s botanical garden.

Back in downtown, it is a good choice to make a stroll in the Cheyenne Downtown Historic District, which is roughly between Central Avenue and Pioneer Avenue from the Cheyenne Depot and a few blocks north. The district has some buildings from the early years of Cheyenne e.g. The Plains Hotel from 1911, the Atlas Theater from 1905 and the Dinneen Building from 1927. All three are located on W Lincoln Way, which along with Capitol Avenue houses some of the finest buildings from old Cheyenne.