Rawlins, Wyoming

The eighty year history of Wyoming’s first state penitentiary, now known as the Wyoming Frontier Prison, is as colorful as the plot of a classic western movie. The cornerstone of the prison was laid in 1888, but due to funding issues and Wyoming’s notorious weather, the doors wouldn’t open for thirteen years. In December of 1901, the prison opened and consisted of 104 cells in Cell Block A, no electricity or running water, and very inadequate heating.

Throughout the prison’s operation, approximately 13,500 people were incarcerated, including eleven women.

Women were housed in the prison until 1909, when the last woman was transferred to Colorado.

Cell Block A

The addition Cell Block B in 1950 temporarily relieved the overcrowding and included hot running water which wouldn't be installed in Cell Block A for another 28 years.

Prisoners are not allowed tape.  To hang pictures and articles in their cells they use toothpaste.

Kitchen

Dining room

The original tables and benches were wood.  During one of the riots the prisoners lit them on fire.  They were replaced with these stainless steel ones.

Headed out to the "Yard" through those metal doors.

The "Yard"

Joseph Seng was the first to be executed at the prison.

The prisoners had taken a liken to Joseph Seng and after his execution the inmates rioted.  It was after that that the penitentiary completed the addition of a “death house” which consisted of six cells to house inmates on death row, and a unique indoor version of the Julien Gallows. The Warden did not want the prisoners getting to know the death row inmates.

In the early 1900s, towns were looking for more humane ways to execute prisoners. In those days, executions were public events and the large crowds were beginning to grow weary of watching slow, painful deaths. To spare the hangman of any culpability in the killing, and to avoid paying an executioner, local architect James Julien was commissioned to design a new gallows. The device featured a trap door, which was connected to a bucket of water. The weight of the water would, conceivably, create enough pressure to break the trap door, plunging the condemned to their death.  The Julien Gallows was sent to the Wyoming Frontier Prison in Rawlins, where it remained in use until 1936.

Julien Gallows model

Be careful where you stand

The death row building also housed the gas chamber when it was chosen to replace hanging as Wyoming’s execution method of choice in 1936. Ultimately 14 death sentences were carried out; nine men were hanged, and five were executed in the gas chamber by the use of hydrocyanic acid gas.

Cell Block C, a maximum security addition was completed in 1966.  The addition only included thirty-six cells and was reserved for serious discipline cases.

Over the 80-year operation, the prison produced goods to meet demands of four major industries. From 1901 through 1917 the prison had a broom factory, but inmates burned it down during a riot. The factory was rebuilt and operated as a shirt factory which brought in twice the revenue to the state. In 1934, a federal law was passed to prohibit the sale and transportation of prison manufactured goods from one state to another, which resulted in the loss of significant revenue when the factory closed. In 1935, the factory began operating as a woolen mill which won the “Navy E” in 1942 for the superior quality blankets produced by the prison for the military during World War II. In 1949 the prison changed production one last time, producing license plates until the penitentiary closed in 1981.

Years later it was determined that Stanley Hudson had served time under 4 different names.

After serving the state for eighty years, the prison closed its doors, and sat abandoned through 1987.  In 1988, The Wyoming Frontier Prison was established it as a museum. The Wyoming Frontier Prison has since been listed on The National Registry of Historic Places, and offers tours to approximately 15,000 visitors annually.

The Texaco Station on East Cedar Street, was built in 1920.  The Hays family which owns the station and has operated the same area truck business for the past 100 years. 

Early model Gladiator