Laramie City Downtown Walking Tours Discuss the Birthing of a Railroad Town

Laramie City started as a Calvary outpost then a Railroad town then a University town eventually made it what it is today. But like most history you don’t always know the behind the scenes people that really made the town prosper. I was guided back in time with the lovely and god fearing Victorian lady Mrs. Nash. Our trip began in present day Laramie and with every step went back in time to the eighteen hundreds when Laramie was being built up from 1^st street. The grand architects of the time made Laramie look real attractive from the railroad tracks. Hoping that passengers would take a second look and maybe settle here in Laramie and start a business.

Design elements like roman columns and neoclassical designs where built into the new building in our downtown. Metal ornaments where ordered from catalogs like Montgomery Wards and Sears and Roebucks to add the finishing touches that the people of the day would expect from a up and coming town on the prairie.

The main floors of all the building was where the trade company’s like banks, butcher shops, hardware stores and bars. While the upstairs was where the real money was made and traded. Lady’s of the evening would seduce men to spend their money on hanky-panky. The working lady’s would have rooms on the second floors of most establishments and invite men to come up from their windows and have a good time at the parlors and brothels.

Mrs. Nash lead us on a tour of what is now 2^nd Story Bookstore, but back in the day it was a high class parlor and the little rooms was where the lady’s would render services to men, having $10 room for the higher class lady’s to $5 and $2 rooms as well. Next time you are searching for a book it will be hard not think of what really went on up there.

All this came at a great price with the average life expectancy for the lady’s being less the 30 years of age.  Death was usually of a sexual transmitted disease and was a hard and painful way of life. But the lure of money and a chance to get out of poverty was too tempting for anyone.

Taxes from the parlors and prostitution was often 4 times higher than any other business, so the city made lots of money to build the town into what it is today. So the next time your walking downtown think about all the painful parts of our past and the lady’s that really made this town prosper.

Downtown Walking Tours, Summer 2011
Laramie Main Street
Contact Trey Sherwood, 307-742-2212

Laramie City Downtown Walking Tours Discuss the Birthing of a Railroad Town

Tickets are $10 per person and can be purchased with cash or check at the Albany County Tourism Board starting June 10 or at the First Street Plaza at First Street and Grand Ave. on the day of the tour. For more information call Laramie Main Street at 742-2212 or email mainstreet@laramiewy.org

All tours start and end at the First Street Plaza on the corner of 1^st Street & Grand Avenue.

Friday July 1, from 5:30 -6:30 pm - Discover Old Laramie City - The Birthing of a Railroad Town.

This guided tour will cover the railroad history of Laramie, and how the town planning, architecture and economic growth evolved from that basic beginning. Historic (Historian) Mrs. Nash will escort you over the Laramie Railroad Depot were participants will explore the inside of the depot, the exterior architecture and grounds, and the newly placed locomotive, snow plow, bunk car, and caboose. After that, Mrs. Nash will lead the group back down along 1st Street to take in the vintage architecture, see the site of the original railroad depot, end on 1st Street and Ivinson Avenue.

Other Summer tours include:

(Laramie Live will do a full story and photo tour 2 weeks before the next tour)

1. On Friday July 8 - 1:30 to 2:30 & 3:30 to 4:30 - Old Laramie City - Brothel Tour

2. On Saturday July -  9 1:30 to 2:30 & 3:30 to 4:30 - Old Laramie City -  Trains, Bicycles, Automobiles, and Airplanes.

3. On Friday -  July 29 5:30 to 6:30 pm - Laramie City's Founding Fathers - Wheelers and Dealers

4. On Friday -  August 12 - 5:30 to 6:30 pm - Laramie City - the Birthing of a Railroad Town

5. On Friday -  August 26 5:30 to 6:30 pm - Old Laramie City Brothel Tour

6. On Friday - September 9 5:30 to 6:30 pm - Old Laramie City Community Building

7. On Friday -  September 16 Upstairs/Downtown Tour, $10 in advance, $15 the day of

WALKING TOUR PACKETS (Advertised to Laramie Main Street Supporters)

- A two person packet for three tours, July 1, July 8 & July 29 is $50 (for a savings of $10)

-  A two person packet for three tours, Aug. 12, Aug. 26 & Sept. 9 is $50 (also a savings of $10)

- For a two person packet for all six tours, the cost is $95 (for a savings of $25)

- For a two person pack for all six tours and two tickets to the Upstairs/Downtown Tour, the cost is $110 (a savings of $30)