Just under an hour's drive west of Cheyenne is Laramie, named after a French trapper who was murdered in this area in 1821. A military post was built here in 1866 to protect workers building the transcontinental railroad, and two years later the first Union Pacific train reached the town. For a time Laramie was reputedly the "wildest town in the
Wild West", frequented by robbers, cattle rustlers, prostitutes and other dubious characters. Violent crime was an everyday matter, and it seemed at times that the life of a steer was worth more than the life of a man. On the other side of the coin, Laramie was the first place in the United States where women were elected to public office. It is also the seat of the University of Wyoming, founded in 1886. The University has a rich Geology Museum (remains of Tyrannosaurus rex), an Anthropology Museum and a new American Heritage and Art Museum (architect Antoine Predock). Other features of interest in the town are the Laramie Plains Museum, the Rocky Mountains Herbarium and the Wyoming Territorial Park, with the Territorial Prison in which Butch Cassidy was once confined.
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