History Under Foot Brings Cheyenne’s Past to Life
This project has fantastic potential to enhance our community and encourage respect for our past. We encourage you to watch downtown for History Under Foot!
The Downtown Cheyenne Development Authority is pleased to share the History Under Foot project, made possible in part by a generous grant from the Wyoming Cultural Trust Fund, a State of Wyoming program with the Department of State Parks and Cultural Resources.
“Cheyenne has a very unique and colorful history and in addition to all of the stories people already know and love, there are also many stories of outlaws and scandals,” said Amber Ash, DDA Executive Director. “We want to highlight those different and unique stories in addition to our historic buildings to get people engaged and interested in Cheyenne’s incredibly rich and diverse history. Stories about Calamity Jane and the wedding of Wild Bill Hickok are lesser known examples that we would love to promote.” History Under Foot will bring these lesser known but exciting stories to life in downtown Cheyenne through bronze plaques set into the sidewalks throughout the community.
History Under Foot is designed to invite both residents of our community and visitors to explore the downtown and to learn about the rich history of our community. Cheyenne’s streets have witnessed important and interesting moments for generations, and this project shares those moments in a fun new way. ADA compliant inset cast bronze plaques will be created and then installed into the sidewalks to celebrate historical events, people, and places important to our community. In addition, these plaques and stories could be a really useful tool for schools looking for outdoor field trips and an engaging way to help bring history to life for our children.
These plaques will be made of cast bronze, a material that will be able to handle Cheyenne’s variable weather conditions and is well suited for heavy pedestrian use. In addition, the plaques will add tread and traction for those walking on our sidewalks, making our community a safer place for people to walk and enjoy the outdoors.
This project will stretch across multiple years, encouraging repeat visitors to come back and see new additions to the project, as well as inviting locals to come downtown and see each new addition. Featuring stories that may have been forgotten encourages us to embrace all of our history, providing opportunities to enhance historical literacy in the community.
This focus on history doesn’t stop with the plaques, either. The DDA is pleased to partner with Visit Cheyenne and the City of Cheyenne to create and add banners to the Depot Plaza. These banners will have a historical focus, as well, featuring famous and infamous people from our past as well as Steamboat. We hope to also include scannable QR codes that will allow people to access videos or further information about the banner and the significance of the facts on it. One planned banner is of Esther Hobart Morris, a suffragette, and the first female justice of the peace. The QR code would explain information about her and then share how to get to her home at 2114 Warren Ave here in Cheyenne.
If you are interested in helping fund this important initiative to bring our rich history to life, please contact the DDA. This project has fantastic potential to enhance our community and encourage respect for our past. We encourage you to watch downtown for History Under Foot!