Cheyenne Depot Museum, Cheyenne, Besucherguide & was in der Nähe unternehmen

The Cheyenne Depot Museum is the historic Union Pacific railroad station in Cheyenne, Wyoming, now a museum about the railroad and the town it created. The sandstone building sits at the foot of Capitol Avenue and remains one of the best places to understand why Cheyenne exists at all: it grew up beside the Union Pacific tracks.

The story behind it

Cheyenne began as a Union Pacific railhead town, and the depot was built in the late 1880s as its grand front door. Its heavy stone walls and arches are typical of the Romanesque Revival style of the period. For generations, passengers, crews and freight moved through here, and the rail yard beside the depot was a busy, rough workplace.

Local lore also ties the depot to two killings. According to the story, a Union Pacific watchman named Lloyd Sparr was shot in the yard in 1912 while guarding against boxcar thefts, and a man with a grudge from his time at the Rawlins penitentiary later confessed. In 1935, a division superintendent, Charles Barnard, is said to have been shot in the depot lobby by a former employee who had recently been dismissed. Some people say the rail yard is haunted by these events. Treat that as legend rather than fact, but it makes a good story to have in your head as you stand there.

What to look for

• The rough-cut sandstone walls and rounded arches of the facade show the Romanesque style that railroads liked for their grandest stations.
• The depot's tower rises above the roofline and helps you spot the building from several blocks away.
• The working Union Pacific tracks beside the building give a sense of how close the railroad still is to downtown.
• The view up Capitol Avenue lines the station up with the state capitol, which shows how the town was laid out around the railroad and its government.

Tips for your visit

• Allow about 30 minutes for the outside and the surrounding streets, and more if you plan to go through the museum.
• Check current opening hours and admission details before you go, as they change through the year.
• Late afternoon light is kind to the sandstone, and evening gives the rail yard a quieter, moodier feel.
• The depot is in the heart of downtown, so shops, cafes and other historic buildings are an easy walk away.

See it on a quest

Murder Mystery: Death in the Shadows in Cheyenne reaches the depot on foot as one stop of a longer walk through downtown. The app tells you about each place as you arrive and sets a puzzle in what is in front of you, which suits a building with a darker past. One ticket covers the whole group.

Cheyenne Detective Mystery: Infiltrate a Secret Society. is a detective-themed route that also passes the depot. You walk from place to place at your own pace, hear the story of each stop and solve a puzzle on the spot. One ticket covers the whole group, and there is no guide or set start time.