Wyoming Historical Society Executive Committee President, Beki Speas, was proud this past Saturday to be invited and present for this ribbon cutting event for the new Fort Phil Kearny Interpretive Center. May is #HistoricPreservationMonth and Wyoming Historical Society attended this event with Governor Mark Gordon (Johnson Co Native), Wyoming State Parks, Helmsley Charitable Trust, Fort Phil Kearny/Bozeman Trail Association. If you get time be sure to visit and show support to this fantastic facility and staff! (fb)

In 1886, the year Douglas incorporated, the town's first official cemetery opened in "Poverty Flats," a bit of prairie north of the tent town which had formed, awaiting the arrival of the railroad. The first person to be buried there was one A.H. Meyers, the loser in a gunfight As the turn of the century approached, the citizenry had to decide whether to replace their old cemetery. Though it was less than 15 years old, backers of a new burial ground pressed their case. One of the most vocal was Bill Barlow, the witty and sometimes acid-tongued editor of the Douglas Budget newspaper. "If there is one thing above another that Douglas needs, it is a cemetery somewhere within reach and one that could be made in a fairly half-way presentable condition," Barlow editorialized in 1899. "It fairly gives a man the horrors to think of being buried in the dismal out-of-the way sand hill now being used for that purpose." Two years passed without a decision. Then Barlow fired another salvo. "Every death accentuates the fact that we need a cemetery," he wrote. "The one in use now is too far from town and where neither trees nor grass can be made to grow - a bleak sandy waste." Just two months later, the project was underway. Now called Douglas Park Cemetery, it has been in use since 1902. This will be the last stop on the 71st Annual WHS Trek June 23rd! The Pioneer Cemetery, as it’s now called, remains on the site today. #whstrek #WyomingHistoricalSociety #WyomingHistory #thatswyo (fb)