August 31, 2016 Cheyenne Wyoming Governors Mansion

       Wednesday August 31,  We picked up a brochure on the "Historic Governors Mansion" and we all decided it would be a very interesting place to tour through.  It has 3 very large stories and a basement. All the rooms are totally furnished.
       Fourteen year after achieving statehood in 1890, the state of Wyoming built is first governor's  mansion in 1904. Paid for with public funds from a 1/8 mill tax levy, the state purchased the vacant corner lot 21st and House Avenue in an established, middle class neighborhood, 5 blocks from the State Capital. The lot was surrounded by beautiful Queen Anne houses that were built in the mid 1880s.

       The mansion was intended to be to be a home of the people, and was never enclosed by a fence or had on site security.  From 1905 to 1976, the mansion was the residence of 19 Wyoming first families.

       Governor Bryant B. Brooks and his family were the first occupants.

Brooks a Natrona County rancher. He and his wife, Mary Naomi Brooks, had five children, 4 girls and 1 son. The children brought their pet pony from the ranch with them and was quartered in the carriage house. The Brooks were the largest and youngest family ever to occupy the mansion.

       The mansion was also home to the first female governor in the United States, Nellie Taylor Ross. Mrs. Ross was elected in a special election to fulfill the remainder of her husband's term, Governor William B. Ross.  During her election, the Carriage House was a polling place for the neighborhood. Mrs. Ross noted that during that fateful day, she would look out the window and wonder if any constituents were voting for her. Both her and her son cast their ballots in the Carriage House. Two years later, she lost her bid for re-election to Governor Frank Emerson.
       The last family to occupy the mansion was also Wyoming's first  three- term  governor,  Ed Herschel and his wife Casey. The Herschelers have the distinction to be the first family to live in the mansion and the first to live in the new Governor's Residence located near Frontier Park. The Herschlers lived here for almost two years, from January 1975 until October of 1976.
       In July 1977, the Historic Governor's Mansion opened to the public as a historic house museum. After an extensive restoration in 2004  the Mansion continues its second century as a valuable symbol of the state and its history. There is so much to see with 3 full stories and servants stairways and quarters and the beautiful furnishings. They did some floors in different periods of time which was interesting to see.