The story
Read it all →How Wyoming came to be
From Wikipedia’s history of Wyoming.
Wyoming was incorporated on October 21, 1873, and was named for Wyoming County, New York.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
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History · Wyoming
Wyoming’s post office opened in 1855, and 45% of its homes were built before 1940
Its Register listing is the Dr. Martin H. Caulkins House and Office. Its Register listing is the Dr. Martin H. Caulkins House and Office. Below: old-book passages.
1855first post office
1on the National Register
45%homes built before 1940
Quick answers
How Wyoming began
When was Wyoming founded?
1855
The Wyoming post office opened in 1855, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Marshfield (1854), opened inside today’s city and later closed.
2020 census: 523171 years
Founding year: the first Wyoming post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
What stands out about Wyoming’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
★ What stands out · Help out
Start Wyoming’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Wyoming’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.From the old history books
What they wrote about Wyoming, 1879–1911
Passages that mention Wyoming, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The history of Jones County, Iowa, containing a history of the county, its cities, towns, &c., biographical sketches of citizens ... history of the Northwest, history of Iowa ..1879 · page 474Read the page →
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The thriving town of Wyoming is situated in the southwestern portion of the township, and a portion of the town of Onslow is situated in the northeast, four miles from the city of Wyoming.
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History of Jones County, Iowa, past and present1910 · page 708Read the page →
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The following history of The Press of Wyoming, was read by W. E. Holmes, a former Wyoming boy, and now city editor of the Cedar Rapids Gazette, at the Semi-Centennial Celebration in Wyoming, August 5, 1905, and gives in a concise and readable form, the history of the Press in Wyoming. To this history should be added that W. I. Chamberlain is yet the editor and publisher of The Journal; and that D. A. White continues faithfully and with diligence to look after the welfare of the composing room, the quarter of a century mark of almost continuous service in this capacity, during which time he had never missed
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The Indian war of 18641911 · page 165Read the page →
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Fort Collins, in Colorado, was named after the Colonel, and the town of Casper, in Wyoming, was named after the son. While all of these officers I have spoken of were at our post, Ranchman MacDonald had another dance. And some of the passengers in the stages, including several women, stopped to attend it. There had in the meantime several new girls come into the neighborhood, and the dance was quite
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The history of Jones County, Iowa, containing a history of the county, its cities, towns, &c., biographical sketches of citizens ... history of the Northwest, history of Iowa ..1879 · page 497Read the page →
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The flourishing town of Wyoming is very pleasantly situated in the southwestern portion of the township of the same name, aijd numbersat least a thousand souls, nearly all of whom are Americans. The place was settled by emigrants from the States of New York and Ohio. The Bear Creek runs through the town and joins the Wapsipinicon River, about four miles from the corporation limits, and affords something of a water-power for the use of the inhabitants. The business portion is on the east side of Bear Creek, and the business houses being built of brick give to the place a good substantial appear-
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Timeline
Wyoming, 1854 to 1855
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
By decade
Wyoming, decade by decade
2025
2025
2006
2004On the National Register
1 historic place in Wyoming
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
2
each building in a district counts
first listed
1982
Dr. Martin H. Caulkins House and Office
Buildings
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Places that used to be
Lost post offices and places now gone
Wyoming’s post office has been open since 1855. Another post office, Marshfield, opened and closed inside today’s town.
Marshfield
Wyoming
18501940today
Gone or out of use
Wyominglocale
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Questions about Wyoming’s history
What year was Wyoming founded?
The Wyoming post office opened in 1855, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
What is on the National Register in Wyoming?
One place: the Dr. Martin H. Caulkins House and Office (listed 1982).
Memory lane
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
Start a conversation
Sources
Where this page comes from
Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →
From Wikimedia Commons (4), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.