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History · Encampment

Encampment’s post office opened in 1897, and 27% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listings are the Grand Encampment Mining Region: Boston Wyoming Smelter Site, the Willis House and the Lora Webb Nichols House. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1961 on, and the census since 1910.

1897first post office
3on the National Register
27%homes built before 1940
2old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Encampment’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Encampment began

When was Encampment founded?

1897

The Encampment post office opened in 1897, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 421 in 19102020 census: 452129 years
Founding year: the first Encampment post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Encampment’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 2 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Shrank, then grewLost half of its people between 1910 and 1930, then more than doubled.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Encampment’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Encampment’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewEight men play in the snow at: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
People over time

Encampment, census by census

0100200300400500600192019401960198020002020421 in 1910Low: 209

Lost half of its people between 1910 and 1930, then more than doubled.

12 censuses, 1910–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Encampment’s Wikipedia page.

The story

How Encampment came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Encampment.

Read it all →

Known also as "Grand Encampment", this town along the Colorado-Wyoming border was, at the turn of the twentieth century, a booming center of copper mining and smelting. At one point a sixteen-mile tramway was built to carry copper ore from the mountains into the town for smelting. This steam powered tramway was, at the time, the longest in the world. A sharp drop in copper prices and disastrous fires drove the mining company into bankruptcy. Mining operations ceased in the early twentieth century. A large sawmill operated in the town between 1950 and 1998.

The town's economy in the first part of the twenty-first century is driven by timber, ranching, and recreation.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Encampment, 1897 to 1980

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1897Post officeThe Encampment post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1903In the archiveEight men play in the snow at
  5. 1961On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  6. 1980CensusPopulation peaks at 611
By decade

Encampment, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1900s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1900s2 items
Eight men play in the snow at1903Eight men play in the snow atIngots of copper at1903Ingots of copper at
1910s–1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
Today4 recent
Vintage vehicles at the Encampment Museum in the little town of Encampment, Wyoming, which was once called "Grand Encam…2015Vintage vehicles at the Encampment Museum in the litt…Encampment House2012Encampment HouseDbl decker outhouse2011Dbl decker outhouseWYMap-doton-GrandEncampment2004WYMap-doton-GrandEncampment
On the map

Encampment on the map, 1961 to 1983

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Encampment. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Encampment on the 1961 USGS mapEncampment on the 1983 USGS map1961Encampment sheet · 1:24,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Encampment.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Eight men play in the snow at
Retake this viewEight men play in the snow at, 1903

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Encampment’s page.

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

3 historic places in Encampment

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

places listed
3
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
5
each building in a district counts
first listed
1973
Grand Encampment Mining Region: Boston Wyoming …
Grand Encampment Mining Region: Boston Wyoming Smelter SiteWillis HouseLora Webb Nichols House
BuildingsSites

Architectural styles listings

American Four Square1
Grand Encampment Mining Region: Boston Wyoming Smelter SiteSite
Willis HouseAmerican Four Square
All 3 listings
Lora Webb Nichols HouseBuilding · listed 2023

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Famous people

Famous people close to Encampment

Nobody well known was born in Encampment itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
Howard Thomas OrvilleAmerican naval officer and meteorologist · b. 1901
C. C. BeallAmerican illustrator · b. 1892
B
Bill VaseyAmerican politician · b. 1939
Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

RiversideIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Encampment’s history

What year was Encampment founded?

The Encampment post office opened in 1897, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Encampment?

Three places: the Grand Encampment Mining Region: Boston Wyoming Smelter Site (listed 1973), the Willis House (2001) and the Lora Webb Nichols House (2023).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
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 (5), the Library of Congress (1), the National Register of Historic Places (3), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.