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History · Medicine Bow

Medicine Bow’s post office opened in 1869, and 12% of its homes were built before 1940

3 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 1 buildings. Below: 4 old photos and papers, maps from 1915 on, and the census since 1910.

1869first post office
3on the National Register
12%homes built before 1940
4old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Medicine Bow’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Medicine Bow began

When was Medicine Bow founded?

1869

The Medicine Bow post office opened in 1869, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 127 in 19102020 census: 245157 years
Founding year: the first Medicine Bow post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Medicine Bow’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 4 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 953 in 1980; 245 people lived here in 2020.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Medicine Bow’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
2 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewMedicine Bow, Wyoming: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
People over time

Medicine Bow, census by census

02004006008001,000192019401960198020002020Peak: 953

Peaked at 953 in 1980; 245 people lived here in 2020.

12 censuses, 1910–2020.

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

The story

How Medicine Bow came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Medicine Bow.

Read it all →

The community largely owes its existence to the first transcontinental railroad, built through the area in 1868. A post office called Medicine Bow has been in operation since 1869. The community was named after the Medicine Bow River.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Medicine Bow, 1869 to 1980

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1869Post officeThe Medicine Bow post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1915On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  5. 1919In the archiveMap of Line through Hermosa
  6. 1940In the archiveMedicine Bow, Wyoming
  7. 1980CensusPopulation peaks at 953
By decade

Medicine Bow, decade by decade

2 decades in the archive, from the 1910s to the 1940s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1910s–1940s4 items
Map of Line through Hermosa1919Map of Line through HermosaMapMedicine Bow, Wyoming1940Medicine Bow, WyomingMedicine Bow, Wyoming1940Medicine Bow, WyomingMedicine Bow, Wyoming1940Medicine Bow, Wyoming
1950s–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
Today7 recent
Wayne Johnson takes a break from mowing the Sunset Cottages2016Wayne Johnson takes a break from mowing the Sunset Co…Wayne Johnson takes a break from mowing the Sunset Cottages2016Wayne Johnson takes a break from mowing the Sunset Co…Medicine Bow landscape2016Medicine Bow landscapeThe Fossil Cabin near Como Bluff in south-central Wyoming, was built as a tourist attraction along the old, two-lane Li…2015The Fossil Cabin near Como Bluff in south-central Wyo…Medicine Bow, Wyoming2012Medicine Bow, WyomingMedicine Bow Wyoming2012Medicine Bow Wyoming2009-0722-MedicineBow20092009-0722-MedicineBow
On the map

Medicine Bow on the map, 1915 to 1971

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

Medicine Bow on the 1915 USGS mapMedicine Bow on the 1971 USGS map1915Como Ridge sheet · 1:62,500

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

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.

Medicine Bow, Wyoming
Retake this viewMedicine Bow, Wyoming, 1940

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

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

3 historic places in Medicine Bow

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

places listed
3
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
3
each building in a district counts
first listed
1978
Virginian Hotel
Virginian HotelMedicine Bow Union Pacific DepotSite 32 SL-O Intermediate Field Historic District
BuildingsDistricts

Architectural styles listings

Renaissance Revival1
Italian1
Airfield1
Virginian HotelRenaissance Revival
Medicine Bow Union Pacific DepotBuilding
All 3 listings
Site 32 SL-O Intermediate Field Historic DistrictDistrict · listed 2012

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

Questions about Medicine Bow’s history

What year was Medicine Bow founded?

The Medicine Bow post office opened in 1869, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Medicine Bow?

Three places: the Virginian Hotel (listed 1978), the Medicine Bow Union Pacific Depot (1982) and the Site 32 SL-O Intermediate Field Historic District (2012).

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 (6), 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.