Sheridan’s post office opened in 1882, and 21% of its homes were built before 1940
More historic than 78% of U.S. towns · #2 of 28 in Wyoming. What drives it
12 places in town are on the National Register, among them the Sheridan Inn, a National Historic Landmark, and four historic districts with 218 buildings between them. Below: 11 old photos and papers, maps from 1896 on, and the census since 1890.
Founding year: the first Sheridan post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Sheridan’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Sheridan is more historic than 78% of U.S. towns, #2 of 28 in Wyoming. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
A−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Sheridan’s overall grade.
Wyoming towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical Wyoming town has 25.1 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Sheridan’s 119 sits above most of its state (89% of Wyoming towns have fewer) while its 230 historic buildings outnumber those of 94% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B− to A. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±3.4 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
What stands out about Sheridan’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Every building
Sheridan, building by building, 1896–1920
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
The city was named after General Philip Sheridan, Union cavalry leader in the American Civil War.
Several battles between US Cavalry and the Sioux, Cheyenne, Arapaho, Shoshone, and Crow Indian tribes occurred in the area in the 1860s and 1870s before the town was built.
In 1878, trapper George Mandel built a cabin on Big Goose Creek, since reconstructed in the Whitney Commons park near the Sheridan County Fulmer Public Library. Jack Dow surveyed the townsite for Sheridan in 1882, at the behest of John Loucks, first mayor of the town who had served under Gen. Sheridan.
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.
First Presbyterian Church ColumbariumMount HopeSaint Peters Episcopal Church ColumbariumSheridan ElksSheridan MunicipalTrinity Lutheran Church Columbarium
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Help out
Finish Sheridan’s story
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
3 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
The Sheridan post office opened in 1882, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Sheridan rank for history?
Sheridan is more historic than 78% of U.S. towns, #2 of 28 in Wyoming. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
What is on the National Register in Sheridan?
12 listings: 7 buildings, among them the Sheridan Inn (a National Historic Landmark since 1964), 4 historic districts with 218 contributing buildings, and 1 site. 230 historic buildings in all.
How old are the homes in Sheridan?
21% of Sheridan’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.4 points), against a typical 12% for a Wyoming town; the median home was built in 1978.
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).
From Wikimedia Commons (10), the Library of Congress (1), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (12), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
★ Landmark
1876
1908
1909
c. 1909
1909
c. 1930
c. 1930
