Happy 150th Anniversary, Laramie County

150 years ago, on January 9, 1867, the Dakota Territorial Legislature officially established Laramie County.

Named after French-Canadian explorer Jacques La Ramee, who helped establish the local fur trading industry in the 1820s, Laramie County originally covered most of southern Wyoming.

Shortly after its founding in 1867, Laramie County was cut in half with the creation of Sweetwater County. The following year, Albany and Carbon County were established. Other portions of the county were later ceded to Crook, Converse, Goshen and Platte counties.

Laramie County now covers an area of 2,688 square miles and is the most populated county in Wyoming, with an estimated population of just over 97,000.

The creation of Laramie County predates Cheyenne, which was plotted six months after the county was established in 1867,

Pine Bluffs is the second largest city in the county, with a population of 1.149. Laramie County also inlcudes the towns of Albin and Burns, along with unicorporated communities Granite, Meriden, Horse Creek and census designated places Carpenter, Hillsdale, Ranchettes and South Greeley.