Pershing Boulevard: Who Was The Cheyenne Street Named After?

Driving through the great city of Cheyenne, we see all kinds of street names. But where did all of these streets get their name?  There is a well used roadway in Cheyenne named Pershing Boulevard. The road runs east to west and spans from east county all the way to F.E.Warren Air Force Base.

Where did the street get it's name? An interesting fact is that the name of the road was named after General John J. "Blackjack" Pershing, who never lived in Cheyenne. Although General Pershing never lived in the Magic City of the Plains, he did frequently visit.

He first visited Cheyenne back in 1905, while on his way to the Philippines,  and was married to the former Francis Warren, the daughter of Governor F.E. Warren. He was a very successful General, however in 1915, his wife and three daughters suffocated in a fire in Presidio in San Francisco.

Funeral arrangements happened here in Cheyenne. Pershing never remarried, but did return to the capitol city in 1920 where he was commemorated and had Pershing Blvd named after him. The trees that were planted along Pershing Blvd were donated and planted by local school children.

Special thanks to: Centennial Historical Committee, Cheyenne, The Magic City of the Plains (Cheyenne Centennial Committee: Cheyenne, Wyoming) 1967.