Table of Contents  [ Hide]

Statistics
Population
Towns
Well-known residents of Goshen County
History
County Creation and Organization
Theories on the Origin of the Name
Fort Laramie
County Courthouse and Jail
Courthouse Addition

Statistics

Population

Towns

Well-known residents of Goshen County

	Stan Hathaway	governor
	John Hunton	Fort Laramie sutler/rancher
	J.K. Rollinson	cowboy/writer

History

Derivation of the name is disputed. Some sources indicate that the county was named for a trapper with the last name of Gosche who frequented the area in the 1840s. Other sources say it refers to the Biblical “land of Goshen,” fabled for its abundance. The county was created in 1911 and organized two years later. The area originally was part of Laramie County. Fort Laramie, the oldest permanent white settlement in Wyoming, is now in Goshen County, but in the mid-19th century, it was briefly the county seat of Cheyenne County, Nebraska.

County Creation and Organization

The Eleventh Wyoming State Legislature, meeting during January and February 1911, is known as the County Legislature because it created seven new counties during its forty-day session. Included in the new counties were Niobrara, Platte, and Goshen on February 9, 1911, all carved from the northern portion of Laramie County. As established by the creating act, Goshen County's boundaries were Nebraska to the east, Niobrara County on the north, and Platte County on the west except for the extreme southern township which was bounded by Laramie County, as was Goshen County's southern boundary.

On February 24, 1911, after reviewing the required petition with signatures of three hundred taxpayers and qualified voters requesting that Goshen County be organized, and after determining that Goshen County had a population of more than 1,500 and an assessed valuation of more than $2 million as required by the creating law, Governor Joseph M. Carey appointed J. T. Snow of Torrington, H. B. Hudson of Wyncote, and B. F. Yoder of Phillips as organizing commissioners. Meeting in early March, the commissioners scheduled a special election for the qualified electors to approve or disapprove the organization of the county and, if approved, to choose a county seat on April 25, 1911. As scheduled, the election was held with 758 voters approving organization of the county with 254 voters opposing. Torrington was selected for the county seat with 643 votes, while Lingle received 324 votes, LaGrange 3 votes, Fort Laramie 2 votes, and Frederick 1 vote.

Although Goshen County was one of the later counties created in Wyoming, thousands of emigrants, bound for Oregon, California, and Utah, had passed through its future boundaries, and the oldest permanent community in the state -- Fort Laramie, had long been established. The county was named for Goshen Hole, a broad geological depression, and the name had first appeared on a map of the region published in 1844. This gives credence to some of the versions as to the origin of the name "Goshen." The mountain men who had roamed Wyoming trapping beaver had used the word "hole" to describe valleys and basins.

Theories on the Origin of the Name

The first version of the origin of "Goshen" is that an Assiniboine Indian trapper named "Goshe" lived in the "Hole" for many years, until killed by Arapaho, and that Goshen Hole was named for him. Version number two: A French Canadian named "Cochon" operated a trading post in the "Hole," and was called "Goshen" by American travelers. Version number three: a French trapper who roamed across the "Hole" was called "Go-han." These three versions of the origin of "Goshen" make one wonder if they are not somehow connected, and the true origin of "Goshen" is not somewhere disguised within the three versions. The fourth version of where the name "Goshen" came from is at least simple --the "Hole" was named for Goshen Hale, a cowboy who worked for the Union Cattle Company that headquartered in the "Hole" on Bear Creek. The problem with this version is that the Union Cattle Company was not organized until 1883, and the name Goshen Hole was being used and recorded on maps nearly forty years before the company was organized, and probably before Hale was born.

Fort Laramie

The name Fort Laramie is much easier to document than Goshen Hole. Originally named Fort William, the fort was built on the bank of the Laramie River by fur trappers and traders Robert Campbell and William Sublette in 1834. A year later the fort was sold to a syndicate of trappers headed by Jim Bridger and Milton Sublette. The trappers, a few months later in 1835, transferred ownership of the fort to the American Fur Company. The company then changed the name of the fort to Fort John, to honor one of the partners in the company, John B. Sarpy. Despite the official name, almost from the beginning the trappers and traders who roamed the plains and mountains of Wyoming called it Fort Laramie because of its location on the Laramie River. The army also referred to the fort as Fort Laramie when it sent expeditions westward up the Oregon Trail to awe the Indians. During the early 1840's, with the beginning of westward emigration, Fort Laramie became nationally known, and when the United States Government purchased the fort in 1848 for $4,000 for a military post on the Oregon Trail, it was officially designated Fort Laramie.

Fort Laramie was the outpost of manifest destiny and westward expansion for a nation seeking new land and new opportunity. With the arrival of the army in 1848, Fort Laramie became a permanent settlement, with both army personnel and civilians. The first women to go west stopped at the fort -- the first white baby born in Wyoming arrived at the fort in 1836 -- the first school in Wyoming was opened at the fort in 1852 -- the first Wyoming book was printed at the fort. Fort Laramie was abandoned as a military post in 1890 following the end of the Indian wars, and its buildings and lands were sold to homesteaders. But it had been instrumental in the development of Wyoming. This significance was recognized by the state when in 1937 it purchased 214 acres containing the fort's remaining buildings. This property was then given to the federal government so the site could be declared, in 1938, a national historic monument.

The Fort Laramie National Historic Monument was dedicated 25 years after Goshen County was organized, January 6, 1913. The first election of county officers for Goshen County was held on November 5, 1912, and on January 6, 1913, the organizing commissioners swore the newly elected commissioners E. B. Hudson, W. G. Vance, and Jess Yoder into office. Yoder was elected chairman of the board. The next day the new Board of County Commissioners met and approved the bonds and accepted the oaths of office of the other newly elected county officers: M.A. Hays, county sheriff; I. E. Yoder, county assessor; G.H.Little, county clerk; J.L. Sawyer, county attorney;C.0. Downing, county superintendent of schools; C. A. Elquist, county coroner; C. P. Johnson, justice of the peace; and Fred Vandemark, county road supervisor.

County Courthouse and Jail

One of the first items of business for the Goshen County Commissioners was the acquisition of space to house county offices and to hold court. This was resolved by leasing two rooms in downtown Torrington from J. T. Snow for $27.00 monthly. This action of the commissioners did not resolve the problem of what to do for a county jail. To take care of this need, the commissioners adopted an unusual plan, even for Wyoming. A man was hired to guard the county's prisoners, and during the day the guard and the prisoners walked the streets of Torrington. At night the prisoners were housed in local hotels, and a second guard came on duty. The record does not relate how the prisoners were fed, but one assumes they probably took their meals in local cafes or at a boarding house.

The plan of the commissioners and the citizens of Goshen County adopted for the construction of a permanent county courthouse and jail was also unique to Wyoming. Shortly after the county was organized, citizen groups and the commissioners began a campaign to raise the funds needed for a courthouse through subscriptions. The Lincoln Land Company was instrumental in the eventual success of the plan, deeding a city block in Torrington to the county for the site of the courthouse, and then making a substantial cash contribution to the building fund. In a matter of a few months, the people of the county had pledged $40,000 for the courthouse, and the commissioners had let a construction contract.

The courthouse was dedicated and the cornerstone for it laid on July 4, 1913. Proud of their achievement and rightfully so, Goshen County's citizens made the event a gala occasion. A morning parade, which included ten or twelve automobiles and several floats, was the first event, and it was followed later in the morning by a series of games and contests. Lunch was a countywide picnic with farmers' wives loading tables with their best cuisine. The laying of the cornerstone at 1:30 p.m. began with choral and band selections, and was followed by the dedicatory address by Judge W. C. Mentzer, the county's first district court judge. Then a list of the contents of the copper box placed in the cornerstone was read. The contents included a history of the county, names of all contributors to the courthouse building fund, lists of membership in county organizations and churches, and a variety of souvenirs donated by individuals.

The remainder of the afternoon was devoted to "field sports," a bricking contest, a mock battle between Indians and cavalry troopers, and a baseball game between teams from Torrington and Morrill, Nebraska. Although the home team lost, it didn't dampen the enthusiasm of the county's citizens for the celebration. The evening began with a fireworks display and was followed by two dances. The Torrington Telegram reported in the next week's issue that a few of the county's residents had celebrated with too much liquid, and were walking the streets with the county's guard during the day. But it was a great occasion, fitting the achievement of the county's residents in funding the courthouse through donations, and an achievement of which Goshen County people are still proud.

Built of gray stone, the three-story Goshen County Courthouse was completed within the $40,000 budget and occupied by the county's officers in the spring of 1914. The first floor, a semi-basement, housed the county jail (no more walking the street for county prisoners), the sheriff's offices, the furnace room, and storage areas. The offices for the county commissioners, the county clerk, the county assessor, the county treasurer, and the county superintendent of schools were located on the second floor of the building. The third floor was reserved for the county's judicial system: the district courtroom, hearing room for the justice of the peace, chambers for the district court judge and for the justice of peace, and office and storage vault for the clerk of the district court.

Structurally sound, the courthouse served the needs of county government in Goshen County for seventy years, with only minor remodeling and modernizing being made. By 1980, however, with continuing growth in the county and consequential growth in county government, there was an apparent need for expanded county facilities. Consequently, the county commissioners developed a plan for an extensive addition to the courthouse and submitted a bond issue to the electorate. Aware of the needs, the voters overwhelmingly approved the bonds to pay for the courthouse addition.

Courthouse Addition

Completed in 1984, the courthouse addition, attached to the old courthouse, was practically a new courthouse in itself. Three stories and constructed in harmony with the 1914 courthouse, the addition provided new law enforcement facilities, new spacious and modern work space and vaults for the offices of county clerk, county treasurer and county assessor, and a meeting room and offices for the county commissioners. The upper floor of the addition was devoted to the district court, with a large modern and attractive courtroom, chambers for the district court judge, visiting judges and court commissioners, offices, vault and research area for the clerk of district court, and a spacious law library.

With completion of some remodeling of the old courthouse for other functions of county government including the county court, the county museum, county welfare offices, and county extension offices, the complex is an efficient and attractive blending of the old and the new. County government in Goshen County, benefiting its people, will continue to be effective for many years to come.