	Harrison Crandall	photographer
	Harrison Ford	actor
	Clifford Hansen	governor and U.S. Senator
	Olaus and Margaret Mure	naturalists, authors, and the "Grandmother of Conservation"
	Conrad Schweiring	artist
	Gerry Spence	trial lawyer
	Richard "Beaver Dick" Leigh	mountain man, trapper, guide, outfitter, writer

History

Because of the long distance from the county seat of Kemmerer, Teton County was separated from Lincoln County in 1921 even though it lacked the population and assessed valuation normally required for county status. The county is named for the mountain range named by French trappers in the early 19th century. One of the first trappers working in the area was David E. Jackson for whom Jackson Hole and the town of Jackson was named. Tourism became an important industry in the county, particularly after creation of Grand Teton National Park in 1929. Standard Oil heir John D. Rockefeller, Jr., a frequent visitor to the area, sought to enlarge the park in the 1930s. The controversy over expansion of the park caused significant statewide attention until 1943 when President Franklin D. Roosevelt accepted Rockefeller’s gift of land facing the Tetons and combined it with forest service lands in the area to create Jackson Hole National Monument. The monument was incorporated into the national park in the early 1950s. Teton County became home to seasonal residents, many of them very wealthy, in the later 20th century. Recent surveys indicate that it has the fourth highest average personal wealth of any county in America. The county has the least privately-owned lands of any county in the state.

Only 3.7 percent of the 2,873 square miles which are included in Teton County are privately owned. State and local government owns 7.5 percent of the land, with the federal government retaining title to the remaining 88.8 percent of the land. No other county in Wyoming is even close to having only 3.7 percent of its land privately owned, and this phenomenon has always had a significant impact upon county government in Teton County. Only in recent decades have sales tax monies and federal payments, in lieu of property taxes, been significant to county revenues. Traditionally in Wyoming, county government and the public schools have been dependent upon real property taxes, and the lack of privately owned land in Teton County has always severely restricted the county's and the school's budgets. In fact, this very limited amount of privately owned land nearly prevented Teton County from becoming a county.

Early Exploration and Settlement

Jackson Hole, originally Jackson's Hole, was named by fur trapper William Sublette for his partner, David E. Jackson, in 1829. Probably the first white man to enter Jackson Hole was John Colter in the late fall of 1807, after exploring the Yellowstone area. Within the next two or three years other fur trappers wandered into the Hole in search of beaver, and from 1822 to 1840, the valley was continually trapped by brigades of fur trappers. The famous mountain men, Jim Bridger, Joe Meek, Tom Fitzpatrick, the Sublettes, and Davy Jackson, all trapped the many creeks and rivers that cross the Hole.

In 1869, the entire region, Jackson Hole and Yellowstone, became a part of Uinta County, Wyoming Territory. There were no permanent settlers in the region at the time, only nomadic trappers, hunters, and outlaws, and Uinta County made no effort to establish county government in Jackson Hole and Yellowstone until 1871. That year the Uinta County Commissioners appointed a justice of the peace and a constable, to be based at the new settlement of Mammoth, near the Montana border, to deal mainly with the illegal commercial poaching that was taking place throughout the region. When Congress established Yellowstone National Park in 1872, and the federal government began to administer the Park, the justice of peace court was discontinued.

The Raynolds Expedition to Yellowstone in 1860 focused national attention on this wonderous area for the first time. Other exploratory expeditions followed, and from the Washburn, Lanford, Doane Expedition in 1870, the concept of a national park to be enjoyed forever by the people of the United States was born. Federal control and administration of the Park followed the Congressional enactment in 1872, and the expedition of President Chester A. Arthur, accompanied by high ranking civilian and military officials to Jackson Hole and Yellowstone in 1883, gave the entire region a boost, and encouraged settlement of Jackson Hole and further development of Yellowstone National Park.

The first permanent settlers began to come into Jackson Hole in 1884, and by 1889, sixty-four people, mainly bachelors, were living in what is now Teton County. Cattle ranching was the main economic activity in Jackson Hole during the next several decades, and population growth was slow. As the Hole gained people, Uinta County government, with the county seat in Evanston, 200 miles away, expanded county government services for the area. A county road supervisor for Jackson Hole was appointed, roads and bridges were built by the county, a deputy sheriff was stationed in the Hole, and a justice of peace court was established in the new village of Jackson.

Despite these efforts of Uinta County to bring county government to Jackson Hole, the growing number of residents in the valley felt the need for easier access to county government. In 1910, it took a rancher living in Jackson Hole the best part of a week to travel to Evanston and back to conduct business with county officials. Consequently in 1911, when the Eleventh State Legislature was considering the creation of new counties in Wyoming, the residents of Jackson Hole made every effort to have legislation enacted which would create a county for the Hole. The legislature considered a number of county boundary plans which would have brought county government closer to Jackson Hole, if not actually centered there, but regardless of the plan proposed, the inadequacy of population and assessed valuation to support county government in the Hole existed. In the end, after extensive and frustrating debate, the legislature enacted a bill creating Lincoln County out of Uinta County. The law simply drew a boundary line approximately halfway between Evans ton and. Kemmerer, and called everything south of the line Uinta County and all the territory north of the line, clear to Yellowstone, Lincoln County. The eastern boundary of Uinta County had been both Sweetwater and Fremont Counties, and now was only Sweetwater, while the eastern boundary of Lincoln County was both Sweetwater and Fremont Counties. The only benefit Jackson Hole received from the creation of Lincoln County, with the county seat in Kemmerer, was that it was only 160 miles from Jackson to Kemmerer, rather than the 200 miles it had been to Evanston.

Jackson Hole Incorporates

In 1914, the lack of population in Jackson Hole created a problem for the Town of Jackson, similar to the one that would develop for Teton County in 1922. Jackson wanted to become an incorporated town, but Wyoming statutes required a population of 150 residents, and for those residents requesting incorporation to compile a list containing the names of all residents, and to submit the list to the county commissioners, as the first step toward incorporation. The Jackson census takers, according to town legend, soon were aware that 150 people were not living in Jackson, and they couldn't list ranchers living in the valley as residents of the town, because the county commissioners, who had to approve the census, would recognize the names as non-residents of the town. To meet the requirement, the census takers decided to list the names of the few visitors who came to Jackson during the summer months as residents. This was done, but the census roll was still a few names short of the needed 150, and it was then the Jackson census takers showed their ingenuity. They went around the town and had all expectant mothers give them the names planned for their unborn children. These names added to the list carried Jackson over the top, and the town was officially incorporated on August 7, 1914.

National Elk Refuge

The same year that Jackson was winning incorporation, 1914, the Congress approved the establishment of the National Elk Refuge in Jackson Hole. Historically, the Teton and Yellowstone elk herds, numbering at least 15,000, wintered in the flats bordering the Town of Jackson to the North. Homesteaders had settled in the flats, and with a shrunken winter range, the elk were perishing during the winters of heavy snow and severe cold. The act creating the refuge prohibited further settlement in the flats, and eventually the federal government bought out the settlers already there. By 1988, the National Elk Refuge included 23,648 acres, and was a major tourist attraction for Teton County during the fall and winter.

The elk refuge was just another progression limiting the amount of land that would be available for private ownership in Teton County, which had begun with the establishment of Yellowstone National Park. Nearly twenty years after the Yellowstone area was declared a park, President Benjamin Harrison, in 1891, established the Yellowstone Timberland Reserve, and then in 1902, it was enlarged by President Theodore Roosevelt. The Yellowstone Timberland Reserve was the beginning of the national forest system, and was the first national forest. As the years passed, the Teton National Forest, the Bridger National Forest, and the Shoshone National Forest were all created out of the Yellowstone Timberland Reserve.

Consequently, when the state legislature created Teton County and designated its boundaries in 1921, the new county included 2,873 square miles. In reality the land available for private ownership and use was only a fraction of the total, since all the acres included in the forest reserve and elk refuge were not available for use by the county's citizens. In the years ahead, land in the county that could be privately owned would be further reduced.

County Creation

When the Sixteenth Wyoming State Legislature created Teton County on February 15, 1921 it either did not have access to its previously passed law concerning organization of new counties, or it chose to ignore the law. In 1921, the law required any new county to have an assessed valuation of $5 million and a population of 3,000. Not only did the legislature ignore the law, but Governor Robert Carey did so as well, appointing organizing commissioners to organize Teton County. Having held two elections, the commissioners completed the organization of the county on December 2, 1922, and two suits, contesting the legality of the organization of Teton County, were promptly filed in district court.

The Seventeenth State Legislature corrected the problem created by its predecessor, and saved Teton county, with the passage of Chapter 21, Organization of Teton County, Session Laws of Wyoming, 1923. The legislature approved the organization of the county, reiterated its boundaries, its inclusion in the Third Judicial District and its representation in the legislature, and stated:

"WHERAS, The geographical conditions surrounding Teton County are such that it is expedient, necessary and proper that said County with an assessed valuation at the time of the organization of said County of Two Million, Two Hundred and Thirty-five Thousand Dollars and a population at that time, of sixteen hundred and twenty, which said valuation and population have since increased, be at this time organized and established for all purposes as an existing county of the State of Wyoming."

The "geographical conditions," which the legislature referred to, have always made the region in which Teton County was created unique. The Grand Tetons rising 7,000 feet from the valley floor of the Snake River, or Jackson Hole, as it was named by the mountain men, give the region a grandeur unequaled in the world. The Wind River and the Gros Ventre Mountains add to the magnificence of the Tetons, and complete the isolation of the valley from the south and east. To the north is the Gallatin Range, Yellowstone Lake, the canyon and falls of the Yellowstone River, and the geysers and mudpots. Now known as Yellowstone National Park, this area completes the isolation of Jackson Hole from population centers in all directions.

County Organization

In 1921 and 1922, when the organizing commissioners appointed by Governor Robert D. Carey, T. R. Wilson of Alta, W. P. Redmond of Kelly, and P.C. Hansen of Jackson, (P.C. Hansen was the father of future Wyoming Governor and United States Senator, Clifford P. Hansen), were organizing the newly created Teton County, federal ownership land in the county was not an issue in the county. The commissioners held their first meeting on April 28, 1921 elected W. P. Redmond to the chair, appointed Josephine Saunders county clerk, and scheduled a special election for June 25, 1921 for the countys' citizens to approve, or disapprove, the organization of the county, and to choose a county seat. The voters and taxpayers at the special election expressed their confidence in and willingness to pay increased taxes to have their county government centered in Jackson Hole, despite the sparse population and small assessed valuation. By a margin of more than 700 votes, with fewer than 900 votes cast, the electorate approved the organization of Teton County. However, they were nearly evenly split between Jackson and Kelly, as to which town should be the county seat, with Jackson winning by twenty-two votes, 424 to 402.

During the months that followed, the organizing commissioners conducted the county's business, meeting regularly at the home of the clerk, Josephine Saunders. They met with the Lincoln County Board of County Commissioners to effect a smooth transition when the separation of the two counties became effective, established a 7 mills tax levy for Teton County for the primary and general elections to be held in 1922.

On November 7, 1922, the voters of Teton County elected their first county officers. Those elected were: P. C. Hansen, J. P. Cunningham and A. A. Bean; county commissioners; Juliane A. Tanner, county clerk; James A. Francis, county sheriff; Elmer N. Moody, county treasurer; Robert S. Dalley, county assessor; Eva B. Lucas, county superintendent of schools; J. L. Dodge, county and prosecuting attorney (Dodge failed to qualify for the office, and the county commissioners appointed Edward B. Almon to the office); H. C. McKinstry, county surveyor; Andrew Johnson, justice of the peace; and Dr. Charles W. Huff, county coroner.

The term of office for the newly elected county officers was January 1, 1923 to December 31, 1925. This meant that the county officers elected by the Teton County voters on November 7, 1922 would take office on January 1, 1923 as would county officers in all other counties in the state. In Teton County, however, a unique occurrence, and one legally questionable, took place. For some reason, now obscure, it was a matter of pride to the citizens of the county that Teton County be organized before their neighbors across the mountains in newly created Sublette County were organized. Consequently, in Jackson on December 22, 1922 the organizing commissioners swore the newly elected Teton County Board of County Commissioners into office, and the county was declared duly organized. Organization of Sublette County was completed on January 2, 1923.

As the first order of business, the Teton County Commissioners elected P. C. Hansen as chairman (he would hold the chair for ten years, and then would serve one term in the Wyoming State Senate), accepted the oaths and bonds of the other elected county officers, confirmed the 7 mills tax rate for the county adopted by the organizing commissioners, and leased a two-story frame building for a county courthouse. The building's owner, Charles Fox, agreed to remodel the building so there were suitable offices for the countys' officials, and a secure area for the county jail. By 1930, the county commissioners were concerned that the county had spent $6,633 leasing Fox's building, and determined to build a new courthouse. On June 25, 1930, the commissioners initiated condemnation proceedings for lots fifteen and sixteen in the First Cache Creek Addition to the Town of Jackson.

John D. Rockafeller, Jr. And Teton National Park

Before this occurred, Teton County and the state were involved in conflict with the federal government. Beginning in 1927, the controversy would rage in the county and throughout Wyoming, and the states' politicians and office holders would be engaged in the fight until 1950. It all began with a family tour to Jackson Hole and Yellowstone National Park in 1926. The head of the family was different than the average tourist to the area. He was John D. Rockefeller, Jr., a man with immense wealth. Rockefeller was awed by the magnificence of the Tetons and was disturbed by telephone lines and other commercial development, fearing that it would destroy the natural grandeur of the mountains and the Hole. Returning to New York City, he resolved to protect and preserve the pristine beauty of Jackson Hole and the Tetons.

Rockefeller organized the Snake River Land Company and began to purchase private land, eventually buying 35,310 acres for $1,400,310. Concurrently, persuaded by Rockefeller and supportive politicians, the federal government withdrew from settlement the public lands in the area where Rockefeller had made some of his purchases. Altogether 88,911 acres, including the Tetons and a fringe of land around Jackson Lake and Jenny Lake, were set aside, and in 1929, Congress created Grand Teton National Park. Its boundaries were restricted to 88,911 acres, part purchased by Rockefeller and the remainder pre-empted by the federal government. The people of Teton County were outraged by the entire thing: taxable land had been lost; ranchers had been deprived of grazing land; and still even less land in the county was now available for private ownership. Though the county was angry in 1929, it would be a lot madder in 1943.

Almost from the day it was established there was political pressure to enlarge Grand Teton National Park. Rockefeller continued to buy private land to the east of the Park and enlisted more supporters for a larger Park. In 1934, Wyoming United States Senator, Robert D. Carey, introduced an act in Congress to enlarge Grand Teton National Park. Teton County and the rest of the state erupted in opposition to the proposal, and the opponents were able to gain sufficient support in Congress among states' rights advocates to defeat Carey's bill. In 1936, Wyoming voters let Senator Carey know where they stood on enlarging the Park, soundly defeating him in his attempt for reelection.

The issue wouldn't die as support for a greater Teton Park grew nationally. On March 16, 1943, recognizing that the states' rights bloc in Congress could defeat any effort to enlarge Grand Teton National Park, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, by executive order, established Jackson Hole National Monument, generally adjoining Teton Park. The executive order set aside 221,610 acres, including 49,117 acres of private land, of which 32,117 acres had been purchased by John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Teton County and all of Wyoming exploded in fury over the President's order, claiming it would take one-third of the county's taxable property off the tax rolls, and threatened grazing rights and hunting and fishing privileges. All of the state's elected officials spoke out against the Monument, and Wyoming Congressman Frank Barrett introduced a bill to abolish it. In December 1944, both Houses of Congress passed Barrett's bill, but President Roosevelt pocket-vetoed it, leaving the Monument in existence.

During the next several years, opposition in Congress, led by the Wyoming delegation, prevented the expenditure of federal funds on the development and administration of the Jackson Hole National Monument. At last in 1950, with the furor in Wyoming down to a simmer, the state's U. S. Senators, Joseph C. O'Mahoney and Lester C. Hunt, sponsored a compromise bill that was passed by Congress and signed into law by President Harry S. Truman. The act abolished the Monument, but added most of the land to Grand Teton National Park. Other provisions of the act provided reimbursement to Teton County for the loss of tax revenue, rights of way for livestock, preservation of existing leases of public lands, and joint management of the Teton elk herd between Wyoming and the federal government.

Forty years later, Grand Teton National Park is an integral part of Teton County, and the millions of visitors to the Park annually contribute greatly to the fiscal welfare of the county.

County Courthouse

In 1930, however, when the Teton County Board of County Commissioners were planning the county's first courthouse, the financial health of the county was of genuine concern. Consequently, the commissioners determined to build a courthouse adequate for the county's current needs, but as inexpensive as possible. Charles Fox was contracted to build the courthouse, completing it in late 1931. The courthouse was a one story building, with a stucco exterior finish. The county offices and the courtroom were located on the first floor, and the county jail was in the basement. The exact cost of the courthouse is not shown in the minutes of the Teton County Commissioners, but it appears from payments made to Charles Fox that the cost of the courthouse was somewhat less than $6,000. Teton County did not incur any bonded indebtedness for their first courthouse, rather paying for it out of their annual operating budget.

In 1959, an addition, including more office space for county officers and a county jail, was built onto the courthouse. The addition reflected the growth that was beginning to take place in Teton County and the Town of Jackson. In 1939, the county's population was 2,002 and the town's 533. By 1960, Jackson's population had almost tripled to nearly 1,500, and in the succeeding two decades the town's population more than tripled, reaching nearly 5,000 in 1980. The county's population showed a similar growth trend between 1940 and 1980, with a population of approximately 3,500 in 1960 and nearly 10,000 in 1980. With. this kind of growth taking place, it was apparent to the county commissioners by the mid-1960s, that the county was going to have to construct new county government facilities to replace the 1931 courthouse, despite its relatively recent addition.

In April 1966, the Teton County Commissioners contracted with architect, Armand Kellogg, of Rock Springs to plan and design a new courthouse for the county. The commissioners specified that the courthouse be of western design and reflect the environment of Jackson Hole. On June 14, 1966 a special bond election was held to authorize the commissioners to sell county coupon bonds in an amount not to exceed $220,000, for the construction of a new county courthouse and jail. The taxpayers and voters of the county approved the issuance and sale of the bonds by a vote of 400 for, and 174 against.

It was February 1967 before all drawings and working plans were completed and approved by the county commissioners. Requests for bids for construction of the courthouse were advertised, and on May 24, 1967, the bids were opened. The low bid of $302,060 by Ed M. Anise of Lander was accepted, but a month later Anise was killed in a car accident. The county commissioners then awarded the general construction contract to Reiman-Wuerth and Company of Cheyenne for $315,700, the second lowest bid. On June 5, 1967, an agreement was made between Teton County and the Town of Jackson. The town would share the construction cost of the courthouse, allocating $39,540, and would use a portion of the courthouse for town offices. The agreement also included sharing utility and janitorial costs.

Construction was begun in June 1967, and completed September 19, 1968. The new courthouse was dedicated on November 14, 1968, with the Grand Lodge of A. F. & A. M. of Wyoming and Jackson Lodge No. 48 laying the cornerstone, and U. S. Senator Clifford P. Hansen serving as Master of Ceremonies. The courthouse's appearance maintained a western motif, as specified by the county commissioners, with an exterior of alternating panels of weathered board, batten, and native stone. A full two-story structure, the first floor contained county and town offices, including police headquarters, and council chambers. Courtrooms, judge's chamber, jury room, office of the clerk of district court, along with facilities for the county sheriff, and the county jail, were all located on the second floor. In the basement were storage rooms, a records room, and a large public meeting room. The new Teton County Courthouse was beautiful, functional, and unique among Wyoming's county courthouses.

Teton County and Jackson have experienced significant growth since the courthouse was built in 1968. Jackson now has its own town hall and the county has built a law enforcement center, including a new county jail. With additional space available in the courthouse, facilities for county officers have been expanded, and extensive remodeling of the courthouse completed. Today, county government facilities and the county officers are able to meet the challenge effectively of providing county government services to the residents of the county, and, as needed, to the more than two million visitors yearly to Jackson Hole.

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