Medicine Bow, Wyoming, Museum and Hanna Basin Neighbor

Page by Bob Leathers

Medicine Bow, Wyoming, Museum (Image by Bob Leathers, June 2018)

2020 Visit Review:

A small, but nice museum. No entry fee was required - donations were acceptable. Picture taking was allowed – no restrictions. The staff was knowledgeable, curtious and helpful. A collection of artifacts was offered that represented and explained the area’s history, which centered around the railroad and agriculture. The exhibits were interesting and well-presented.

Pictures:

Pictures approved by the museum staff.

Medicine Bow, Wyoming, is located 20 miles east of Hanna on Highway 30. Medicine Bow became an incorporated town in1909. The population was 284 people in the 2010 census. The elevation is 6605 feet.

The Medicine Bow Museum is located in the old railroad depot, across the highway from the Virginian Hotel. The depot was built in November of 1913 after a fire destroyed the original depot earlier that same year.

The Union Pacific Railroad closed the depot in 1981 and it was deeded to the town and put on the National Register of Historical Places in 1982. In 1983, the depot became home to the Medicine Bow Museum and its colorful Old West and Local History Artifacts. (MedBowMuseum.com)

The Owen Wister Cabin and Monument are located next to the Museum. The cabin was built by Owen Wister and used as his summer home and hunting lodge in the Jackson Hole area. It was brought to Medicine Bow as a bicentennial project the Town’s Lion’s Club and later donated to the Museum.

Medicine Bow Museum - The Historical Owen Wister Cabin at the museum (Image by Bob Leathers)

The Monument, made of petrified wood, was erected in 1939 as a tribute to Owen Wister and his book “The Virginian”. (MedBowMuseum.com)

Medicine Bow Museum - Petrified Wood Monument built as a tribute to Owen Wister (Image by Bob Leathers)

Medicine Bow, Wyoming Museum - Sheep Herder's Wagon (Image by Bob Leathers)

Medicine Bow, Wyoming Museum - Inside a Sheep Herder's Wagon (Image by Bob Leathers)

Medicine Bow, Wyoming, Museum - Union Pacific Railroad Caboos (Image by Bob Leathers)

Medicine Bow, Wyoming, Museum - Inside the Union Pacific Railroad Caboose (Image by Bob Leathers)

Medicine Bow, Wyoming, Museum - Union Pacific Railroad Depot Luggage Wagon (Image by Bob Leathers)

Medicine Bow, Wyoming, Museum - Old Horse Drawn Wagon (Image by Bob Leathers)

Medicine Bow's Main Street

Medicine Bow, Wyoming - Main Street Ice Cream Shop (Image by Bob Leathers)

MEDICINE BOW, WYOMING - OLD PICKUP TRUCK ON MAIN STREET (IMAGE BY BOB LEATHERS)

Medicine Bow, Wyoming - Old Pickup Truck on Main Street (Image by Bob Leathers)

Additional Information and Images of Medicine Bow

1910

The Biggest Hotel in the Littlest Town in the World. Medicine Bow, Wyo.

Postcard. Virginian Hotel. Medicine Bow, Wyoming. 1910. (Provided by Daryl Billings)

Sunset Auto Camp. Medicine Bow, Wyoming. Lincoln Highway. Not Dated. (Dodge Photo No. 4 from Daryl Billings)

1940

Medicine Bow, Wyoming. 1940. (Library of Congress)

1942

A Postcard. The Virginian at Medicine Bow in 1942. The image shows the Ellis Drug Store on the east end of the hotel. (Image by Sanborn. 1942) ( Provided by Daryl Billings. 2024)

1946

Fossil Cabin Museum - To Be Moved to Medicine Bow Museum from Como Bluffs

The Fossil Cabin near Como Bluff in south-central Wyoming, was built as a tourist attraction along the old, two-lane Lincoln Highway. Its proprietors called it the "World's Oldest Building," obviously not because humans built it thousands of years ago but because part of its building materials, including dinosaur bones, came from prehistoric times. (Library of Congress. Carol Highsmith. 1946)