Centennial celebration surpassed
all expectations
July 11, 1990
25 years ago
What a celebration Saratoga had this last weekend, honoring Wyoming’s Centennial as a state and also the 75th anniversary of the Saratoga Fish Hatchery!
The turnout surpassed all expectations and it was “the more the merrier!” Events got underway on Friday with an old-fashioned western shoot-out right in downtown Saratoga. The shootout was a publicity ploy to get people to the musical melodrama staged by the Platte Valley Players later that evening.
Well, the ploy worked as people filled and overfilled the Saratoga gymnasium. It was standing room only and even though it was undeniably warm in the gym, everyone was thrilled with the production of “Lumber Jacks and Wedding Belles.” It was truly a wonderful, professional production.
The size of the crowd should have been some indication of the kind of crowds who would help Saratoga celebrate on Saturday, yet everybody seemed surprised.
The Boy Scouts said they felt like they cooked 10,000 pancakes on Veteran’s Island Saturday morning.
Although it must have seemed to many that the entire town was in the parade, there were a great many people lined along the street to watch Saratoga’s biggest ever parade with more than 50 entries.
And the fun continued as the people ventured over to Veteran’s Island for the annual fish fry. Conservative estimates by the Saratoga Lion’s Club are that they served 800 to 900 people on Veterans Island.
The river ball races, brought back by popular demand, involved seven heats of three balls each as spectators watched to see whose entry could make it down the river fastest.
Then the action moved out to the Saratoga Fish Hatchery where Sen. Alan Simpson, Re. Craig Thomas, Assistant Regional Fisheries Director Lynn Starns and former fish hatchery employees congratulated the Saratoga Fish Hatchery on its 75th birthday.
The Lions Club served about 1,500 people at the buffalo barbecue that night, and those are conservative figures, as people who waited in line for up to two hours will tell you.
The Shoshone Indians delighted the crowd with a ceremonial dance demonstration and not to be outdone, many people stayed to dance the night away to the wonderful sound of Saratoga’s local band, Rimrock.
All in all, it was one fine party, and at least equaled the celebration done in this community 100 years ago when Wyoming actually became a state.
Wyoming to Observe 75th Year Of Statehood at Events Saturday
July 8, 1965
50 years ago
Special commemorative services to be held in Cheyenne at the state capitol Saturday, calling attention to Wyoming’s Frontier past, will observe the state’s 75 years of statehood. The events is one of several scheduled throughout the state that day and will include a parade and banquet.
Sandy Mitwalsky will represent Saratoga, appearing on the States on the Union float in the parade. The program includes a re-enactment of the parade and celebration staged 75 years ago…
Yesterday Was State’s Fiftieth Anniversary
July 11, 1940
75 years ago
Wyoming — the first state to grant women the right to vote — observed its 50th anniversary of statehood yesterday. Known as the “equality state’ because of its pioneering work in the granting of suffrage to women, Wyoming entered the union on July 10, 1890 — just 21 years after it had been officially recognized as a territory.
Officially the 50th year was not reached until 5:30 o’clock yesterday afternoon which is at the time that President Harrison affixed his signature to the act of admission.
Wyoming was organized as a territory in 1869, and the first move to enter the union was made by the territorial legislature in February, 1888. The state Constitution was drafted in July, 1889, and approved by the voters on Nov. 5, 1889. The act of admission was signed eight months and five days later.
The anniversary day was marked by only one large celebration, an “Equality Jubilee” held in Laramie, but throughout the state luncheon and civic clubs observed the occasion with fitting programs. The golden anniversary celebration for the state as a whole has been under way sine Jan. 1, and will last until Dec. 31. The state will officially celebrate the occasion in Cheyenne on July 25 as a part of the 44th Annual Cheyenne Frontier Days.
By its entrance, Wyoming became the 44th state in the Union. Although the state was notified of its admission on July 10, it was not until July 23 that the event was celebrated in Cheyenne. Citizens from throughout the state gathered in the capital city on that day to witness a parade and hear patriotic addresses.
Odd Bits of News
July 15, 1915
100 years ago
“I never use love powers, I simply win them. Men are easy to get.” So says Mrs. Polly Anne Weed Strodes, seventy years only, of Evansville, Ind., who is seeking a divorce from her thirteenth husband, Harrison Strodes, 82 years old. Mrs. Strodes says as she gets her divorce she will wed her fourteenth husband.
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Austin Bassett, a bachelor of New York, Cal., recently received a baby by parcel post from Seattle, Wash. He says he is ignorant of the mother of the child, and is advertising for her to put a stamp on herself and follow the baby.
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Blissless and kissless is the way Mrs. Eugenia Koch Anderson, 19 years old, describes her married life with Arthur R. Anderson, pastor of the Central Christian of Granite City, Mo. Two kisses in the last two months and $20 in seven months, according to Mrs. Anderson, make a good recipe for a love extinguisher.
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