- Wyoming Fast Facts -

Found in the western United States, Wyoming is bordered by Montana on the north and northwest, Nebraska and South Dakota on the east, Idaho on the west, Colorado on the south, and Utah on the southwest. Wyoming entered the union as the 44th state on July 10, 1890. The state capital, and largest city, is Cheyenne.

Wyoming is one of only three states whose borders are defined only by straight lines. It is the tenth largest state, but is also the least populated. There are 23 counties in Wyoming which cover 97,914 square miles, however the federal government owns roughly half of the land which includes Grand Teton and Yellowstone national parks.

The official state motto is "Equal Rights," and has many female "firsts". Women in Wyoming were granted the right to vote in 1869. In 1870, at Laramie, Mary Atkinson became the first female court baliff. The same year, at South Pass City, Esther Hobar Morris became the first female justice of the peace in the country. In 1924 Nellie Tayloe Ross became the first female to be elected as a state governor.

DID YOU KNOW ---- In 1871 Albany County made history when the Albany County Public Library became the first county library system in the United States? The following year Yellowstone became the first national park, even though Wyoming had not become a state yet. Wyoming is home to the very first JC Penney store which was opened in Kemmerer by James Cash Penney in 1902. It is also home to the only known monument to a (ahem) "lady of ill repute," Mother Featherlegs, just south of Lusk in Niobrara county.

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