Cheyenne Wyoming

Cheyenne, Wyoming is the capital of Wyoming and its most populous city, home to 60,000 people. Including its suburbs, the Cheyenne metropolitan area includes 90,000 people.
It is the county seat of Laramie County. It is the northernmost city in the Front Range Urban Corridor, a geographical and economy region that extends from Cheyenne south to Pueblo, Colorado, including cities like Fort Collins, Greely, Boulder and Denver, Colorado.


Geography

Cheyenne Wyoming covers 21 square miles. The town stretches along I-80 east to west and I-25 north to south.
The closest city with more than 200,000 people is Denver, Colorado, a hundred miles south. The closest city with more than a million people is Phoenix, Arizona, over six hundred miles away.

Climate

Cheyenne has an average annual temperature is 45.6 F. Summers max out at 90 F. It sees 14 inches of rain and 51 inches of snow each year; most snow is in March and April. Cheyenne is considered semi-arid and to be in USDA Hardiness zone 5B.

Temperatures drop to 0 F and -18 C at least a week and a half each year, generally failing to get above freezing for a month or more through the winter. The coldest temperature Cheyenne saw was −38 F in 1875.

Economy

A large part of Cheyenne’s economy encompasses governmental and educational functions. It is the home of the University of Wyoming, Laramie County Community College and Preston University. The Laramie County School District is a major employer in the area.

Cheyenne’s economy is bolstered by the F.E. Warren Air Force Base. It is three miles west of Cheyenne. This Air Force base is home to the 90th Missile Wing, a group that maintains the Minuteman ICBM missile silos across the West. The military base itself was originally founded by the U.S. Army and transitioned to the Air Force when that branch became separate from the Army after World War 2. Even more people in Cheyenne are members of the Wyoming National Guard.
Another part of the Cheyenne economy is dedicated to tourism. Cheyenne is a thirty minute drive from Medicine Bow National Forest and several state parks. The area has many trails and biking routes open in the summer, while skiing is popular in the winter.

Cheyenne continues to reflect the farming and ranching of the surrounding areas. Terry Bison Ranch is nearby, a ranch raising over 2,000 head of bison.

Cheyenne’s railroads are still significant employers. Both Union Pacific and Burlington Northern Santa Fe have lines passing through the city and employ locals to maintain them.
Several data centers have located to Cheyenne, attracted to the low daily temperatures that reduce air conditioning costs and abundant affordable electricity. Microsoft and Green House Data have data centers there. The NWSC data center is also based in Cheyenne, Wyoming. This data center simulates climate, oceanography, space weather and other natural phenomena.
Cheyenne is home to an enclosed mall, the Frontier Mall.

History

Cheyenne was founded in 1867, and it was chosen at the time as the location where the Union Pacific Railroad crossed a tributary of the South Platte River. The town’s name came from the local Cheyenne Native American tribe.
In 1868, the city charter of the town was granted by the territory legislature.