Capitol: Cheyenne
Date of Statehood: July 10, 1890
Population: 453,588 (1990 estimation)
Flower: Indian Paintbrush


Francis E. Warren
1844-1929: Francis E. Warren was born in Hinsdale, Massachusetts on June 20, 1844. He served as a private and non-commissioned officer during the Civil War, earning a Medal of Honor. He farmed and raised stock for a short time in Massachusetts before heading west to what would be Wyoming, but was then part of Dakota Territory, in 1868. He engaged in several business ventures, including real estate, livestock, mercantile, and promotion of the first lighting system in Cheyenne. In 1871 Warren married Helen M. Smith, also of Hinsdale, and they made their home in the young town of Cheyenne, Wyoming Territory. Warren’s political career was marked by a steady rise in influence. He was a member of the Cheyenne City Council in 1873 and 1874.In 1873 Warren was also elected to the Council of the Territorial Assembly. The Council elected him as their president. Warren was appointed to two terms as Territorial Treasurer. He was again elected to the Territorial Council in 1884, and to the office of Mayor of Cheyenne in 1885. In the same year, he was appointed by President Chester Arthur to fill the unexpired term of governor William Hale. A second appointment as governor was made by President Benjamin Harrison in 1889. Warren was elected Wyoming’s first state governor in October, 1890, but served only about six weeks before being elected by the state legislature as one of Wyoming’s first United States Senators, beginning a highly distinguished career in that capacity. Tragedy struck the family in 1915 when daughter Frances Warren Pershing, wife of General John J. Pershing, and three granddaughters died in a fire at the Presidio in San Francisco. Warren served in the Senate until his death in Washington, D.C. on November 24, 1929, a tenure longer than any other senator’s to that time. He was buried in Cheyenne.