Verna Endicott grew up in Cheyenne in the 1910s and 20s. Her diaries describe downtown Cheyenne as she experienced it.
In 1910, Endicott’s family would take the streetcar to downtown Cheyenne and into the busy streets filled with trucks, horses, and carriages.
She observed things that are stereotypically Western, like drunk people being thrown out of swinging saloon doors.
Endicott recalled a man from China who wore traditional clothes of a blue jacket-shirt, baggy pants, soft black shoes, and a long black ponytail. He ran the local laundry.
She also described the first taxi services in Cheyenne. The taxis were livestock and blacksmith stables where people could hire horses, carriages, and drivers for the day or for social affairs in the evenings.
You can read more about early Cheyenne in the Verna Endicott papers at UW’s American Heritage Center.