CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY OF BYRON, WYOMING
This history of Byron comes from the Personal Early Histories of Byron, a collection of personal histories and stories from Byron residents.
YEAR EVENT
1900 The community was founded by a group of Mormon Pioneers, who lived in tents and
covered wagons.
1902 The first school was built. It was a little one-room building, and there was one book for all to
use. The building was also used as the church. Mrs. Eva Jensen and E. L. Thomas were some
of the first teachers.
1905 Christian Jensen laid the rock for the new schoolhouse.
1905 Typhoid epidemic closed the school. Many were stricken, and many died.
1907 Oil was discovered on a lease southwest of town.
1909 Frank Sylvester introduced basketball for both boys and girls.
1911 Gas was piped into some homes.
1913 First school bus was a horse-pulled wagon. Gene Jones was the driver. There was a stove in the
corner.
1919-1920 A Used Model-T Ford was used for a school bus. Gene Jones was the driver.
1925 The first high school graduation was held. Fredora Jensen and LaRue Cowley were the
graduates.
1925 ( 3/27) The schoolhouse burned to the ground. Only rock walls were left standing. School started
Monday morning in the church, the jail, and other empty buildings around at the time. O.C.
Day was the superintendent and saved a football and a microscope from the burning building.
The Microscope is still in local possession
1925 The Byron school board asked Lovell to take over the Byron School District, but they refused.
The Boundary Board gave Byron a tract of land, which was known as Spence South District,
which contained five miles of railroad. This gave Byron enough evaluation so they could guild
again.
1927 The new school was completed.
1928 The Eagle was chosen as the school emblem, and Kelley green and white were chosen as the
colors.
1932 The School Song was written.
1936 The Gym was completed and added to the school.
1938 A new wing was added to the school, which housed the school band, chemistry and commercial
departments, and agricultural classes.
1947 - 1949 Five new teachers’ homes and a duplex were built southwest of the school.
1948 Byron’s six-man football team completed its fourth year of undefeated conference games.
Thirty-two games without a defeat or tie. The team received recognition for their achievement
in a National Magazine.
1949 A Band room was built above the stage.
1949 A new lunchroom was built. The old one was converted into a Commercial Department, a new
AG Department, and a Homemaking Cottage.
1949 - 1950 The first Byron Band was organized.
1951 Byron is still undefeated in football, 43 undefeated games. Lost to Cowley.
1952 The Homemaking Cottage was finished.
1952 The first kindergarten class was held.
1962 The school was remodeled, dressing rooms in the gym, a swimming pool, an auditorium, for
grades 2-5, a new library, and a music room.
1963 A language laboratory was established.
1900 The community was founded by a group of Mormon Pioneers, who lived in tents and
covered wagons.
1902 The first school was built. It was a little one-room building, and there was one book for all to
use. The building was also used as the church. Mrs. Eva Jensen and E. L. Thomas were some
of the first teachers.
1905 Christian Jensen laid the rock for the new schoolhouse.
1905 Typhoid epidemic closed the school. Many were stricken, and many died.
1907 Oil was discovered on a lease southwest of town.
1909 Frank Sylvester introduced basketball for both boys and girls.
1911 Gas was piped into some homes.
1913 First school bus was a horse-pulled wagon. Gene Jones was the driver. There was a stove in the
corner.
1919-1920 A Used Model-T Ford was used for a school bus. Gene Jones was the driver.
1925 The first high school graduation was held. Fredora Jensen and LaRue Cowley were the
graduates.
1925 ( 3/27) The schoolhouse burned to the ground. Only rock walls were left standing. School started
Monday morning in the church, the jail, and other empty buildings around at the time. O.C.
Day was the superintendent and saved a football and a microscope from the burning building.
The Microscope is still in local possession
1925 The Byron school board asked Lovell to take over the Byron School District, but they refused.
The Boundary Board gave Byron a tract of land, which was known as Spence South District,
which contained five miles of railroad. This gave Byron enough evaluation so they could guild
again.
1927 The new school was completed.
1928 The Eagle was chosen as the school emblem, and Kelley green and white were chosen as the
colors.
1932 The School Song was written.
1936 The Gym was completed and added to the school.
1938 A new wing was added to the school, which housed the school band, chemistry and commercial
departments, and agricultural classes.
1947 - 1949 Five new teachers’ homes and a duplex were built southwest of the school.
1948 Byron’s six-man football team completed its fourth year of undefeated conference games.
Thirty-two games without a defeat or tie. The team received recognition for their achievement
in a National Magazine.
1949 A Band room was built above the stage.
1949 A new lunchroom was built. The old one was converted into a Commercial Department, a new
AG Department, and a Homemaking Cottage.
1949 - 1950 The first Byron Band was organized.
1951 Byron is still undefeated in football, 43 undefeated games. Lost to Cowley.
1952 The Homemaking Cottage was finished.
1952 The first kindergarten class was held.
1962 The school was remodeled, dressing rooms in the gym, a swimming pool, an auditorium, for
grades 2-5, a new library, and a music room.
1963 A language laboratory was established.
Stories from Town Residents
A small town with big people
Very early in 1900, a caravan paused beside the Shoshone River, and pitched their tents in a shady grove of trees. Weary from weeks of travel, they were glad to know that here they would remain to build their homes and rear their families. Only a few of those hardy pioneers remain now, but their sons and daughters carry on and are striving to make and keep our little community the ideal place they hoped and dreamed it would become; a haven of peaceful existence, where the hurry and bustle of the world seldom if ever reaches.
Byron was founded by a colony of Latter-day Saints at the turning of the century. They had been singled out by the leaders of their church to open up a new frontier in the Big Horn Basin of Wyoming; chosen for their courage, faith and steadfastness of character. These people were very well situated in comfortable homes in Utah and Idaho, but at the call of their leaders, they sold their property and bought outfits to bring them and their possessions across many miles of barren country to settle this untamed land. They built many of their own roads as they came along, over mountains, through forests, swamps, and over prairies strewn with huge boulders, cactus and rattlesnakes.At the end of this trail, they found nothing; no store, no school, no church, only sand sagebrush and lizards.
Their first concern was to plant gardens to raise food for themselves and animals. But the river was so far below them, there must be a canal to carry the water to their farms and gardens.
Byron was named for Byron Sessions, who was appointed president of the small settlement. He was a stalwart pioneer, an organizer and a leader of men. Under his able direction and by the united efforts of every man and boy in the colony, this huge project was started.
All the excavating and dirt moving had to be done with horses and the most crude equipment; mechanical shovels, bulldozers and dirt movers had never been invented at that time. At one point, a long tunnel had to be blasted through a hill, the dirt being carted out by hand scrapers. Money was very scarce, so the workers had to take stock in the canal company for their pay.
Hay and grain for their horses had to be hauled many miles from the railroad terminal and remote ranches, and were very expensive. All food supplies had to be shipped to rails end at Bridger, Montana, and freighted in wagons from there, some of which proved quite successful.
The story is told about their great need for rain after the seeds were planted, but no rain came; the hot sun beat down day after day till the people were almost prostrated. They decided to call a prayer meeting to ask God for rain which they so desperately needed; before the meeting came to a close, the rain started, and poured down so fast they almost felt they would have to call on him to stop it or they would all be washed away.
At the completion of the canal, farms were allotted to each man and the building of homes began. Food supplies were Iow and clothing becoming shabby, men who had been withour pay checks for many months began to worry about the comfort of their families.
The railroad was advancing into Wyoming from the north and miraculously some of them obtained a contract for building & large section of road bed, thus money began to flow into the little community and the people again rejoiced in their good fortune. Some were able to buy windows and doors for their log homes.
In 1905 an epidemic of typhoid fever invaded the town and many were stricken, and some died. Doctors were unavailable and they could only do the best they knew how, to nurse the sick; almost every family had one or more members ill of the dread disease. The river water was pronounced unfit for use. A spring was discovered and water hauled in wooden barrels served as the water supply. For years in winter blocks of ice were stored against the house-walls and melted as needed.
A log building was erected to serve as a church house, which was also used as a school house for a year or so, till a school house of native sandstone was built. Next they began to build the church house which still serves the residents as a place of worship.
The first post office was operated by Jos. H. Neville. There was no given schedule; mail arrived intermittently and irregularly for several years.
The first store was a combination of grocery, dry goods, shoes, harnesses and hardware, also some seeds. This was a co-op operated by Fred Kohler, who was the first bishop of the church in Byron.
In 1907 the oil industry began; several companies became interested in the field and today the Byron oil field ranks among the largest in Wyoming; employing the major part of the men in Byron, and a number from neighboring towns. The Ohio Oil Co. has extensive holdings in this area, with two large shops, offices and two booster stations which pump oil to various refineries; one of them north west of Lovell.
Hundreds of oil derricks may be seen surrounding the town.
The Byron school system is one of the finest in the state. The main building is constructed of red bricks, as are the teacher's cottages, nine in number, one of which is a duplex apartment. There is also a fine shop where manual training and agriculture are taught; a special cottage where the girls receive their home economics, and an up to date lunch kitchen and dining room separate from the main school building; there is also a tennis court and football field adjacent. During the past seven years a water and sewer system have been completed, which has been the crying need of Byron citizens through the past years.
Byron was founded by a colony of Latter-day Saints at the turning of the century. They had been singled out by the leaders of their church to open up a new frontier in the Big Horn Basin of Wyoming; chosen for their courage, faith and steadfastness of character. These people were very well situated in comfortable homes in Utah and Idaho, but at the call of their leaders, they sold their property and bought outfits to bring them and their possessions across many miles of barren country to settle this untamed land. They built many of their own roads as they came along, over mountains, through forests, swamps, and over prairies strewn with huge boulders, cactus and rattlesnakes.At the end of this trail, they found nothing; no store, no school, no church, only sand sagebrush and lizards.
Their first concern was to plant gardens to raise food for themselves and animals. But the river was so far below them, there must be a canal to carry the water to their farms and gardens.
Byron was named for Byron Sessions, who was appointed president of the small settlement. He was a stalwart pioneer, an organizer and a leader of men. Under his able direction and by the united efforts of every man and boy in the colony, this huge project was started.
All the excavating and dirt moving had to be done with horses and the most crude equipment; mechanical shovels, bulldozers and dirt movers had never been invented at that time. At one point, a long tunnel had to be blasted through a hill, the dirt being carted out by hand scrapers. Money was very scarce, so the workers had to take stock in the canal company for their pay.
Hay and grain for their horses had to be hauled many miles from the railroad terminal and remote ranches, and were very expensive. All food supplies had to be shipped to rails end at Bridger, Montana, and freighted in wagons from there, some of which proved quite successful.
The story is told about their great need for rain after the seeds were planted, but no rain came; the hot sun beat down day after day till the people were almost prostrated. They decided to call a prayer meeting to ask God for rain which they so desperately needed; before the meeting came to a close, the rain started, and poured down so fast they almost felt they would have to call on him to stop it or they would all be washed away.
At the completion of the canal, farms were allotted to each man and the building of homes began. Food supplies were Iow and clothing becoming shabby, men who had been withour pay checks for many months began to worry about the comfort of their families.
The railroad was advancing into Wyoming from the north and miraculously some of them obtained a contract for building & large section of road bed, thus money began to flow into the little community and the people again rejoiced in their good fortune. Some were able to buy windows and doors for their log homes.
In 1905 an epidemic of typhoid fever invaded the town and many were stricken, and some died. Doctors were unavailable and they could only do the best they knew how, to nurse the sick; almost every family had one or more members ill of the dread disease. The river water was pronounced unfit for use. A spring was discovered and water hauled in wooden barrels served as the water supply. For years in winter blocks of ice were stored against the house-walls and melted as needed.
A log building was erected to serve as a church house, which was also used as a school house for a year or so, till a school house of native sandstone was built. Next they began to build the church house which still serves the residents as a place of worship.
The first post office was operated by Jos. H. Neville. There was no given schedule; mail arrived intermittently and irregularly for several years.
The first store was a combination of grocery, dry goods, shoes, harnesses and hardware, also some seeds. This was a co-op operated by Fred Kohler, who was the first bishop of the church in Byron.
In 1907 the oil industry began; several companies became interested in the field and today the Byron oil field ranks among the largest in Wyoming; employing the major part of the men in Byron, and a number from neighboring towns. The Ohio Oil Co. has extensive holdings in this area, with two large shops, offices and two booster stations which pump oil to various refineries; one of them north west of Lovell.
Hundreds of oil derricks may be seen surrounding the town.
The Byron school system is one of the finest in the state. The main building is constructed of red bricks, as are the teacher's cottages, nine in number, one of which is a duplex apartment. There is also a fine shop where manual training and agriculture are taught; a special cottage where the girls receive their home economics, and an up to date lunch kitchen and dining room separate from the main school building; there is also a tennis court and football field adjacent. During the past seven years a water and sewer system have been completed, which has been the crying need of Byron citizens through the past years.