Wyoming Nebraska - Nebraska Directory

Wyoming Area Cameras

Former town · Otoe County · laid out 1855; Mormon outfitting point 1864–1866

About Wyoming

Wyoming was a Missouri River town in northeastern Otoe County, about 6.4 miles north-northwest of Nebraska City and 3.7 miles south-southeast of Union. A historical marker, an interpretive panel and the Old Wyoming Cemetery are on a private farm; view them from the public road. The later hamlet called Wyoming, about 2.5 miles southeast, is a different place.

History

Wyoming was laid out in 1855, and Jacob Dawson started a weekly newspaper, the Telescope, in 1856; its founders hoped it would lead the upper Missouri. In 1864 it replaced Florence as the main outfitting point for Latter-day Saint emigrants. Converts from Europe came by rail to St. Joseph and by riverboat to Wyoming, where wagon companies from Utah met them for the trip west on the Nebraska City Cutoff. In 1864–66, 22 organized companies with about 6,500 people set out from here, and several emigrants are buried at the site.

The railroads passed Wyoming by. A successor post office, Dresden, ran from 1873 to 1887, and by 1882 the Wyoming post office had moved about 2 miles from the old town. The name lives on in Wyoming Precinct. Markers were later placed at the farm that holds the old town site, and a 2010 archaeological study was meant to support a National Register nomination.

Nearby towns

Union	about 3.7 mi north-northwest	US 75
Nebraska City	about 6 mi south-southeast	US 75
Nehawka	about 7 mi northwest	US 75 and US 34
Dunbar	about 10 mi southwest	County roads
Otoe	about 12 mi west-southwest	County roads

Things to see

Old Wyoming Cemetery (Pitzer family farm; private) · Nebraska City and the Lewis & Clark Visitor Center, about 6 mi south · Union, about 4 mi north-northwest