Opulence, Your Name is Cheyenne

As in the Cheyenne Club—the private cattlemen’s club in Wyoming Territory that was “over the top” in every way. It sat like a beacon on Seventeenth Street in Cheyenne, and was about the most lush and exclusive club in the nation. It was a grand, 3-story building with a Mansard roof and a wrap-around veranda. Two grand staircases. Rooms larger than most homes. Floor-to-ceiling red velvet drapes and silk wallpaper, with oil paintings of ranch scenes and white china edged in gold and engraved CC.

You had to be a member of the Wyoming Stock Growers Association to join and there was always a waiting list. Men wore white tie and tails they called “Herefords” after their favorite cows. They imported wines and rare cheeses and a party at the club was an event every socialite in town hankered for—especially those who could afford the Paris-imported fashions and fancy hats that were the expected costume.

The club lost its luster in the early 1900s as the cattle industry tampered down, and the building was eventually used for the Cheyenne Chamber of Commerce until it fell into disrepair and was torn down in 1936.