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Johnson County
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Towns of Johnson County
please email me with historical information about any of these places!
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How Barnum Got Its Name:
Guy Percy Barnum, after serving in the Civil War, came west as a scout with the U.S. Army. He eventually came to what is now the Barnum area west of Kaycee and was smitten. He returned with his wife, Frances (Fannie), her piano, and his half-brother, Tom Freeguard. They homesteaded and received a government contract to operate a post office in their home in 1897. It became known as the Barnum Post Office, and the community that grew up in that area was called Barnum. There are no Barnums there today, but the name endures.Sussex
Gibbs
Family collection is of Sussex, Wyoming, building identified as the Old Sussex
Hotel.
The community of Sussex is located in Johnson County east of Kaycee. The Sussex Post Office was located on the old Spectacle Ranch and named by Mrs. Henry Winter Davis for her hometown of Sussex County, Delaware, according to the Wyoming Places Database. It operated in Sussex from 1895 until it was discontinued in 1963
Map showing the post offices of Johnson County
What Postal Zip Code Signifies - 1963
HOW BUFFALO'S MAIN STREET GOT ITS CURVE
(Sources: Various Buffalo Bulletin articles; submitted by Kari)
There are
several legends about the curve to Buffalo's main street. One is that the street
follows an old Buffalo trail. Here is another. This story is taken from an
article written in the Buffalo Bulletin-Heritage Edition-1999.
In 1879, Ft
McKinney was just established on Clear Creek about 3 miles west of Buffalo and
J. H. Conrad had opened a general merchandise store in what was soon to become
the thriving little town of Buffalo. Conrad naturally wanted a road or trail
past his store as an extra convenience for his customers. That same year, George
Washbaugh was employed by a Mr. Powell, who operated a string of bull teams,
freighting between Ft Laramie, WY and Ft McKinney, along the Bozeman Trail.
Washbaugh was foreman of the freighting outfit.
On one of George's trips to
Ft McKinney, he received word from J. H. Conrad that if he would bring down one
of his bull strings and make a road past his place of business, he (Conrad)
would give him a suit of clothes. Washbaugh came down with a string of ten oxen
and three heavy freight wagons and made the trail desired by Conrad, collecting
the new suit in payment. It is logical and evident that the oxen, following the
natural grade of the hills, leading into and out of Clear Creek, made a very
crooked trail. So it would seem that it was no particular fault of man, but just
a string of oxen that were trying to keep things on the level that made
Buffalo's Main Street so crooked.
The town site was located shortly
thereafter and everyone apparently settled down along the trail made by
Washbaugh and his oxen and it appears no effort was ever made to straighten out
the street. Buildings began to spring up and as they did, they followed the
contour of the old trail.
Cemeteries in Johnson County
Morgareidge Cemetery- MayoworthWillow Grove Cemetery – Buffalo
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