Homestead Era at Fort Laramie

Crowds of people at Fort Laramie in 1930.

NPS Archives

Fort Laramie military importance dwindled after the Great Sioux War. Fewer settlers came through, most traveled by train on tracks that bypassed Fort Laramie. The army turned its attention to more conveniently located facilities. In 1890, Fort Laramie's flag was lowered for the last time. The buildings were sold at public auction, some became businesses or residences, others were stripped of brick, lumber, and nails, then abandoned. By the 20th century the old fort was vanishing. To save it, local residents and citizens across Wyoming formed one of the first true grassroots preservation movements in the American West. Fort Laramie was added to the National Park system in 1938. When fur traders-built Fort Laramie the United States ended at the Missouri River, by the time the army left, its borders reached the Pacific Ocean. Fort Laramie played a decisive role in westward expansion. It was the scene of impressive achievements and regrettable tragedies that haunt us to this day. The crossroads of peoples, cultures, change, and conflict, the crossroads of a nation moving West.