Facts About Laramie
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Laramie was named for Jacques LaRamie, a French or French-Canadian trapper.
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Laramie was settled in the mid-19th century along the Union Pacific Railroad line, which crosses the Laramie River at Laramie.
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Laramie is home to the University of Wyoming, Wyoming Technical Institute, and a branch of Laramie County Community College.
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Laramie is located at 41°18′47″N 105°35′14″W.
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The city of Laramie has a total area of 17.76 square miles, of which 17.74 square miles is land and 0.02 square miles is water.
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The elevation of Laramie is 7,165 feet above sea level.
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Laramie is a city and the county seat of Albany County, Wyoming, United States.
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The estimated population of Laramie is 32,711, as of 2019, making it the fourth largest city in Wyoming after Cheyenne, Casper and Gillette.
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The city was founded in 1868 as a tent city near the Overland Stage Line route, the Union Pacific portion of the first transcontinental railroad, and just north of Fort Sanders army post.
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Laramie is called the Gem City of the Plains, but the nickname doesn’t come from gem mining or pretty rocks.
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Louisa Swain, the first woman to vote from Wyoming in the General Election, Swain moved to Laramie after her sons settled in the Gem City of the Plains.
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The median age of the residents of Laramie is 26.1 years as of 2019.
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The Laramie Regional Airport, Built-in 1934, the airport was Brees Field until 1992, after United States Army general Herbert J. Brees. The terminal was newly redesigned in 2021.
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The Laramie Plains Civic Center is the oldest school building in Wyoming, having been built in 1878 – it was originally the East Side School.
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In 1869, Wyoming was organized as Wyoming Territory, the first legislature of which passed a bill granting equal political rights to women in the territory. In March 1870, five Laramie residents became the first women in the world to serve on a jury.
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Laramie’s total precipitation averages about 11 inches a year, and the average number of rainy days per year is about 86 inches.
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In 2011, German actor and writer Joachim Meyerhoff wrote his first novel, Amerika, about the year he spent as a student in Laramie.
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The City of Laramie has a C1 Census Class Code which indicates an active incorporated place that does not serve as a county subdivision equivalent.
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In 2004, Laramie became the first city in Wyoming to pass a law to prohibit smoking in enclosed workplaces, including bars, restaurants and private clubs.
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The median household income of Laramie residents was $46,117 in 2019.