Casper is a city in, and the county seat of, Natrona County, Wyoming, United States. Casper is the second-most populous city in the state after Cheyenne, with the population at 59,038 as of the 2020 census. Casper is nicknamed "The Oil City" and has a long history of oil boomtown and cowboy culture, dating back to the development of the nearby Salt Creek Oil Field.
Casper is located in east central Wyoming on the North Platte River.
History
The city was established east of the former site of Fort Caspar, in an area that grew for European settlers during the mid-19th century mass migration of land seekers along the Oregon, California, and Mormon trails, where several nearby ferries offered passage across the North Platte River in the early 1840s. In 1859, Louis Guinard built a bridge and trading post near the original ferry locations, allowing overland travel to continue through the area.
The government also posted the military garrison to protect telegraph and mail service. It was under the command of Lieutenant Colonel William O. Collins. Native American attacks increased after the Sand Creek Massacre in Colorado in 1864, bringing more troops to the post, which was by now called Platte Bridge Station. In July 1865, Lt. Colonel William Collins' beloved son Lieutenant Caspar Collins was killed near the post by a group of Indian warriors, and three months later the garrison was renamed Fort Caspar in his son's honor.
In 1867, the troops were ordered to abandon Fort Caspar in favor of Fort Fetterman, downstream on the North Platte along the Bozeman Trail. However, the town itself was settled twenty years later in 1887, and incorporated a year later by developers as an anticipated stopping point during the expansion of the Wyoming Central Railway.
A site a few miles east was planned as the original site, where homesteader Joshua Stroud lived prior to the actual construction of the train station for the Chicago and North Western Railway. The site was laid out by the Pioneer Town Site Company in 1888 and was known as Strouds, but the name Casper soon prevailed. While the name is derived from Fort Caspar and Lt. Caspar Collins, it is officially named "Casper" due to a typo occurring during the official registration.
Casper was an early commercial rival to both Bessemer and Douglas, Wyoming. The absence of a railhead doomed Bessemer in favor of Casper, while Douglas, also a railhead, survives to the present day. This rail presence also made Casper the starting off point for the "invaders" in the Johnson County War, since the chartered train carrying the men from Texas stopped at Casper.
In more recent history, the city received a significant influx of visitors during the solar eclipse of August 21, 2017, due to its position along the path of totality.
Geography
Interstate 25, which approaches Casper from the north and east, is the main avenue of transportation to and from the city. The towns immediately adjacent to Casper are Mills, Evansville, and Bar Nunn. Unincorporated areas include Allendale, Dempsey Acres, Red Buttes, Indian Springs, and several others.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which is land and is water.
Climate
Casper, as with most of the rest of Wyoming, has a continental semi-arid climate (Köppen climate classification BSk), with long, cold, but dry winters, hot but generally dry summers, mild springs, and short and crisp autumns. Normal daily maxima range from in January to in July. Snow can fall heavily during the winter and early to mid-spring months, and usually falls in May and October. Precipitation is greatest in spring and early summer, but even then it is not high. Highs reach on 37.8 days per year and fail to surpass freezing on 41.3. Lows drop to on an average of 14.6 nights annually. The highest temperature recorded in Casper was on July 12, 1954, July 16, 2005, and July 29, 2006, while the lowest temperature recorded was on December 22, 2022.
Demographics
2010 census
As of the census of 2010, there were 55,316 people, 22,794 households, and 14,237 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 24,536 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 92.3% White, 1.0% African American, 0.9% Native American, 0.8% Asian, 2.3% from other races, and 2.6% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino people of any race were 7.4% of the population.