The Oxford horse barn, constructed in 1887, is both one of the oldest and one of the largest barns in Albany County, Wyoming. It is also probably the County’s best preserved example of vernacular architecture as influenced by late 19th century English cattle and horse ranchers. It provides important evidence for an interesting phenomenon in the history of the American West: the transplantation of the English upper class thoroughbred horse culture to the Rocky Mountain west and more specifically, Wyoming.

The rigid, tripartite, bilateral symmetry of the barn justifies considering it an agricultural manifestation of the “Georgian vernacular” tradition so pervasive in the domestic architecture of England and the eastern United States. The Oxford horse barn also figures prominently in local history. Most notably it is associated with the name of Axel Palmer, who worked at and later became part owner of the then Whitehouse Ranch on which the barn is located. Palmer trained horses and used the barn loft as a kind of obstacle course for breaking teams.

The Bath Ranch stone house and barn are outstanding examples of late 19th century native stone construction practiced by the Bath family in and around Laramie. The buildings are constructed of eighteen inch thick stone and are the only known rural structures associated with the Baths remaining in the state. They are associated with the beginnings of the cattle ranching frontier, an episode which significantly influenced the broad patterns of Wyoming’s economic, political and social history, and with the Bath family who made significant economic impacts in the region.

Henry Bath was one of the first to ranch on the plains of what is today Albany County. He established a crude homestead on the Little Laramie River at what is now the “Stone Ranch” sometime between 1869 and 1870. The original structures, consisting of a modest cabin and a small barn, no longer exist. In 1875, however, Henry and his sons quarried stone for and built the two imposing structures.

The construction occurred during a period marred by the last coordinated Native American uprisings of the 19th century. The stone ranch reflects the relatively insecure period and location of its construction. Designed to repel possible Indian attack the stone ranch buildings stand as a rustic fortress in miniature.

Also known as the Big Laramie Stage Station, the Richardson’s Overland Trail Ranch is located southwest of Laramie, Wyoming on the Big Laramie River. Situated on the open plains of the windswept Laramie Basin, the district includes seven buildings and one structure. These include six contributing ranch buildings and a corduroy road segment of the Overland Trail which marks the trail’s crossing of the Big Laramie River. Architecturally, the Richardson Ranch is best understood as a working ranch which has continually adapted to the changing necessities of ranch life.

Old buildings have been altered or torn down and new ones built; this is the rule of any working ranch. Western ranches traditionally re-use materials, or use scrap materials, quite extensively. This is well-illustrated on the Richardson Ranch by the moving of abandoned log buildings onto the ranch from other areas (a practice common throughout the west), and by the use of slabs (left over from sawing logs into boards at local saw mills) to construct fences and several out-buildings. The ranch exhibits a variety of different forms and construction techniques, representing the historical periods during which the ranch has existed since 1862.

The ranch is significant by virtue of its association with the exploration and settlement of Albany County and the State of Wyoming and the development of the agriculture industry. Serving as a home station on the Overland Trail, the Big Laramie Stage Station was one of the first permanent Euro-American settlements in the region. It became one of the first cattle ranches in the region and continues as a modern working ranch.

The Vee Bar Ranch served as ranch headquarters for Lionel C. G. Sartoris, a cattle baron, and Luther Filmore, a stockgrower and division superintendent for the Union Pacific Railroad. The Wright family also raised stock, ran a stage and freight station, and entertained dudes at the ranch. Their daughter Agnes Wright Spring became a noted regional historian. 

The ranch is directly associated with the ranch, rail, freight, and tourism industries, all important components of the area’s economic history. It is a typical but exceptionally well preserved example of the evolution of such operations. The Vee Bar Lodge was built as a home for Lionel Sartoris in 1891.

Sartoris was an English cattle baron, representative of the heyday of the cattle industry in the West. He was a partner in the Douglas William Sartoris Cattle Company, worth an estimated $2 million in 1885. The Vee Bar Ranch district is composed of five contributing buildings, the original corral system, and stock shute. The buildings and corral structures are excellent representatives of the rough vernacular traditions of Wyoming’s early settlement architecture.