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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.