Before you start your exploration of the interior of the Cheyenne Depot and the Depot Museum, let’s talk about what you can find around the exterior.
First – you have to find the place. The street address is: 121 West 15th St.
Where to park
The Cheyenne Depot is set back from the corner of Lincolnway and Capitol Avenue on 15th Street. If you come north on Highway 85/Greeley Highway across the viaduct (which then turns into the one way Warren Ave), you will turn left/west onto Lincolnway. If you come south down Yellowstone which turns into the one way Central Ave, you will turn right/west on Lincolnway. (Lincolnway is also 16th Street).
There is free 2 hour street parking on 15th Street. Simply drive west to the corner of Lincolnway and Capitol, turn left (and you’ll see the Depot right there on your left), go down one block past the very large, very red Wrangler western clothing store, and then the brown brick Albany Restaurant and Bar, and turn right/west onto 15th Street. (You can turn left into the Depot parking lot which is adjacent to the Accomplice Bar in the eastern end of the Depot building, but that can be crowded depending on the time of day).
The best place to park is in the Jack Spiker Parking Garage on Lincolnway, which also offers two hour free parking. Even during work hours on week days, only the first two levels of the garage are usually full, leaving three spacious levels for you to park.
Built in 2004, the Cheyenne Municipal Parking Garage was renamed the Jack R. Spiker Parking Facility in 2013, in honor of Spiker who had been mayor of Cheyenne from 2001-2009.
Instead of turning left on Capitol and then right onto 15th street to park on 15th street, continue going west on Lincolnway one more block until you get to Carey.
On your right, across Carey, is the parking garage. Turn right onto Carey, but get into the far left lane because you will be turning left into the entrance of the parking garage just before you get to 17th Street, which runs east and west.
Here’s another view. Turn left into the entrance to the parking garage, just before the first of the two blue awnings
If you miss the entrance for some reason, not to worry. Turn left onto 17th Street, stay in the left hand lane and turn left into the entrance for the parking garage, marked by the circular P sign which in this case is right over the entrance to the parking garage.
If you miss the exit on Carey, just turn left on 17th street, and turn left in the entrance marked with the circular P sign.
Why park here?
Because on the corner of Lincolnway and Carey there is a historical marker about the Lincoln Memorial Highway, and just a wee bit further north on Carey is the Cheyenne Heritage at a Glance series of plaques.
It’s also only a block away from the Cheyenne Depot, so that’s not a long distance to have to walk.
Getting to the Depot
Park your car in the parking garage, make a note of where it is!, then walk out onto Carey, and turn left. Walk a few feet to the Cheyenne Heritage at a Glance monument. Take some photos, and read the text in the original, or check out the text at our article on the monument, Cheyenne Heritage at a Glance.
Once you’ve gazed your fill at this monument, head back to Lincolnway. Here you’ll find the historical marker for the Lincoln Memorial Highway. You can read our article on this marker here: Lincoln Memorial Highway marker.
Then walk east to Capitol Avenue. Turn right, cross Lincolnway, and stop at the entrance to the Cheyenne Depot Plaza. The Depot will have been in your sights all this time, of course.
The Cheyenne Depot Plaza (west corner)
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You’re standing at the west entrance to the Depot Plaza, facing the Depot. You’ll see two large Boots – “Don’t Feed the Animals” and “Downtown Cheyenne,” the Historic Downtown Heritage Map (which features brass plaques of all the extant historic buildings in downtown Cheyenne), and two historical markers (Historic Downtown Cheyenne and the Cheyenne Street Railway). You’ll also see a small statue called “Duster,” sculpted by Bobbie Carlyle.
The front side of the Heritage Map, with the “Don’t Feed the Animals” Boot to the right, and the dual-colored Cheyenne Depot in the distance.
There are several of these 13-foot tall Boots in the Cheyenne Depot Plaza, and one behind the Depot itself. These Boots, and many more, were painted by a variety of artists in 2004 and auctioned off to various Cheyenne businesses as part of a fundraising effort by the Cheyenne Depot.
To your right is a layby, where the Cheyenne Trolley Tours trolley picks up passengers from May through September, and at certain times in October for a Ghost Tour and in December for a Christmas Lights Tour. Tickets for the trolley can be purchased inside the Depot.
Time For Your Imagination
1950s Cheyenne. The Burlington Depot and bus station which no longer exists. In this image, you are standing with your back to the Depot. The Plains Hotel, built in 1911, is across the street. (Its sign is now on the building itself). Look to your right, today, and you’ll see a building where the second building in the postcard used to be. It is a recent building, housing public toilets and a pop machine.
Stand at the entrance to the Cheyenne Depot Plaza, and think about the history of where you’re standing. If you’re interested in history of 150 years ago, it’s 1867 and Cheyenne has just been founded. Imagine that you’re standing on baked dirt, surrounded by wooden buildings and a wooden depot building with Union Pacific trains behind it. Cowboys walk to and fro, their spurs jangling. Horses are tied to hitching posts.
Or perhaps your liking of history extends only to 1912, when the Ford Model T has made the motorcar affordable for the average person and the Lincoln Memorial Highway extends from east to west, from New York to San Francisco, and it runs right across where you’re standing. All of the buildings behind you are brick, of course, and many of them are the same as they are today. Instead of the Depot Plaza, there is the Burlington Depot adjacent to the Union Pacific Depot.
Or perhaps you’re more into the 1950s, with all the classic big tail-fin cars, and the Burlington Trailways buses (that will eventually become Trailways – but no longer top in Cheyenne) and the Union Pacific Stages buses, which will eventually morph into Greyhound (which also no longer stops in Cheyenne).
East Corner Entrance to Depot Plaza
If you’d like to start a photographic collection of the Big Boots of Cheyenne, now walk east along Lincolnway for one block until you come to the east corner entrance to the Depot Plaza (on the corner of Central and Lincolnway). Here you will see the “Where the Deer and the Antelope Play” Big Boot (featuring a deer and an antelope playing poker).
The Cheyenne Depot
From this vantage point, you’ll see the black-and-white sign for the Accomplice Beer Company. This portion of the depot has been occupied by restaurants for some time. Formerly it was Shadows. The Accomplice opened in 2016 and is a Craft Brewery and Restaurant.
“A New Beginning” by Veryl Goodnight. This photo was taken during the winter of 2016/2017. The scarf is a whimsical edition during winter.
Continue on to the entrance of the Depot, where you’ll see two more Big Boots, “Governors of Wyoming” and “100 Years of the Wyoming Chamber of Commerce.” You’ll also see a sculpture by Veryl Goodnight called “A New Beginning,” depicting a pioneer woman arriving in Cheyenne. A bit further to your right is another statue by Bobbie Carlyle, “Hard to Leave.”
If you look behind you, you’ll see the three historic markers detailing the history of railroading in Cheyenne, and a sculpture of a horse, called, appropriately, Iron Horse.
Enter the Depot and turn left into what was once the main hall of the Depot. Inlaid into the floor is a vast map of the route of the Transcontinental Railroad. In front of you is the Information Desk, where you can purchase trolley tickets and ask for information about the city. There are also racks of brochures.
To your right is the Cheyenne Depot Museum – a must visit. We’ll cover that in our next article.
A view of the facade of the Depot, facing east. The Chamber of Commerce Big Boot is nearest, the Governors of Wyoming boot a bit further on. Further down, not visible in this photo, is the Accomplice Beer Company
