Discover Wyoming’s Rich Aviation History In ‘West Across The Skies’ Exhibit

The most recent exhibit at Casper's historic Bishop Home is a collection of 40 photographs represnting Wyoming's aviation history, from the biplane to jet aviation.

Part of the Wyoming State Museum’s traveling exhibit program, West Across the Skies will be on view through August 31, 2024. The Historic Bishop Home is located a 818 East 2nd Street, Casper, Wyoming. Hours are Tuesday, Thursday, & Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Parking behind the home off Lincoln Street.

The exhibit is being presented in association with the Bishop Home's annual fundraising event. This year actor Elsa Wolff will be a first-person historical interpreter portraying Amelia Earhart on August 10.

During the 19th century, Wyoming served as a major transportation corridor for wagon trains, stagecoaches, and the transcontinental railroad. Later, the Lincoln Highway brought automobile transportation through the Equality State. It is perhaps no surprise that with the advent of air travel, the skies over Wyoming would form yet another type of transportation corridor. West Across the Skies explores Wyoming’s relationship with aviation in the 20th century.

Prior to 1920, aviation in Wyoming was represented by “barnstormers” and other aerial “thrill seekers” who used airplanes for entertainment. World War I, however, transformed airplanes into powerful weapons, which, after the war, were used by the Post Office to transport mail across the country. Wyoming was a preferred hub for mail transportation due to its elevation and the railroad tracks visible to pilots from the air: they called the tracks their “iron compass.” Later, passenger aviation moved into Wyoming, and during World War II, the Casper Army Air Base trained over 16,000 crew members for aerial combat in B-17s and B-24s.

The Historic Bishop Home, built in 1907, witnessed the transformation of the transportation world from horse and buggies to railroads and motor vehicles and finally planes. The home contains authentic Wyoming urban history that reflects the life and time of community members that built and sustained Casper from a small town to the central business district of Wyoming.