Centennial is a small mountain-

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

in Albany County,

Wyoming Wyoming ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States, Western United States. It borders Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho t ...

, United States. It serves a fairly large surrounding landscape, along with a few ranches, located along a gently sloping hillside traversed by a highway. Because it has been, since 1980 or later, included in a

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...

(CDP), bearing the town's name, specific demographics characterizing the town itself are not available.

History

As the

Union Pacific Railroad The Union Pacific Railroad is a Railroad classes, Class I freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Pacific is the second largest railroad in the United Stat ...

was pushing west to link up with the

Central Pacific Railroad The Central Pacific Railroad (CPRR) was a rail company chartered by U.S. Congress in 1862 to build a railroad eastwards from Sacramento, California, to complete most of the western part of the "First transcontinental railroad" in North Americ ...

, as part of the

First transcontinental railroad America's first transcontinental railroad (known originally as the "Pacific Railroad" and later as the "Overland Route (Union Pacific Railroad), Overland Route") was a continuous railroad line built between 1863 and 1869 that connected the exis ...

, they sent logging crews into the

Snowy Range The Medicine Bow Mountains are a mountain range in the Rocky Mountains that extend from northern Colorado into southern Wyoming. The northern extent of this range is the sub-range the Snowy Range. From the northern end of Colorado's Never Summe ...

, in the Medicine Bow Mountains, to cut down timber (mainly

Lodgepole Pine ''Pinus contorta'', with the common names lodgepole pine and shore pine, and also known as twisted pine, and contorta pine, is a common tree in western North America. It is common near the ocean shore and in dry montane forests to the subalpin ...

) for railroad ties. A work camp was built on the site of the town. After they had completed most of their work and the workers started having conflicts with area Native Americans, the crews left the area. After the area was opened to homesteaders a few ranchers returned to the area.Ghost Town Photos
. - Wyoming Tales and Trails.
. - ''The Ultimate Wyoming Atlas and Travel Encyclopedia''. Men working for I. P. Lambing (superintendent at the mine) of

Golden, Colorado Golden is a home rule city that is the county seat of Jefferson County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 20,399 at the 2020 United States census. Golden lies along Clear Creek at the base of the Front Range of the Rocky Moun ...

and Colonel Stephen W. Downey (a lawyer and president of what would become Centennial Gold Mining Company) of

Laramie, Wyoming Laramie () is a List of municipalities in Wyoming, city in and the county seat of Albany County, Wyoming, United States, known for its high elevation at , for its railroad history, and as the home of the University of Wyoming. The population wa ...

, discovered gold on what would become Centennial Ridge on Centennial Mountain in 1875. As miners and prospectors started coming to the area, to work the Centennial Mine (also called the Downey Lode and Centennial Vein), they reestablished a community on the old work camp site in 1876 and named the town Centennial in honor of the 100th anniversary of the signing of the

Declaration of Independence A declaration of independence is an assertion by a polity in a defined territory that it is independent and constitutes a state. Such places are usually declared from part or all of the territory of another state or failed state, or are breaka ...

and founding of the United States. Most of the gold was stripped from the mines by 1877, but the town was now established and merchants who came to serve the miners stayed to serve the nearby ranchers.Centennial
. - WyomingTourism.org. On the west side of Centennial Ridge a copper claim was discovered by Jacob Schnitzler in 1896. Gold had people coming to the area again in 1902, and again in 1923–1924, but no significant amount was ever found. Loggers returned to the area in 1905 to cut timber for a coal mine near Coalmont in

Jackson County, Colorado Jackson County is a county located in the U.S. state of Colorado. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 1,379, and it was the fourth least populated in the state. The county is named after the United States Presid ...

. Acme Consolidated Gold & Mining Company, headed by Isaac Van Horn, bought up timber land around the town, the townsite (Interstate Town Site Company), opened a sawmill, a

planing mill A planing mill is a facility that takes cut and Wood drying, seasoned Wood, wooden boards from a sawmill and turns them into finished dimensional lumber. Machines used in the mill include the Thickness planer, planer and matcher, the Moulding plan ...

and lumber yard, and opened a newspaper, the ''Centennial Post''. The partners in Acme Consolidated Gold & Mining Company, Van Horn, Fred A. Miller, and Edward R. Miller, also formed the Laramie, Hahns Peak and Pacific Railway to transport the coal out to eastern markets. The railroad, originating in Laramie, reached Centennial on June 17, 1907 (it would finally reach Coalmont in 1911). That same year a bank was founded. A. J. Hull, Jesse Northrop, and B. F. Northrop located the Platinum Queen (aka Queen Mine) on September 23, 1923, approximately 2.3 miles southwest of Centennial, on Centennial Ridge. Most activity around the mine area ceased after the Stock Market Crash of 1929 and the advent of the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

Geography

Centennial and its surrounding CDP are located at (41.297981, -106.137614). According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, the CDP has a total area of 16.3 square miles (42.2 km²), all land.

Climate

Demographics

Demographics from the

for the town proper are not made available as, since 1980 or later, the town has been included in a

, for which individual communities' data are munged with that of the surrounding larger environment. Therefore, what follows cannot be construed to represent the nature of the town alone. The population of the CDP was 270 at the 2010 census. As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2000, there were 191 people, 97 households, and 57 families residing in the CDP. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...

was 19.1 people per square mile (7.4/km²). There were 295 housing units at an average density of 29.4/sq mi (11.4/km²). The racial makeup of the CDP was 95.29%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 1.05% Native American, 1.05% Asian, and 2.62% from two or more races.

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race were 3.14% of the population. There were 97 households, out of which 15.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 50.5% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

living together, 2.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 41.2% were non-families. 30.9% of all households were made up of individuals, and 5.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 1.97 and the average family size was 2.44. In the CDP, the population was spread out, with 13.1% under the age of 18, 3.1% from 18 to 24, 23.0% from 25 to 44, 44.0% from 45 to 64, and 16.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 48 years. For every 100 females, there were 130.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 115.6 males. The median income for a household in the CDP was $32,292, and the median income for a family was $45,417. Males had a median income of $57,292 versus $37,969 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the CDP was $29,477. About 15.9% of families and 13.3% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 100.0% of those under the age of eighteen and none of those 65 or over.

Education

Public education in the community of Centennial is provided by Albany County School District #1. Centennial has a

public library A public library is a library, most often a lending library, that is accessible by the general public and is usually funded from public sources, such as taxes. It is operated by librarians and library paraprofessionals, who are also Civil servic ...

, a branch of the Albany County Public Library.

References

{{authority control Census-designated places in Albany County, Wyoming Census-designated places in Wyoming