Explore Sweetwater County, from the prehistoric era through recent history during your visit to the Sweetwater County Historical Museum. Permanent as well as temporary and traveling exhibits offers hands-on learning experiences along with an in-depth look at the county’s history and people. Be sure to stop by Sweetwater County Historical Museum gift store to shop for gifts and keepsakes unique to Sweetwater County and Wyoming.
Permanent Exhibit
Sweetwater County Historical Museum’s permanent exhibit explores Sweetwater County’s story through artifacts, pictures and information pertaining to the history of Sweetwater County, from a dinosaur footprint to a full size coal car. Discover the beginnings of Sweetwater County long before it was recorded. Throughout prehistoric times dinosaurs roamed the swampy land. Fast-forward thousands of years later, to a time when Native Americans including Shoshone and Ute claimed the land. Learn about the first white men who began moving through the area and how the location was used to hold the first Rocky Mountain Rendezvous in 1825 and a later gathering in 1834, known as the largest rendezvous ever. Other topics explored in the museum’s permanent exhibit include the emigrant trails that passed through Sweetwater County including the Oregon, California, Mormon, Overland, Cherokee and Pony Express Trails. Of vital importance to the history of Sweetwater County was the transcontinental railroad in 1868, instrumental in the creation and development of Sweetwater County’s two major population centers, Green River which became a major railroad town and Rock Springs, once the major coal mining center of the county.
Historical Photograph Collection
In addition to its permanent exhibit that traces the history of Sweetwater County is Sweetwater County Historical Museum’s impressive collection of historical photos. Highlighted in the collection is a selection of photographs that capture the now-deserted mining towns of Dines, Winton, E-Plane and Gunn.
Shopping at Sweetwater County Historical Museum
Stop by the Sweetwater County Historical Museum gift store. A wide variety of books, gifts and souvenirs related to Wyoming history, emigrant trails, outlaws and lawmen, and western history are available to purchase.
- Be sure to look for the statue that stands in front of Sweetwater County Historical Museum dedicated to explorer and scientist, Major John Wesley Powell who began his famous expedition at Expedition Island in Green River.
- Sweetwater County Historical Museum is ADA complaint.