University of Wyoming Campus History
Phil is a graduate of the University of Wyoming (twice--once with a bachelor's degree and once with a degree in law). He was a student at UW in the late 1960s, again in the 1970s, and returned to teach history in 1990. This page contains photographs and information about the history of the University of Wyoming. Some materials come from Phil's own collection while other photos and information appearing on this page in the future will be drawn from university sources such as the American Heritage Center and Department of History. Comments and submissions are always welcome!
Chris Matthews (center), host of MSNBC's "Hardball," was a guest speaker at UW on April 14-15, 2009. Pictured visiting with him at a reception, held at President Tom Buchanan's home the night before his talk, are Phil Roberts (left) and Gov. Dave Freudenthal. Matthews' visit to UW was sponsored by the Milward L. Simpson Fund, the Simpson Speaker Series, the American Heritage Center and the Political Science Department. Photo by Ted Brummond, University of Wyoming
The original entrance to Coe Library as it appeared in April, 2009, prior to its permanent closure at the end of the month. The new entrance to Coe will be moved to the northeast side of the building in the new addition to the structure completed in the spring of 2009. Phil Roberts photo
President Barack Obama, at the time of this photograph still a U. S. Senator and the leading candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, spoke at the Arena Auditorium on March 7, 2008, the night before the state Democratic Party caucuses. He spoke to a crowd estimated at close to 10,000. The previous evening, former President Bill Clinton spoke on campus, appearing at the multipurpose gym. Obama won the Wyoming caucuses by a 61% to 37% margin. (Phil Roberts photo)
Phil Roberts stands in front of a building that once housed the UW College of Law (1952-1977). Phil was in the last class to graduate from the building. After law moved to its new building, the Anthropology Department was housed there until the summer of 2007 when it moved into their new building on Lewis Street. A month after this photograph was taken, this building was razed to make way for a new addition to the UW Coe Library.
Gale McGee Post Office Dedication, Laramie, May 30, 2007
The Laramie main post office was named in honor of former U. S. Senator Gale McGee during official ceremonies on May 30, 2007. Scott McGee, a grandson of the late senator, is shown speaking at the dedication, representing the senator's family. Most of the immediate family members attended the ceremony and the reception that followed in the former McGee family home on Sheridan Avenue in Laramie. Other speakers at the ceremony are seated (left to right): Gov. Dave Freudenthal, U. S. Senator Mike Enzi, U. S. Representative Barbara Cubin. Prior to McGee's election to the U. S. Senate in 1958, he served for 13 years as a professor of history at the University of Wyoming. During that time, he was renowned for his interesting lectures in American history and for bringing to campus many noteworthy writers and policymakers ranging from Alexander Kerensky (the first president of Russia); Henry Kissinger, and historian/editor Bernard DeVoto.
Beginnings of KUWR Radio at UW
KUWR started out as a student-run 10-watt radio station, on the air for the first time on Sept. 14, 1966. Here, the staff meets to consider programming schedule in the fall of 1967. Left to right: Willis Wood, sports editor; Don Price, publicity; Pat Gallivan, station manager; John McMullen, faculty advisor; Wendy Young, secretary; Hugh Edwards, program director. Not shown: Mike Diefenderfer, news director.
Dedication of Vietnam Memorial, UW, 1966
UW's "State Park"
Before the university was founded, the land bordered by 9th Street, Hoyt Hall, and Ivinson Street was Laramie’s City Park. When the town sought the university for Laramie, it offered that site for the new campus. Old Main, the first campus building, rose in the middle of that former town park. Though UW expanded throughout the years, the land remained vacant until a marker was placed there in 1966 by the Alumni Association to memorialize former UW students who died in the Vietnam War.
Nearby residents initially were concerned that the area represented one of the last open spaces on campus. Consequently, the Wyoming Legislature passed a bill that set the land aside permanently as a state park (Prexy’s Pasture had been set aside in similar fashion in the 1960s by legislative act).
According to former State Sen. June Boyle, the legislature passed the bill containing the building prohibition as part of a larger university bill. “The amendment wasn’t something I’d heard about before, even though it was about the university in the county I represented,” Boyle says. “But I do remember thinking, ‘Oh, well, it’s a good idea.’”
The Vietnam memorial is a stone marker on which bronze plates are affixed noting the names of 17 former UW alumni killed in the war as well as a statement about the importance of their sacrifice.
The peaceful setting remains a favorite place for students, faculty, and campus visitors to walk, sit on the grass on warm spring and summer days, and enjoy that remaining corner of what began as part of City Park, much like pioneer residents must have enjoyed the same natural surroundings more than a century ago.