National Register Listing

Cooper Mansion

1411 Grand Ave., Laramie, WY

The Cooper Mansion is historically and architecturally significant to both Albany County and the State of Wyoming. Better than any other structure in Albany County, and perhaps the state, the Cooper Mansion represents two significant periods in Wyoming history. As the Cooper family home in the United States, the Mansion serves as tangible evidence of the extent and character of British economic colonialism in the western United States during the late 19th century. Beginning in the 1870's many wealthy young men from Britain came to Wyoming and purchased huge tracts of land on which they sought to establish virtual empires. Collectively called the "Cattle Barons," on the Laramie Plains, Frank Cooper was the leading member of the foreign-born contingent. Frank Cooper developed the first successful means to freeze and transport beeves. His company, the Marsh and Cooper Pacific Express established Laramie as the cold storage center for the Union Pacific Railroad. The Cooper Mansion also represents the early economic benefits to come to those who discovered oil on their land. When Frank Cooper sold his ranch in 1904 he wisely had mineral rights. The discoveries of oil at Cooper's Cove and the Rock Creek valley west of Laramie in 1917 contributed to the first oil boom in Wyoming. Because of legal requirements, the Coopers had to establish residency in the United States to retain ownership of their mineral rights, therefore, Frank Cooper's children - Richard, John, and Barbara- came from Britain to Wyoming in 1920. They commissioned Laramie architect Wilbur Hitchcock to design for them a home-like those they had seen in Santa Barbara, California. Many of Hitchcock's buildings still remain in Laramie yet none of them are similar to the Cooper Mansion. Stylistically, the structure is singularly significant because it represents Wyoming's adaptation of the Mission and Pueblo styles in a 1920's residential building. As an interesting combination of styles, the Cooper Mansion is certainly the only structure of its type in the state. Today, the Cooper Mansion acts as a visual reminder of Wyoming's varied and interesting past. The structure's association with the prosperous Cooper family and its distinctive design render it a very important building in the annals of Wyoming history.

Local significance of the building:
Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 1983.