When the Wyoming Capitol restoration was completed in 2019 and the building reopened to the public, an interior phase of the project intended to welcome and engage visitors was just getting started. 

Thursday marks the unveiling of that project, known as the Capitol Square exhibits. 

Designed to blend in with the building’s architecture and style, the exhibit showcases stories of the Capitol and the history of Wyoming’s government. It’s also meant to shepherd visitors who enter the People’s House without a trusty guide. 

“Unless someone is walking you through the building and telling you the stories, you don’t necessarily know all the magic that is here,” Legislative Service Office Special Projects Manager Wendy Madsen told reporters during a preview tour last week. 

Wyoming Legislative Service Office Special Projects Manager Wendy Madsen speaks about the Suffrage Hall exhibit in the State Capitol on Tuesday, July 1, 2025 in Cheyenne. (Milo Gladstein/Wyoming Tribune Eagle)

The exhibits cater to different learning styles — visual, auditory and hands-on — as well as different visitor types — skimmers, browsers and gorgers. They also feature lesser-known Equality State figures that even history buffs may not be familiar with. 

Take Lizabeth Wiley, for example, a bookseller who ran for Greybull mayor in 1924 to chase the Ku Klux Klan out of town. Wiley won and largely fulfilled her campaign promise. Her portrait now overlooks the Nellie Tayloe Ross Executive Conference Room in the west wing of the Capitol’s first level, now named Suffrage Hall. 

Another intention of the project is to make clear that the People’s House belongs to everyone. 

“These exhibits are more than beautiful displays—they are a powerful invitation for every Wyomingite to feel at home in their Capitol,” Sen. Bill Landen, R-Casper, said in a statement. “Through vivid storytelling, hands-on engagement, and a celebration of our proud firsts, we’re ensuring that every visitor walks away with a deeper sense of belonging and a renewed pride in our state’s rich legacy and leadership.”

Landen co-chaired the Capitol Square Interpretive Exhibits and Wayfinding Subcommittee with State Auditor Kristi Racines, alongside State Treasurer Curt Meier, Superintendent of Public Instruction Megan Degenfelder and Reps. Bob Nicholas, R-Cheyenne, and Trey Sherwood, D-Laramie, as members. 

Wyoming State Auditor Kristi Racines speaks about a new interactive exhibit in the State Capitol on Tuesday, July 1, 2025 in Cheyenne. (Milo Gladstein/Wyoming Tribune Eagle)

Having an equal split between the executive and legislative branches on the committee, Racines told reporters, required consensus building since nobody could overrule anyone else. 

Thursday’s opening, which falls on Wyoming Statehood Day, features a variety of free activities, including guided tours, history talks, a theatrical performance and activities for children. 

From noon to 8 p.m., visitors are also encouraged to bring a picnic blanket or lawn chair to enjoy food trucks, music and military vehicle displays on the north side of the Capitol grounds. 

Guided tours will need to be reserved in advance online. A full schedule of events can be found here. 

Maggie Mullen reports on state government and politics. Before joining WyoFile in 2022, she spent five years at Wyoming Public Radio.

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  1. Thanks for this story. Wednesday will be a great day of celebration plus an opportunity to be grateful for our country, our state and for the people that stepped up to make a positive difference. The restoration and preservation of our historic capitol was not easy. Legislators with vision took great political risk to ensure it would be something we (and future generations) can be proud of, enjoy, work in, and engage respectfully in the governing of our beautiful state.

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