Bosler, WY

Bosler is a neat little ghost of the past dozing along the old “Lincoln Highway” (US 30/287), about 19 miles north of Laramie, and just 1.6 miles north of the junction of US 30/287 with State Highway (SH) 34, in the heart of Albany County. Now mostly abandoned, this still incorporated little roadtown has a large number of unoccupied buildings.

The town was named after Frank Bosler, the owner of the Diamond Ranch, one of the major early-day ranches in the area. It began life as a railroad-shipping center for the ranch, and in 1908 a post office was established. A few years later in 1912, the highway followed the railroad tracks and Bosler began to take on airs of a roadtown as well. By the mid 1920s, Bosler had 75 people and a cluster of active businesses. It continued to grow slowly and by 1940 had 264 people.

When the interstate bypassed the area in 1972 the town was isolated from main travel routes and began fading rapidly. The post office closed and the town died.

By 1990 only 50 people remained, and I don’t think that many even remain today. At the time of our visit in the summer of 2000, there were only three occupied mobile homes and old houses and a Nubian Dairy Goat breeder. Doc’s Western Village, a furniture/antique shop/used cars and trucks place was open. Some of the still identifiable buildings remaining in Bosler included a ramshackle motel, cream-colored clapboard library and the multi-colored, two-story brick school whose playground is full of old cars and vans.

Bosler is a prime example of what can be found by traveling the back roads of the United States.

This is one of the towns featured in my newest book, GHOST TOWNS: Yesterday & Today^TM^.

This was our GHOST TOWN OF THE MONTH for December 2004.

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FIRST POSTED: December 02, 2004

LAST UPDATED: August 21, 2009

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