ON A SEPTEMBER DAY IN 1905, PHOTOGRAPHER HENNING SVENSON STEPPED OFF THE TRAIN IN LARAMIE…

Inspired by the West and looking for adventure, Svenson arrived in the frontier town with one dollar in his pocket and a quest to open a photography studio.

The legacy of Henning Svenson lives on in the tens of thousands of priceless photos created by him and his descendants. For over 110 years, Anne Brande’s family has documented the growth and transformation of the of a frontier town in a romantic era. When looking at the collection of photos, the flux between the Old West and the modern era is glaringly obvious, and the transition from horse-drawn transportation to the town we know now is visually striking.

The images below show only a fraction of the entire collection. It can be seen in its entirety at the University of Wyoming’s American Heritage Center.