Photo Credit: A view of Prexy’s Pasture today – UW Athletics Media Relations
References to this name appear in the early 20th century, but according to most sources, it was formally applied during the administration of UW president Arthur Crane in the 1920s. Legend has it that the first UW president, John Hoyt, watched Aven Nelson, a distinguished professor of Botany at the time, shoot rabbits in the pasture. The name supposedly refers to a hard-to-find university regulation that, along with a salary, the university president, or “prexy,” be given exclusive use of the pasture to tether his horse.
“Prexy’s” has been the center mall of the campus from the beginning of the 20th century and the site of numerous memorable University incidents. On the southwestern corner, the first UW football field was set up when players used leather helmets and little padding. During the 1930s and 1940s, temporary fencing was installed on occasion in order for the area to accommodate a few days of rodeo events. The rest of the area was part of a sale of land to the University by the Union Pacific Railroad.
In September 1965, the Board of Trustees voted to construct the Science Center on the western half of Prexy’s. After substantial opposition to the plan emerged, the board decided to locate the facility in the parking lot east of the Student Union and only later agreed to build on the current location. In the course of the controversy, a law was passed by the legislature ensuring that no structure would be built on the pasture without legislative approval. This law is still on the books.
In May 1970, just two days after the Ohio National Guard shot anti-war demonstrators on the Kent State campus, hundreds of Wyoming students marched to the flagpole on Prexy’s Pasture to demonstrate their shock over the incident. With the support of University President William Carlson, Gov. Stan Hathaway ordered highway patrolmen and national guardsmen to end the demonstration. A confrontation was avoided, however, by the cool-headed intervention of Laramie law enforcement officers. After an all-night vigil around the flagpole, the student demonstrators dispersed and the flag was left flying. This was in striking contrast to the violence three years earlier that ended only after police were called to break up a boisterous crowd of fraternity members and male dorm residents attending a “panty raid” at several sorority houses.
The statue known as “Wyoming Family,” by famed artist and UW Professor of Art Robert Russin, was added to the pasture in 1983 in anticipation of the forthcoming Centennial year celebrations held in 1987. East of the statue and beneath the sidewalk is a time capsule buried by ASUW to be unearthed and opened during the University’s Bicentennial year in 2086. The spot is marked with a plaque.
Once there were streets and diagonal parking for faculty in the broad walkways around the perimeter of Prexy’s Pasture. In the 1990s, however, the decision was made to change this part of the campus to a pedestrian zone. Plazas have been added in three of the four corners, landscaped with Sherman granite boulders and native plants. As you walk through campus, take a moment to rest in Cheney, Simpson or Sullivan plazas.
References to this name appear in the early 20th century, but according to most sources, it was formally applied during the administration of UW president Arthur Crane in the 1920s. Legend has it that the first UW president, John Hoyt, watched Aven Nelson, a distinguished professor of Botany at the time, shoot rabbits in the pasture. The name supposedly refers to a hard-to-find university regulation that, along with a salary, the university president, or “prexy,” be given exclusive use of the pasture to tether his horse.
“Prexy’s” has been the center mall of the campus from the beginning of the 20th century and the site of numerous memorable University incidents. On the southwestern corner, the first UW football field was set up when players used leather helmets and little padding. During the 1930s and 1940s, temporary fencing was installed on occasion in order for the area to accommodate a few days of rodeo events. The rest of the area was part of a sale of land to the University by the Union Pacific Railroad.
In September 1965, the Board of Trustees voted to construct the Science Center on the western half of Prexy’s. After substantial opposition to the plan emerged, the board decided to locate the facility in the parking lot east of the Student Union and only later agreed to build on the current location. In the course of the controversy, a law was passed by the legislature ensuring that no structure would be built on the pasture without legislative approval. This law is still on the books.
In May 1970, just two days after the Ohio National Guard shot anti-war demonstrators on the Kent State campus, hundreds of Wyoming students marched to the flagpole on Prexy’s Pasture to demonstrate their shock over the incident. With the support of University President William Carlson, Gov. Stan Hathaway ordered highway patrolmen and national guardsmen to end the demonstration. A confrontation was avoided, however, by the cool-headed intervention of Laramie law enforcement officers. After an all-night vigil around the flagpole, the student demonstrators dispersed and the flag was left flying. This was in striking contrast to the violence three years earlier that ended only after police were called to break up a boisterous crowd of fraternity members and male dorm residents attending a “panty raid” at several sorority houses.
The statue known as “Wyoming Family,” by famed artist and UW Professor of Art Robert Russin, was added to the pasture in 1983 in anticipation of the forthcoming Centennial year celebrations held in 1987. East of the statue and beneath the sidewalk is a time capsule buried by ASUW to be unearthed and opened during the University’s Bicentennial year in 2086. The spot is marked with a plaque.
Once there were streets and diagonal parking for faculty in the broad walkways around the perimeter of Prexy’s Pasture. In the 1990s, however, the decision was made to change this part of the campus to a pedestrian zone. Plazas have been added in three of the four corners, landscaped with Sherman granite boulders and native plants. As you walk through campus, take a moment to rest in Cheney, Simpson or Sullivan plazas.
-
University of Wyoming
