For this #TBT, we continue our journey down the Tongue River Water Trail, checking out SCLT’s recently installed signs which highlight historic events, themes, and figures nearby. Come ashore with us at Dana Avenue to learn about the history of Thorne Rider Park.
Thorne-Rider Stadium was established after Count Frederic Thorne-Rider tuned into a KWYO Saturday morning radio series. The radio program featured three local sports enthusiasts who were discussing active local sports programs and the community’s lack of proper facilities to support them. During the program there was an announcement that a drive was in the planning stages to raise money to build a stadium with a “ballpark” estimate of $20,000. After the radio broadcast, Count Thorne-Rider made a few phone calls and arrangements were made with the City of Sheridan clerk for the contributions of Count and Countess Thorne-Rider for the whole “ballpark” estimate. The task of construction fell to the Sheridan Athletic Association. A year later, the stadium opened in 1950. Provisions from the Thorne-Rider Foundation enabled further development of the stadium property and to fulfill the vision “for the enjoyment of the adults and youths of the Sheridan community.”
Count Frederic Thorne-Rider was originally from Jersey City, New Jersey, and came to Wyoming for a summer visit. In 1899, he was fresh out of college and planned to return to New Jersey to open a law practice. The mountains and open prairies kept him into the autumn and then to see Wyoming’s winter season. He worked at Big Red Ranch, present day Ucross, as a bookkeeper. He stayed for five years before returning to see the Atlantic Ocean, because of his health. He married Harriet Hartog in 1920. In 1936, during War War II they lived in Buffalo, Wyoming, for about 10 years then moved to Sheridan where they lived for the rest of their lives.
Special thanks to Bob Wilson. “The Good That Lives After Them” Sheridan, WY 1982
Photo courtesy of The Thorne-Rider Foundation
