The buildings which are now the museum and Town Hall were once part of the large (former) school across South Pryor Street to the west. The original school, a small wood framed building on the northwest corner of the lot, burned in about 1917. Another school replaced that and still another was built in about 1951-52. These two buildings were part of that early 1950s school. The museum was originally the school's shop, housing the Agriculture, Welding and Woodworking departments, while the town hall building was the school lunchroom. In about 1961, prior to expansion of the school in about 1962, the two buildings were jacked up and moved across South Pryor to make room for the school addition. The buildings became property of the Town of Byron and the present museum building became the town hall. In 2009, the year the school closed, town hall moved to its present building and the museum opened in its present building. Interestingly, the words "
LUNCH ROOM" are still over the town hall entrance.
The town itself was settled by a group of Mormons from Utah and Idaho, sent to Wyoming to build the Sidon Canal. This canal was the project which made settlement of Wyoming's Big Horn Basin possible by supplying irrigation water to the basin from the Shoshone River. Settlers arrived in the basin in 1900, immediately establishing the towns of Byron and Cowley and moving into the existing settlement of Lovell. It was not long until natural gas was discovered near Byron, followed by oil.
In 1905, one of the neighbors named Smith, strolled over to visit Jones. On the way, he smelled an odor not familiar to him..."You don't suppose it is gas, do you?" said Jones. "I dunno," replied Smith. Jones and Smith and a couple of Jones' sons went to find out. They dug a hole a few feet deep and someone struck a match over the hole and the results were immediate and startling. The gas ignited with a bang and Smith's whiskers were singed. A pipe was placed in the hole and dirt tamped around it to make a conductor for the gas to come from the gravel from which it had be escaping, for no one knows how long. The gas was allowed to burn at the top of the pipe and become the wonder of all the pioneer settlers, who came from miles around to view this wonder.
From a plaque in Memorial Park
Memorial Park, on the eastern end of Bryon on Main Street (Highway 14), holds a monument to the man after whom the town was named, Byron Sessions. Sessions was a leader of the group of settlers which came to Byron in 1900.
The Town of Byron was named for Byron Sessions, leader of the first group of settlers to this location on May 22, 1900. Sessions was General Manager of the Sidon Canal Construction Company and their Spiritual leader . Pioneers faced a desolate area of scrub sagebrush, prickly pear cactus, and grease wood. This fertile sandy area was home for many rattlesnakes, kangaroo rats, lizards, coyote, jack rabbits, and scorpions.
The Town of Byron was incorporated June 7, 1910. Vast oil fields, and thousands of acres of farmland surround it. The nearby Shoshone river provides abundant irrigation water, which has made the desert blossom. It is said that Byron is a place where oil and water mix. We thank the pioneers who struggled hard to make Byron a reality.
Byron Sessions was born November 7, 1851, in Salt Lake City, Utah. His parents, Perrigrine and Mary Call Sessions, were among the early pioneers to settle in the Salt Lake Valley. They had very little, and Byron, being a husky chap for his age, had to work very hard. His clothing was all made at home, even to his footwear, which were moccasins, up until he was twelve years of age, when he owned his first pair of leather shoes. His mother died when he was just a lad, and his father, together with his aunt, raised him.
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TOWN OF BYRON
A small town located between two beautiful mountain ranges, it is bordered to the south by the Shoshone River and the oil rich Sand Hills to the north. A short drive away from the Big Horn Reservoir & surrounded by miles of farm land. Byron is truly a great place to live for those who choose to enjoy Wyoming living at its best!
Byron was settled by a group of Mormon pioneers on May 22, 1900. The town was named in honor Byron Sessions, a man who was the General Manager of the Sidon Canal Construction Company. It was irrigation water from the canal they constructed that turned this area into the fertile farmland it is today.
The Town of Byron was incorporated on June 7, 1910. Today, Byron is surrounded by thousands of acres of irrigated farmlands and vast oil fields.
From the Town of Byron