1921 Mission and Pueblo Revival mansion, now UW's American Studies home, with staff ghost accounts
1313 East Lewis Street, Laramie, WY 82070
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Drive-by viewing only; the building is an active University of Wyoming academic facility, not a public attraction.
Access
Limited Access
Residential campus-edge streetscape view
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1921 · National Register of Historic Places (1983) · Only Mission/Pueblo Revival mansion of its kind in Wyoming · Designed by Laramie architect Wilbur Hitchcock · Home of the University of Wyoming American Studies program
Frank Cooper was an English-born cattle rancher and oil and mineral-rights investor whose holdings tied him to Wyoming. After his death in 1918, his children Richard, John, and Barbara Cooper commissioned a Laramie residence designed by the noted local architect Wilbur Hitchcock. Built in 1921, the house drew on a property one of the Coopers had seen in Santa Barbara, California, and combines Mission Revival and Pueblo Revival elements. It is regarded as the only structure of its kind in the state, which is a large part of its architectural significance.
The Cooper family connection to the house ran into the late 1970s; Barbara Cooper died in 1979, shortly before the property changed hands. The University of Wyoming purchased the mansion in 1980 and adapted it for academic use. It now serves as the home of the American Studies program, providing classrooms, faculty offices, and gathering space.
The Cooper Mansion was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1983. It sits on a landscaped lot near the edge of the University of Wyoming campus and remains an active University facility rather than a public museum, so visitors view it from the surrounding sidewalks.
Sources
The Cooper House's reputation as a haunted building comes mainly from the people who work in it. In a Public News Service feature, an office manager described hearing footsteps in the back kitchen area, assuming faculty were upstairs, and finding no one there when she checked. A night custodian reported a bathroom door that kept shutting on her, as if someone were holding it. The office manager, who has spent years in the building, said she believes more than one presence may be there and that the activity is mostly benign.
Other campus accounts have circulated as well, including a student who became frightened enough while studying at night that she stopped coming after dark. The stories travel through University of Wyoming lore and Laramie ghost-tour talk, but the most concrete reports trace back to staff who spend their workdays in the house.
The University presents the building first as a working American Studies facility, and the ghost stories sit alongside that as part of its character. Because the house is an active office space and not a public attraction, visitors should view it from the street rather than seeking entry.
View the exterior of the 1921 Cooper Mansion from the public sidewalk on the edge of the University of Wyoming campus. Its Mission and Pueblo Revival design is unusual for the region; the interior is an active American Studies academic space and is not open for public tours.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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