Collections that were first built when CFD moved from its original location in Pioneer Park to our current site. The steel grandstands were a vast improvement over the hand-me-down wooden grandstands that served CFD’s first ten years of visitors at the event’s original location. In those early days, beggars could not be choosers, and the Frontier Committee had to use what was on hand. For the most part, those stands were sturdy and reliable. The same could not be said for the myriad of knock-together bleachers that provided cheaper seats for guests. 1899 proved to be a bad year for CFD seating when twenty feet of the bleachers collapsed, causing a few broken bones but apparently no lawsuits. From that time on, the CFD Committee was concerned about the safety of the seating and were always looking to make improvements. On February 29, 1908, the Frontier Committee discussed the location of that year’s celebration. They had the option to purchase the old Territorial Park from its
owners. This had the advantage of being a known location, but the maintenance costs were skyrocketing, and renovations would be expensive. The other option was to move to a new location north of the city. The city owned a 640-acre lot, a portion of which could be utilized. This, too, would be expensive as brand-new facilities would have to be built. In the end, it was decided that the new location was better suited to the future needs of Cheyenne Frontier Days™ and more cost-effective. The most obvious and biggest expense on the new park would be the construction of new grandstands. It was initially anticipated that the new facility would be made of wood, like its predecessors, and could accommodate up to 5,000 people. This structure, along with fresh amenities, was hoped to encourage yearround use as a race track and gathering place. On March 14, the plans for the new stands were revealed. Designed by Cheyenne Architect William Dubois, the stands could
accommodate 4,000 people and cost no more than $10,000. The design called for a structure with two tiers. The lower tier seats would be luxuriously appointed for guests willing to pay premium seating prices. The upper deck would feature seating similar to the grandstands in the old park but be considerably higher, offering people in the top row a view of the arena and surrounding countryside fiftythree feet in the air, prompting some editors to comment that the new grandstand would look like the Eiffel Tower. The grandstand location would be placed on the west side of the arena to protect spectators from the sun and dust from the event, something many had complained about in the old park arrangement in which every seat faced south. Under commission from the Frontier Committee, Dubois began discussions with metal fabricators and bridge companies in Denver who recommended building the new structure out of steel and concrete instead, making it absolutely fireproof for a cost of $12,000. A feature of this new stand is that it would buck tradition and be accessed by staircases at the back instead of requiring patrons to enter from the front. The CFD Committee approved the plans, with seating further reduced to 3,500, reasoning that the durability and lack of needed maintenance would more than counterbalance the cost. The new grandstands as they appeared in the Wyoming State Tribune - August 4, 1908
24