Blast From The Past: Emblem, Wyoming

My parents were vagabonds in the early 70’s, crisscrossing the States in my mom’s ’68 Firebird. I wrote of it a few years ago.

This past week on the heels of my photographic trip down memory lane, I asked my mother for a copy of a photo that was burned into my mind as a child. It was a picture of my dad standing near the Emblem, Wyoming sign.

This photo was taken in 1971:

Emblem Wyoming 1971

Here is the photo I took while on our bike trip to Yellowstone, 34 years later:

Emblem Wyoming Sign 2005

In over 3 decades the town never grew in population. I find that fact pretty amazing.

How about You?

What is the “smallest town” you’ve ever been to?

Fuzzygalore

Rachael is the whimsical writer behind the 20+ year old Girlie Motorcycle Blog. As a freelance blogger, she is on a mission to inspire laughter, self-examination, curiosity, and human connection. Girlie Motorcycle Blog can be found on several Best Motorcycle Blog lists.

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13 Responses

  1. Anja says:

    Or… they just didn’t think it’s worth changing. But – there are still people living there, did you check? I mean, so that someone could theoretically change the sign? ;))

  2. Awesome post; I love the stories of minuscule American towns. Why do they usually appear in the midwest?

    A branch of my wife’s family is from the metropolis of Askov, MN (pop. ~354). While visiting, I’ve had a couple of occasions to also visit a nearby “suburb”, Duxbury. It was a planned town that failed because the railroad didn’t come through. One can easily capture the entire “town” in one photograph; I believe it’s only 3 buildings. Sadly, there is no population sign. Though there is a small population in surrounding Wilma Township, the reported pop. of Duxbury itself is 2. That would be Bev and Joe, the couple who own and live on the grounds of the Duxbury Store, an old-school general store/social center where you can also get hot food, gasoline, hunting licenses, and weigh your bear or other critters you’ve killed.

  3. Shybiker says:

    Wow, that’s interesting. I guess when a new baby is born, they knock off one of the old guys…

  4. RichardM says:

    I think our town has been loosing population. A good percentage is Army/Air Force and their numbers have been going down over the years. Tourism is the only real industry as almost all of the oil field workers up north are from somewhere south….

  5. ShyB is right. It’s like Children of the Corn or something where they off folks to make room for the kids. In all seriousness, the pics are both very cool. Isn’t it funny how arcane stuff like that sticks with you?

  6. George F says:

    It’s amazing how some towns never change, this is the town I mentioned on Twitter today, population 17.
    Middlegate, NV. They recently lost one person 🙁
    http://goo.gl/RyFT5

  7. Kari says:

    How cool, then and now! Neat to have the pictures.
    I was kinda thinking along the lines of Shybiker…what happens when a baby is born? Deep, dark mysteries in some of the little towns. 😉

  8. GLantern says:

    That is really cool to see the places your parents also visited. My parents did a lot of traveling when they were young. I hope to follow in their foot steps soon.

  9. Marlene says:

    Zero grow is so strange that the sign turned green 😛

  10. JB says:

    I grew up in the big town of Emblem. It was a great place to live. Lots of great memories!! Thanks

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