Freedom, WY

Freedom is an unincorporated community in both northeastern Caribou County, Idaho, and northwestern Lincoln County, Wyoming, in the United States; the Wyoming portion of the community is also a census-designated place. The 2020 census counted 247 residents. Freedom was established in 1879, and today it remains the oldest settlement in the Star Valley. Similar to Colorado City, Arizona and Hildale, Utah, the community was settled as a border town by Mormon polygamists in order to escape arrest for polygamy: they could be free from Idaho police simply by walking into Wyoming. The through line in Freedom is the way its history and present-day settings remain visible on the same map.

Freedom makes the most sense through those concrete details, with its history still visible in the settings people use today. Located on U.S. Route 89 and Idaho State Highway 34, Freedom sits on the Idaho/Wyoming state line. Freedom lies northeast of Soda Springs, the county seat of Caribou County, and north of Kemmerer, the county seat of Lincoln County; the nearest significant community is Afton, Wyoming, approximately 20 miles to the south, along U.S.