Warren AFB, WY

Warren AFB is a census-designated place centered on F.E. Warren Air Force Base on the west side of Cheyenne, Wyoming. The installation began as Fort D.A. Russell in 1867, a cavalry post protecting the Overland routes and later the Union Pacific corridor. Its name changed to Fort Francis E. Warren in 1930 for Wyoming’s territorial governor and first state governor, a Civil War veteran and Medal of Honor recipient. The post’s older layers remain visible in its historic homes, parade grounds, and tree-lined military streets.

The Air Force took over in 1947, but Warren’s aviation chapter is modest: the only airfield was a dirt strip, never a modern pilot base. Its later importance came from missiles and strategic defense, especially the Minuteman ICBM mission spread across the Wyoming, Nebraska, and Colorado plains. The local scoop is that Warren AFB is a base with a cavalry skeleton and a missile-age job: the map says Air Force, but the oldest buildings still tell a Fort Russell story.