Special Submission from Carbon County 250 Committee
by Tim Nicklas
Photo – Reverse of 1976 coins from author’s personal collection – Courtesy Tim Nicklas
In 1976, a celebration swept across this great Nation of ours, the bicentennial of the signing of the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America. The Declaration, of course, was the origin of our Country.
There were small and large celebrations in big cities and little towns all across the USA. Everywhere one looked, there were red, white, and blue colors with white stars on display.
In the middle of all that celebration in the summer of 1976, my parents took my two brothers and me on an epic road trip vacation from Colorado Springs to southern California in a 1972 Ford Pinto station wagon. We had no air conditioning as we travelled across the scorching summer desert of the southwest. To help fight off the heat, my dad placed cardboard in the back windows of the tiny station wagon to keep the direct sunlight off my brothers and me as we played in the back with the backseat folded down, giving us more room and freedom. Of course, this was something that could never happen today.
One of the things I remember most from the Bicentennial celebration was watching George Washington in his full military uniform ride Shamu, the killer whale at Sea World in San Diego. Also, I received a commemorative coin set of the special quarters, half dollars, and dollar coins that year to celebrate the Spirit of ’76.
Having been born, raised, and living in Colorado – the Centennial State – 1976 was extra special and the State of Colorado issued commemorative license plates (my dad, along with many Coloradans who had the 1976 license plates, still has them hanging in his garage) and funded many projects to celebrate the Centennial/Bicentennial celebrations and leave legacies to last for many years beyond 1976.
Little did I know that I was to benefit from one of those legacy projects years later. Many museums were opened or expanded as a result of Centennial/Bicentennial legacy funding, including the Grand County Pioneer Village Museum in Hot Sulphur Springs, Colorado. I had volunteered and done research at that museum for a long time and after several years of trying to recruit me to work there I became the director of the Grand County Pioneer Village Museum.
It was my work at the Grand County Museum that led me to being hired as the director of the Grand Encampment Museum (GEM) in 2008. Just like in Colorado and most other parts of the country, Wyoming had a Bicentennial celebration legacy fund.
Even though the Grand Encampment Museum is not a result of legacy project funding in 1976, the museum did benefit greatly from a Bicentennial project, the GEM of southern Wyoming’s famed Two-Story Outhouse! It was Bicentennial celebration funds that paid for the construction of arguably the Grand Encampment Museum’s most famous exhibit. Furthermore, thousands upon thousands of visitors from throughout the world of been intrigued by this eight-seated architectural marvel.
2-Story outhouse at Grand Encampment Museum – Courtesy Grand Encampment Museum
Flash-forward 50 years to the semi quincentennial celebration of America and Wyoming has once again funded legacy projects for the 2026 birthday party. Two projects that I have been involved with are films that will be of benefit for many years to come.
One film, “Legacy for a Nation: Journey’s to Carbon County, Wyoming”, was done with the Carbon County 250 Committee, of which I am part. The film was funded by Discover Carbon County and filmed throughout the county. It will show scenes during the summer of 2026 all over Carbon County and then will be available to view for many years and decades, being a tribute to Carbon County during the semi quincentennial birthday of our nation.
