A series where we take a #lookback at the stories and history of our community, brought to you by Mick Pryor, Financial Advisor with Edward Jones.
“Elect Herb Hollenbeck, House, Wyoming State Legislature, Democrat” reads a campaign poster recently donated to Riverton Museum. Hollenbeck ran in the 1962 election to be a Wyoming State Representative for Fremont County.
Hollenbeck had been a resident of Wyoming for 20 years before running for office. He, his wife Hazel, and their three children moved to Pavillion in 1942 from Westerville, Nebraska.
Herb (b. 1910) was born to Herbert and Maude Pearl Baker Hollenbeck who married in 1907 and had three children. He and Hazel grew up in the same community and married on January 24th, 1931. They made their living farming and struggled in Nebraska during the 1930s droughts and Dust Bowl.
Looking for a new start, Hollenbeck moved to Riverton in 1941. He found work and eventually bought the Ed O’Hara homestead near Pavillion in 1942. Here, he and Hazel ran their farm until 1955, cultivating dry beans as well as cattle and alfalfa on their Crowheart properties.
After thirteen years and two more children, they sold the farm and Crowheart leases, moving to the east edge of Riverton where they bought five and a half acres. On this land, they operated a mobile home park called the Park Avenue Village for eleven years. This venture was incredibly successful as the steel plant in South Pass had recently opened and the uranium mills were being built. These industries created jobs, jobs enticed workers, and workers needed homes. In fact, Herb and Hazel expanded their operation, buying another five and a half acres.
It was during this time that Hollenbeck ran for political office. The year 1962, however, did not fare well for Democrats in Wyoming. Republican candidates won every state office as well as the U.S. congressional and senate seats. This complete sweep of the political landscape had only occurred once previously in 1950.
Hollenbeck won the Democratic primary but lost in the general election to Fremont W. Miller, the incumbent Republican state representative. Miller had served in the Wyoming House since 1959 and would stay in office until 1965, when he ran and was elected to the Wyoming Senate (1967-1971).
Unseating incumbent politicians is never an easy job, especially when they share their name with the county they are representing.
Eventually, Herb and Hazel retired in 1968 and built a home on Riverview Road in Riverton. Hollenbeck went on to write a series of short stories that he published as books. These stories as Hollenbeck stated himself “cover[ed] many miscellaneous subjects.” His last book Odds and Ends, published in 1982, includes poems, stories, and thoughts on happenings of the time. He even included a recollection of a road trip around the United States that he, Hazel, and his son Dennis took in 1946. Of New York he states “[t]he overpasses and underpasses and traffic circles in and around New York is expert planning, but hard for a greenhorn to figure out. The people whom I talked to in the Bronx had the hard different accent that they are noted for.”
Herb and Hazel had many adventures and an expanding family. By the time of Hazel’s death in 2013 they had fourteen grandchildren, twenty-one great grandchildren, and twenty-two great-great grandchildren. They were married for 62 years before Herb’s death in 1993.
For over 30 years, Riverton was home for the Hollenbecks. They traded hardship in Nebraska for prosperity and security in Wyoming. By writing his stories and having them held in Riverton Museum, people will be able to rediscover Herb Hollenbeck, his family, and many others like them for decades to come.
Next up for the Fremont County Museum
June 4, 6pm at the Riverton Museum, “The Murder of Andrew Jackson Cooper” By Mark Stratmoen, Wyoming Community Bank Discovery Speakers Series
June 7, 8:30am with the Riverton Museum, “South Pass City Adventure Trek” Wind River Visitor’s Council Adventure Trek Series
June 11, 10am with the Dubois Museum, “Historic T-Cross Ranch Tour” Wind River Visitor’s Council Adventure Trek Series
June 12, 6:30pm at the Pioneer Museum, “Life in the Coal Camps” Wyoming Community Bank Discovery Speakers Series
June 14, 11am at the Riverton Museum, “National Bighorn Sheep Center at the Riverton Museum” Bailey tire/Pit Stop Children’s Exploration Series
June 14, 10am with the Pioneer Museum, “Atlantic City Cemetery Trek” Wind River Visitor’s Council Adventure Trek Series
June 14, 10am at the Dubois Museum, “Kids Corner: Natures Hide and Seek” Bailey tire/Pit Stop Children’s Exploration Series
Oct 4, TBA at the Lander Community Center, “Rare Relics Roadshow” Wind River Cultural Centers Foundation
Call the Dubois Museum 1-307-455-2284, the Pioneer Museum 1-307-332-3339 or the Riverton Museum 1-307-856-2665 for detail regarding their programs.
The Dubois Museum, the Pioneer Museum in Lander and the Riverton Museum need your financial support. In the current economic environment, the museums are more reliant than ever on donations from the private sector to continue to provide the quality programs, collections management, exhibits and services that have become their hallmark over the last four years. Please make your tax deductible contribution through the Wind River Cultural Centers Foundation www.windriverccf.com or by sending a check to Fremont County Museums 450 N 2nd Rm 320 or taking it directly to the museum you choose to support.