Shane Smith Grand Conservatory (Cheyenne Botanic Gardens)

The Cheyenne Botanic Gardens began in 1977 as the Cheyenne Community Solar Greenhouse, a 5,000-square-foot solar greenhouse outside the city limits. Its founder, the horticulturist Shane Smith, at first gave his time as a volunteer; the aim was to offer senior citizens meaningful work that produced food. The project soon relied on an unusual mix of volunteers: older residents, young people working off court fines and disabled adults placed through a partnership with Goodwill, an arrangement Smith later described as a social experiment.

In 1986 a Community Development grant of 395,000 dollars allowed the greenhouse to move to Lions Park, where it was renamed the Cheyenne Botanic Gardens and joined the city's Parks and Recreation Department, growing some 50,000 bedding plants a year for the city's parks. National distinctions followed, among them a presidential award in 1986 and a Point of Light award in 1990. A nonprofit Friends organisation, formed in 1993, made it possible to expand through donations, and in 2009 the Paul Smith Children's Garden, designed by Herb Schaal, became the first LEED-certified children's garden.

The Grand Conservatory, the latest stage of this growth, was completed and opened in 2017. Shane Smith, who led the gardens from 1977 to 2018, lent his name to the building, dedicated as the Shane Smith Grand Conservatory on 18 September 2019.

Solar energy shaped the gardens from the outset. The first building was a 5,000-square-foot solar greenhouse, and the early facilities were heated entirely by the sun; photovoltaic panels and wind generators were added later. The conservatory built in Lions Park in 1986 covers 6,800 square feet, about 630 m², and consists of three greenhouses, all of which relied on solar energy when they opened.

The Grand Conservatory, completed in 2017, stands directly beside the main gardens. It rises three storeys under a glass roof and brings together several distinct spaces rather than a single hall: a tropical house, a baroque-style orangerie, a bonsai house and landscapes evoking desert, Mediterranean and prehistoric settings. The building also houses an authentic 42-foot (about 13 m) Navy submarine periscope, which the gardens present as the first ever installed in a botanic garden. The sources consulted do not name the architect of the 2017 building or give its floor area.

The Grand Conservatory is planted above all with lush tropical vegetation, but it shares its space among several distinct collections. The baroque-style orangerie is filled with citrus trees, the bonsai house displays miniature trees, and further sections evoke desert, Mediterranean and prehistoric landscapes, bringing the flora of very different climates under one roof in a city set on a high, dry plain.

The gardens have always combined display with production: after the move to Lions Park they grew about 50,000 bedding plants a year for the city's parks. Outdoors, the 9-acre site adds twenty-seven specialty landscapes, including rose, herb and sensory gardens.

The conservatory is part of the Cheyenne Botanic Gardens in Lions Park, directly adjacent to the main gardens. Allow one to two hours to combine the glasshouses with the outdoor grounds: nine acres and twenty-seven specialty landscapes, from the rose and sensory gardens to the Discovery Pond and a garden labyrinth. Families can continue to the Paul Smith Children's Garden, opened in 2009. Engine 1242, described as Wyoming's oldest locomotive, is displayed on the site. On Cheyenne's high, dry plains the tropical conservatory makes a striking contrast, especially in winter.