Why did the people of Cowley read the Declaration out loud on July 8?

Weren’t they four days late?

Why did people in Cowley and across Wyoming gather to read the Declaration of Independence aloud on July 8? It seems they were several days late. Wasn’t the Declaration signed on July 4? We all know that.

Well, it turns out that communities from Cowley to Cheyenne, and from Gillette to Rawlins, knew a fascinating piece of American history.

July 8 is historical, as well.

While July 4, 1776, marks the day the Continental Congress adopted the final wording of the Declaration of Independence, it was July 8, 1776, when ordinary Americans heard those famous words for the first time. On that day, the Declaration was read publicly in the yard of the Pennsylvania State House, now known as Independence Hall, in Philadelphia. Colonel John Nixon stood before a large crowd and proclaimed that the 13 colonies were now “Free and Independent States.”

Public readings of the Declaration have taken place many times throughout American history but this year carried special significance. As the United States celebrated its 250th anniversary, communities across the nation planned public readings to honor not only the document itself but also the moment when its words first echoed through the streets and reached the ears of the American people.

Cowley joined that nationwide celebration.

On a warm July evening, despite the heat and a few persistent mosquitoes, families gathered on the lawn of the Cowley Museum. Some brought lawn chairs while others stood beneath the shade of the trees as neighbors took turns reading one of the most important documents in American history.

The event was organized by Edie and Mac Crosby. Edie opened the evening with a brief historical introduction explaining why July 8, rather than July 4, was chosen for the community reading.

The Declaration was then shared by local residents, each reading a section aloud. Readers included Richard Despain, John Bernhisel, Sherie Monk, Meredith Despain, Dexter Woodis, Max Lewis, Stacey Tippetts, Genevieve Mann, Wendy Fuller and Bryan Baird.

The evening wasn’t about politics or ceremony. It was about taking time to hear the words that helped shape a nation, much as thousands of Americans first heard them 250 years ago.

For a little while, the lawn outside the Cowley Museum became connected to a tradition stretching back to that July afternoon in Philadelphia in 1776, when the Declaration of Independence ceased to be simply ink on parchment and became the public proclamation of a new nation.