It's a typical day at Fort Caspar. Old tools and animal bones line the walls. A sheep wagon sits off to the side of the room. The air smells strongly of fresh-cut wood and the sounds of fiddles, violins and banjos float softly across the room.

People gathered around displays of buildings and supplies from the 19th century wonder out loud how the men once stationed here lasted without modern conveniences like electricity or central air conditioning.

But as the doors of the newly renovated Fort Caspar Museum opened to the public Saturday, they don't need to wonder anymore. Patrons now have a chance to find more information about life in Casper from pre-historic times to the late 1980's.

"It's amazing," said Natrona County Commissioner Terry Wingerter, who attended the museum's grand re-opening. "There's a lot of history in Casper and the surrounding areas and this is a nice museum."

The fort experienced a long history before it became a military post in 1862. In the 1840's, western-bound settlers passed through the site on their way across the North Platte River on the Oregon Trail. It was also part of the Mormon, California, and Pony Express trails. The site was used as a trading post, an overnight stage shop, and a telegraph office before the U.S. Army took over the fort in 1862.

The buildings at Fort Caspar were originally reconstructed in 1936, and stand today just as they would have looked in the 1800's. The original museum building was built on the property in 1982.

The museum, closed for renovation since April, boasts an additional 6,000 square feet and almost twice the exhibit space of the old museum. Community members, school officials and humanities scholars worked together to create a more useful and interesting learning space.

"We began this two years ago," said Museum Director Rick Young. "Now, we're ready to show it off to the community."

Overall, the renovation cost about $1.25 million for outside construction, paid for by the Optional One Percent No. 12 county sales tax. Interior renovations cost about $400,000, paid for by contributions from local businesses, local families or individuals, and local, regional and state government funding.

New exhibits include a pre-historic central Wyoming section, a site-specific section on historic trail routes, a community development section, an oil and gas development exhibit, and an exhibit on agriculture in central Wyoming.

A classroom is part of the museum addition, meant to attract school groups year-round, rather than only in spring months.

"The museum complements the curriculum," said Young, "and they can use the classroom while they're here."

Another new part of the facility will host traveling exhibits, temporary collections, lecture series and programs, and is also available for rent by the general public for weddings, parties or large business meetings.

"It truly is a multi-use space," said Young.

Most patrons came on Saturday to learn about parts of Casper they'd never known.

"Being new here, this certainly has given us a new look at Casper," said Beth Cannon, a parent and first time museum visitor who moved to the area last year. "It's very interesting and informative. We'd been to the [National Historic] Trails museum, but we didn't know about the development of the city until now."

Other patrons came to see parts of their own history. For Bob Colley, a long-time Casper resident and retired truck driver, the museum brought back memories of the city he used to know.

"I remember when the town was more rough," Colley said, gesturing to one of the exhibits. "There was a time when there were five saloons in a row downtown and a decent woman wouldn't walk down the west side of Center Street."

Young is glad to have the new exhibit areas to tell tales like those that Bob Colley recalls.

"Because of the limited space, we weren't able to tell all of the stories we wanted to," Young said. "Before, people thought it was a museum about the fort, but now it's really a museum about the history of central Wyoming."