Sinclair

History

The town was originally called Parco, after the Producers & Refiners Corporation (or PARCO), which founded the refinery and the company town. It was renamed Sinclair after PARCO was acquired during the Great Depression by Sinclair Consolidated Oil Corporation. The original refinery, located just east of town, remains in use to this day. Sinclair's population was 433 at the 2010 census. The town was built as a planned community in 1924–1925, designed by Denver architects Fisher & Fisher in a Spanish Colonial Revival style. The historic center of town was designated the Parco Historic District in 1987. Just six miles east of Sinclair is the ghost town site of Benton, Wyoming at milepost 672.1 of the Union Pacific Railroad. As the terminal of the railroad at the time, Benton had a colorful three-month history which ended in September 1868 with a visit from Republican presidential candidate Ulysses S. Grant and the departure of the final overland wagon trains on the Mormon Trail headed for the Salt Lake Valley before completion of the railroad the following year. Three miles east of the Benton site is Fort Fred Steele State Historic Site. The original Ft. Steele was named for American Civil War Union General Frederick Steele and established June 20, 1868, to protect the Union Pacific Railway as it rapidly expanded west. The fort was deactivated August 7, 1886, and most of the buildings at the fort were sold and moved to the settlement which had grown up around the fort and other locations. The small community continued until 1939 when the Lincoln Highway was paved and rerouted to coincide with what later became Interstate 80. In 1940, following the short-lived Supreme Court decision Minersville School District v. Gobitis, residents tarred and feathered the…

Geography

Sinclair is located at (41.780782, –107.116826). According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , all land.

Race & ethnicity

Largest nearby schools

• Rawlins Elementary
  Elementary · Rawlins · 646 students · 10.4:1 ratio
• Rawlins High School
  High · Rawlins · 422 students · 14.1:1 ratio
• Rawlins Middle School
  Middle · Rawlins · 332 students · 10.7:1 ratio
• Little Snake River Valley School
  Other · Baggs · 187 students · 9.3:1 ratio
• Victory High School
  High · Rawlins · 56 students · 28:1 ratio