Patrick J. Quealy (1857-1930) founded Kemmerer as an "independent town" in 1897 with the formation six miles south of town of the Kemmerer Coal Company, of which he was Vice-President. He named the company and town after his financial backer, Pennsylvania coal magnate Mahlon S. Kemmerer (1843-1925). In 1950, the operation converted to strip mining and became the world'd largest open pit coal mine. In 1980 the Kemmerer Coal Co. was sold to the Pittsburg & Midway Coal Company, now a subsidiary of the Chevron Corporation. Quealy sold lots, rather than lease them, which permitted the establishment of independent businesses. The company's subsidiary, Frontier Supply Company provided electricity, utililizing a used $1,150.00 generator acquired in Utah. Quealy was originally from Ireland. In Wyoming, he and his wife became active in Democratic Party politics and in St. Patrick's Church, for which the company donated land. Quealy was the founding president of the First National Bank, established in 1900. Kemmerer Savings Bank, founded in 1909, had as its president, manager of the Blyth-Fargo-Hoskins Company, Asbury D. Hoskins, who was elected state treasurer in 1919. Explorer John C. Freemont had discovered coal in the area during his second expedition in 1843. The Union Pacific Coal Co. had opened the first underground mine in 1881 after construction of the Oregon Short Line Railroad from Granger to Oregon. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kemmerer%2C_Wyoming