There is no family more closely interwoven with the growth and development of
Cheyenne than the Dinneens," read an article in 1936 by the Wyoming Eagle. The Dinneen family has been a part of the Cheyenne landscape from May 15, 1879 from the arrival of Maurice and Margaret Dinneen, who came west following the promise of a homestead four miles west of Cheyenne. Maurice was involved in Frontier Days
from the outset. In 1898 he served on what was then the Frontier Rodeo Board.

William E. Dinneen, Maurice’s son, was perfectly suited to the frontier lifestyle. W.E. set up a livery stable which specialized in buckboards for settlers. His business grew and adapted with new technologies, such as rubber tires and, in 1906, the horseless buggy became their family business. In 1924, he acquired the city street car company and started the Cheyenne Motor Bus Company and he built the Dinneen Building in 1927 as a showroom for his vehicles.

W.E. was a visionary with a purpose of building a greater Cheyenne and Wyoming.
Following his father's influence, W.E. served on the rodeo board in 1899. In 1906,
He became one of five members of the third Cheyenne Frontier Days Committee and served as Parade Chairman until 1909 and again in 1915. In 1908, W.E. led the effort to raise $20,000 to move the rodeo from Pioneer Park to its present location in Frontier Park, and to build a Grandstand.

W.J. Dinneen, W.E.'s son was born in 1897. Deeply involved in family business, he made great contributions to the future of Cheyenne by securing our water supply as part of the Cheyenne Board of Public Utilities. W.J. Dinneen continued family tradition and was closely associated with Cheyenne Frontier Days. He served as Parade Chairman for Frontier Days in 1935 and 1936 and was a founding member of the Heels. His wife, Anna McGarry Dinneen was a member of the first group of women who organized the parades and costumes and later became known as
the W-Heels. Two of their children made significant contributions to CFD as well. W.J. Dinneen Jr. (Bill) joined as the third generation to carry on the Dinneen downtown DeSoto Plymouth business, which later grew to incorporate Lincoln Mercury. Bill served as Parade Chairman from 1969-1971 and served on the planning committee which oversaw the construction of our "B" steel grandstand and Exhibition Hall, for which he received an award recognizing his outstanding service to Cheyenne Frontier Days. In 1951, Bill married Marietta Trowbridge Dinneen, who
has become legendary for her deep knowledge and love of the Cheyenne Frontier
Days carriages. Marietta, has herself been inducted into the Cheyenne Frontier Days Hall of Fame in 2002. Bill was also a member of the Heels and the Buckle Club and loved to judge the Chuck Wagon Races.

Ann Dinneen Smith, the granddaughter ofW.E. and daughter ofW.J. was also active in Frontier Days. In 1947, she became the sixteenth Miss Frontier and continues
the family legacy as a fifty year member ofW-Heels. Ann, herself an entrepreneur, was one of the first women to own and operate a large Real Estate Company in California and Wyoming. She started the first multiple listing services for realtors in Cheyenne and brought the first Century-21 and ReMax national real estate franchises to the state of Wyoming. Ann is the mother of seven children and a long time breast cancer survivor. Ann is the author of "The Queen Book," an ongoing history chronicling the story of Miss Frontier as well as the author of "The Dinneen Family History" - a story dedicated to the families such as the Dinneens who raised their children here, changing this open prairie that was neither pretty nor comfortable into a civilization of proud and strong people.

The Dinneen family is best described as having an innate public spirit, who gave
extensively of their time, energy and ability - none of whom sought any public
recognition for their efforts.

"This story is dedicated to all the brave and courageous men and women who one hundred and fifty years ago settled in the prairie. The prairie where the mountains
were so very far away-and where there were no trees to frame the view. There was only the land with short grasses and lengthening shadows .. And ... the dream ... "by Ann Dinneen Smith - "The Dinneen Family History."