Changes

| death_date=December 23, 1973<br> (aged 84)

| death_date=December 23, 1973<br> (aged 84)

| death_place=Cody, Park County<br>[[Wyoming]]​

| death_place=Cody, Park County<br>[[Wyoming]]​

|spouse=Irma Larom​<br>

|spouse=Irma Elizabeth Larom​<br>

No children

No children

|party=[[Republican Party|Republican]]​

|party=[[Republican Party|Republican]]​

==Background==​

==Background==​

Born in [[New York City]], Larom's father was a prominent [[business]]man. It was at first  assumed that Larry also would become an urban merchant. However, Larom attended [[Buffalo Bill]]’s Wild West Show in [[Madison Square Garden]] in 1909, and that experience inspired him to travel to Cody in northwestern Wyoming the following year for a summer vacation on Jim McLaughlin’s Valley Home Ranch. After three more summer visits there, he decided to become a dude rancher. He persuaded a fellow New Yorker, Winthrop Brooks, to become his partner in the purchase and operation of Valley Ranch on the south fork of the Shoshone River. Larom and Brooks, scions of wealthy New York families and educated at [[Princeton University]], had an advantage in selling the concept of a dude ranch vacation to members of their social class. In a few years Brooks left the partnership and was later the president of Brooks Brothers men's clothier from 1935 to 1946.<ref name=review/>​

Born in [[New York City]], Larom's father was a prominent [[business]]man. It was at first  assumed that Larry also would become an urban merchant. However, Larom attended [[Buffalo Bill]]’s Wild West Show in [[Madison Square Garden]] in 1909, and that experience inspired him to travel to Cody in northwestern Wyoming the following year for a summer vacation on Jim McLaughlin’s Valley Home Ranch. After three more summer visits there, he decided to become a dude rancher.  

 

Larom persuaded a fellow New Yorker, Winthrop Brooks, to become his partner in the purchase and operation of Valley Ranch on the south fork of the Shoshone River. Larom and Brooks, scions of wealthy New York families and educated at [[Princeton University]], had an advantage in selling the concept of a dude ranch vacation to members of their social class. In a few years Brooks left the partnership and was later the president of Brooks Brothers men's clothier from 1935 to 1946.<ref name=review/>

 

==Dude rancher==

==Dude rancher==

​

​

Larom was a conservationist and a [[conservative]] [[Republican Party|Republican]], an [[Episcopalian]], and a teetotaler. He opposed the Wyoming Civil Rights Act of 1957, signed into law by then [[Governor]] Milward L. Simpson as well as the [[Civil Rights Act of 1964]], which then [[U.S. Senator]] Milward Simpson and five Republican colleagues voted against. Larom feared that the unintended consequences of such laws would render it impossible to screen his guests. When he could no longer find enough high-paying guests who fit into the family image of Valley Ranch, Larom sold the enterprise but resided with his wife, Irma, on the property for a few more years, despite his declining eyesight. He opposed government measures that opened areas near the ranch to public campgrounds and day-use picnicking facilities, which he believed lowered adjacent property values.<ref name=review/>​

Larom was a conservationist and a [[conservative]] [[Republican Party|Republican]], an [[Episcopalian]], and a teetotaler. He opposed the Wyoming Civil Rights Act of 1957, signed into law by then [[Governor]] Milward L. Simpson as well as the [[Civil Rights Act of 1964]], which then [[U.S. Senator]] Milward Simpson and five Republican colleagues voted against. Larom feared that the unintended consequences of such laws would render it impossible to screen his guests. When he could no longer find enough high-paying guests who fit into the family image of Valley Ranch, Larom sold the enterprise but resided with his wife, Irma, on the property for a few more years, despite his declining eyesight. He opposed government measures that opened areas near the ranch to public campgrounds and day-use picnicking facilities, which he believed lowered adjacent property values.<ref name=review/>​

  ​

  ​

W. Hudson Kensel, Larom's biographer, contends that the primary factor in the success of Valley Ranch was neither the scenery, the solitude, nor the wildlife but Larom himself: "People were attracted to Valley Ranch for a summer, and often for many successive summers mainly because they liked Larom. His warm generous hospitality was the magnet that attracted thousands of gtuests, and ultimately accounted for the extraordinary growth and success of the ranch."<ref>W. Hudson Kensel, ''Dude Ranching in the Yellowstone Country: Larry Larom and Valley Ranch, 1915-1969'' (Norman, [[Oklahoma]]: Arthur H. Clark, 2010), p. 218.</ref>​

W. Hudson Kensel, who penned a biography of Larom, contends that the primary factor in the success of Valley Ranch was neither the scenery, the solitude, nor the wildlife but Larom himself: "People were attracted to Valley Ranch for a summer, and often for many successive summers mainly because they liked Larom. His warm generous hospitality was the magnet that attracted thousands of gtuests, and ultimately accounted for the extraordinary growth and success of the ranch."<ref>W. Hudson Kensel, ''Dude Ranching in the Yellowstone Country: Larry Larom and Valley Ranch, 1915-1969'' (Norman, [[Oklahoma]]: Arthur H. Clark, 2010), p. 218.</ref>​

  ​

  ​

After Larom sold Valley Ranch, the new properietor continued dude ranching until 1987. Now a relic of its past, Valley Ranch grew to be one of the largest, most successful dude ranches in the West. In 1926, Larom was instrumental in the establishment of the Dude Ranchers Association and became its first president. Larom was also involved in the civic and cultural affairs in Cody, where he died at the age of eighty-four.<ref name=review/>​

After Larom sold Valley Ranch, the new properietor continued dude ranching until 1987. Now a relic of its past, Valley Ranch grew to be one of the largest, most successful dude ranches in the West. In 1926, Larom was instrumental in the establishment of the Dude Ranchers Association and became its first president. Larom was also involved in the civic and cultural affairs in Cody, where he died at the age of eighty-four.<ref name=review/>​