Wild Horse was initially a US Cavalry outpost named after a group of wild horses spotted by cavalry guarding railroad surveyors in the area. The Kansas-Pacific Railroad later established a section house in Wild Horse to accommodate workers laying tracks from Kit Carson to Denver. In the early 1900s, Wild Horse experienced a boom and had various businesses, including a hotel, a newspaper, and several stores. However, a large fire in 1917 destroyed most of the town’s business district, which was followed by the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl era of the 1930s. These events weakened Wild Horse, and with the demise of the railroad, the town is just a shell of what it once was.