Cheyenne was the birthplace of at least one Navy admiral—Francis X. McInerney, who was born in Cheyenne in 1899. While he was stationed worldwide in the Navy, he always listed his home address as 306 E. 18th St., Cheyenne. The location is now a building known as ‘”The Townhouse” and the adjacent parking lot for the complex.
A graduate of the U. S. Naval Academy in 1920, he later commanded the Allied destroyer force in the Battle of Coral Sea during World War II. As a member of Admiral Halsey’s staff, he commanded the battleship U. S. S. Washington late in the war. He commanded the Naval amphibious forces in the Far East during the Korean War. McInerney retired in 1955 as a Vice Admiral and died a year later at the age of 57. A guided missile frigate, the U. S. S. McInerney, was named for him in 1978.