It is the home of Eastern Wyoming College, and is the surrounding region's center of commercial activity.

Within this primarily agricultural community, there are several fertilizer plants, a sugar beet factory, and numerous tourist facilities and retail businesses that serve the local and nearby rural populations.

Originally a watering and coaling station for the CB&Q Railroad, which began passenger service in 1900, the town was a gathering place for nearby farmers and ranchers.

It had a bank, three general stores, a pharmacy with a soda fountain, a land office, and two hotels (for one of which the building, although modified, still exists at 1841 Main Street.

)[8] It soon became a central place of trade for Goshen County, and for surrounding areas in eastern Wyoming and western Nebraska.

[8] The town's site survey began in April 1900, by Ashland B. Smith of the Lincoln Land Company of Nebraska.

All residents were stock growers, ranch laborers, cowboys or at school, except for one listed as a hardware clerk.

[8] Around that time, early motor cars started showing up in town, the Goshen County Fair Association was established, and in 1915 Torrington had a population of 443.

In 1925, the Union Pacific Railroad based in Omaha constructed a spur line from Cheyenne to South Torrington, to serve the proposed Holly Sugar Corporation plant, which began operations in 1926.

[8] The large, 24-hour Holly Sugar factory, which processes sugar beets, was still operating in 2015 as a major employer for the Torrington area,[6] and the preserved historic Union Pacific Depot building now houses the Goshen County Homesteaders Museum.

Drawing cattle from a nine-state region (Nebraska, Colorado, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, Idaho, South Dakota, Montana and the bulk of Wyoming) the Torrington livestock auction barn attracts buyers from all over the nation.

[13] According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 4.62 square miles (11.97 km2), all land.

[20][21][22] WMCI, a facility of the Wyoming Department of Corrections, serves as an intake center for male inmates not sentenced to death.

[26] Goshen County Senior Friendship Center provides paratransit services in Torrington on weekdays.