We were in Cody, Wyoming the last weekend of June. We stopped at the visitor center first to get our bearings. They were very helpful. Dear bought some boots at Wayne’s Boot Shop. When in the Wild West boots are a great souvenir for kicking around in. If you had any doubts that you were in the wild west there were many signs to confirm it.
Buffalo Bill helped found Cody, Wyoming, in 1895. In 1902, he built an establishment which he called “just the sweetest hotel that ever was” and named it for his youngest daughter, Irma. It was built to appeal to visitors from around the world — as a staging point for sightseers headed for Yellowstone, big game hunters, summers tourists, and businessmen investigating the ranching, mining, and other business opportunities. Buffalo Bill maintained two suites and an office at the hotel for his personal use.
We enjoyed breakfast at the Irma right next to this stone fireplace that Buffalo Bill had built in the hotel.
The fireplace is an assemblage of rock, ores, minerals, and fossils from the Big Horn Basin.
By the turn of the twentieth century, William F. Cody was arguably the most famous American in the world. No one symbolized the West for Americans and Europeans better than Buffalo Bill. Every American president from Ulysses S. Grant to Woodrow Wilson consulted him on matters affecting the American West. He counted among his friends such artists and writers as Frederic Remington and Mark Twain. He was honored by royalty, praised by military leaders, and feted by business tycoons. Cody was America’s ideal man: a courtly, chivalrous, self-made fellow who could shoot a gun and charm a crowd. Yet as Annie Oakley put it, “He was the simplest of men, as comfortable with cowboys as with kings.”
For the first time since her husband’s death a quarter of a century before, Queen Victoria appeared in person at a public performance.
Her attendance at the Wild West show was news everywhere in the English-speaking world, and the fact that she made her appearance in the context of the celebrations that marked the Jubilee Year of her reign only added more weight to the occasion. And what an occasion it was. When the show began and a rider entered the arena carrying the American flag, Queen Victoria stood and bowed. The rest of the audience followed suit, while British soldiers and officers saluted. As Cody described the moment
All present were constrained to feel that here was an outward and visible sign of the extinction of that mutual prejudice, amounting sometimes almost to race hatred, that had severed two nations from the times of Washington and George the Third to the present day. We felt that the hatchet was buried at last and the Wild West had been at the funeral.
HT: Buffalo Bill Center of the West
I’m linking up to Mosaic Monday with it’s new hostess Maggie at Normandy Life.
I’m also linking up to Monday Mural and signs, signs.
We’ve had a nice quiet weekend after all the excitement last weekend with our kids here and Reyna the dog. More excitement during the week with our book launch and dedication in Abbotsford, B.C. It was good to enjoy some Olympics and Netflix binging on Foyle’s War. We had not watched any of this series yet and are enjoying it from the beginning. Hope your weekend was a good one.
The Happy Wonderer ~ ellen b. 
Your photos brought back some happy memories of our visit some years ago
Looks like a great trip!!
You have supplied some interesting facts about Cody, Wyoming along with your “wild west” signs!
A quiet weekend is welcome after a season of business. Ours was a mix…definitely not a quiet Saturday, but a quiet and relaxing Sunday…all good!
Oh what fun info and great photos. Makes me want to take a trip!
Fun! I know Cody, WY! Wyoming is our “neighbor.”
Quite an interesting place.
Your photos bring back memories! We visited Cody in September last year.
Thanks for sharing 🙂
So enjoyed visiting Cody with you today, a place I’ve heard about but know I’ll never get to in real life!
Happy MM from Normandy.
Lots of history and lots to see!
Hello, I loved visiting the western states. Wyoming is awesome. The restaurant and hotel is cool. Thanks for sharing your trip! Happy Monday, enjoy your new week!
we’ve not had the pleasure of visiting here…what a time that must have been way back when the Queen was there…some phases of history are so interesting to me..and this is one of them.
Looks like you had a fun trip … Cody, Wyoming … the wild west! Love the history. Fun post. Happy Monday!
Hi Ellen,
Wow, what an interesting place to visit; this looks like something Hal and I would really enjoy! I never knew that Buffalo Bill was so revered and had even been visited by the Queen! I love that fireplace in the Irma hotel restaurant — magnificent!
Thanks for sharing this with us, Ellen, and I hope you have a good week. 🙂
Hugs,
Denise
You had a wonderful trip, lots of memories.
We enjoyed visiting Cody, Wyoming but did not have a chance to eat here. Now I’ll be sure to do so if we ever go back! I think I told you that Buffalo Bill is buried about 15 minutes form my house–up on Lookout Mountain. The people of Cody were upset he was buried in Colorado and some tried to steal his body to bring it back to Cody, but there were so many boulders placed over his grave they could not do it. Might be just an old lore, but I thought that tid bit was fascinating.
Neat things in the wild, wild west!
You have made this a wonderful post on the Wild West & Cody! So much I didn’t know before & the sights are fun & fascinating at the same time!
Thanks for sharing!
Wild Bill is iconic!
My grandaunt just died this winter at the age of 97. She was born and raised in Cody Wyoming but, oddly, was more New York than Wild West!
These old wild-west towns are such a kick to visit — and Cody is a real place, not made up like Virginia City and some of those re-creations. love these mosaics and that fireplace is simply amazing!!
Great post, thanks for your facts about Cody. We visited Cody in late May of 2014 on our way to Yellowstone. It was a great town and my husband fell in love with it. Says he would like to live there. We went to the Cody Stampede Rodeo while we were there. Thanks for bringing back my memories.
The Wild West is a fun time to read about. Interesting story about Queen Victoria attending the show.
Hope your week is calm and restorative.
The large lithograph of the Wild West show in England is wonderful. I loved the Cody museum when I was there many decades ago. Made a big impression on me. Thanks for contributing to this week’s Monday Mural.
Thank you for this beautiful, interesting and fun post!
Just think that when I was a child, I thought Buffalo Bill was only a fictional figure. 🙂
Wow! that fireplace is a work of art.
These murals are great finds. It was nice learning about Cody and Buffalo Bill. Thank you, Ellen. 🙂
Intriguing variety of scenes round cody. Especially love the creative art round the fireplace.