Buffalo Bill's Blog

Outside the Buffalo Bill Historical Center – home to five internationally acclaimed museums and a research library – proudly stands a bronze statue of a mounted rider. Being in a town built on western traditions and cowpoke history, a statue of a mounted rider seems like a typical thing to have.  However, this statue was placed in 1924 to commemorate one of the most famous men in the world; Colonel William F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody.

The statue, Buffalo Bill – The Scout was initiated by Buffalo Bill Cody’s niece, Mary Jester who then persuaded artist Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney to sculpt the piece. Following a first failed attempt at immortalizing the historical significance of Buffalo Bill Cody, Gertrude thought to use a horse and cowboy from Cody for artistic inspiration. Proven successful, the statue was dedicated on July 4, 1924. The Scout stands on a large stone base at the end of Sheridan Avenue, Cody’s main thoroughway.

If you’re visiting Cody, Wyoming, then one place that you must visit is the Buffalo Bill Historical Center. This is the place to find out everything about the town’s founder and the history of the area. The Buffalo Bill Historical Center incorporates several museums.

The Buffalo Bill Museum looks at the personal and public lives of William Frederick Cody, Buffalo Bill. Find out about cowboys, dude ranching, life on the frontier and the Wild West. There’s information about Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show which ran for 30 years and traveled around the world. William Cody was also famed as a hunter, so it’s fitting that the Cody Firearms Museum houses the world’s most comprehensive collection of American firearms.

You can’t look at the history of the West without considering the Plains Indians. The Plains Indian Museum charts the traditions, cultures, lives and histories of the Plains Indians then and now. Most of the collection consists of artifacts from the Cheyenne, Shoshone, Crow, Arapaho and Lakota from the 1880-1930 period.

Other museums within the Buffalo Bill Historical Center are the Whitney Gallery of Western Art. This museum has a wide range of works by respected artists. It’s currently closed for refurbishment and will reopen in June 2009. However, a temporary gallery is open on the lower level. The Draper Museum of Natural History opened in 2002 with the aim of presenting a wider perspective on the American West.

Explore Buffalo Bill’s Historical Museum and many other museums located in Cody, Wyoming