Now the home of the Cody Visitor Center, the Cody Chamber of Commerce, the Cody Country Art League, and possibly other organizations, this 1927 log structure was built larger than actual size but is somewhat patterned after Colonel Cody's T E Ranch home. The larger size was deemed necessary to house the artefacts it was to display. Dedicated and opened to public visitation on July 4, 1927, the building was intended as a venue for the vast collection of western and frontier memorabilia which Buffalo Bill had collected over the years. It was at the time, and possibly still is, the largest and most comprehensive collection of its type in existence.
The small part of the collection which could be made to fit in the building, and two smaller buildings constructed later, grew so large that the
Buffalo Bill Historic Center, many times the size of these buildings, was completed across the street in 1969 and the collection moved from this building at that time.
Judging by the style and condition of this marker, we believe that it would have been placed here sometime before 1969, when this was still the Buffalo Bill Museum. This, however, can't be confirmed.
The pioneer stagecoach drivers of the Old West were as fiercely independent as any men the country has ever seen. They were men of whang-leather toughness, who were accustomed to the harshness of frontier life. They never failed to laugh in the face of every hardship and danger. Self-reliance and vitality were foremost in their make-up, and they took a large measure of pride in their work. These rough men had a taste of genuine life, and, while it lasted, they savored every bit of it.
Their motto was: “Take her as she comes and like it.” The work they did in establishing and maintaining transportation links along the fringes of civilization was a major contribution in the development of the American West. Their spirit and independent nature remain a landmark in the colorful and dramatic pageant of Wyoming and the West. Charley Russell, the cowboy artist, eulogized them thusly:
Here’s to the driver that sat on the coach with six reigns and the silk in in his grip,
who’d bet he could throw all the ribbons away an’ herd his bronk team with his whip!
To them and to the memory of the early pioneer of the Cody Country, this monument is respectfully dedicated.
A gift to the City of Cody and the Park County Historical Society by Mr. Edgar D. “Kid” Wilson