Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show opens
On May 19, 1883, Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show opened to the public in Omaha, Nebraska.
Buffalo Bill Cody
From the Great Americans series
Issued by USPS June 6, 1988
William Notman’s Sitting Bull and Buffalo Bill (1885)
From 150 Years of Canadian Photography (2nd series)
Issued by Canada Post July 7, 2014
Designer: Stéphane Huot
This photo was taken at William Notman’s photos studio in Montreal when the Wild West Show stopped for a performance.
Buffalo Bill Cody (1846-1917)
Part of the Legends of the West series
Issued by USPS on October 18, 1994
Artist: Mark Hess
Buffalo Bill has appeared on around 20 to 25 stamps from countries such as Monaco, Georgia and Dominica.
Buffalo Bill Cody’s traveling show included pony express riders, wild animals, trick riding, horse and wagon races and marksman ship displays. Also included were theatre type productions of old west tales and reenactments of battles.
All Roads Lead to Buffalo Bill’s Wild West and Congress of Rough Riders of the World,
The Springer Litho Co. NY @1894
Image courtesy https://collections.centerofthewest.org/argus/bbhc/Portal/bbhc.aspx?lang=en-US All Rights: Buffalo Bill Museum, Buffalo Bill Center of the West
The show traveled all over North American and Europe. It appeared at the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893, a command performance before Queen Victoria during her Golden Jubilee (1887), the Paris Exposition (1889) and before Pope Leo XIII in 1890. Among the countries visited were Canada, throughout the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Ukraine, Poland, Scotland, Germany, Spain, Italy and Belgium. In London, England alone, it ran for 300 shows.
Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Cossack of the Caucasus
Enquirer Job Printing Co., Cincinnati @1898
Image courtesy 1.69.1821, Buffalo Bill Museum, Buffalo Bill Center of the West
All Rights: Buffalo Bill Museum, Buffalo Bill Center of the West
The heyday of wild west shows was between 1870–1920. By the mid 1900, financial problems due to the deaths of Buffalo Bill’s business partner and his show manager and increasing show costs, put huge strains on Bill. To keep the show afloat, Bill borrowed from Denver newspaperman Harry Tammen. By 1913 the show was bankrupt forcing Bill to sell the show to the Tammen’s Sells-Floto Circus. There were accusations that Tammen tricked Bill into signing a contract that had him relinquish all rights to the Wild West show. Bill found himself as an employee of his own show, not the owner.
Bill parted ways with the circus, moving on to work with different ones like Arlington 101 Ranch Real Wild in 1916. He died January 10, 1917.
The William F. Cody Archive has an extensive digital library freely available to the public William F. Cody Archive: Documenting the life and times of Buffalo Bill