Celebrate the Buffalo Bill Center of the West's Centennial

The Buffalo Bill Center of the West celebrates its Centennial in 2017! Join us right here on the web where we share the celebration of our first one hundred years. Throughout 2017, we'll add posts, images, and tidbits about the Center's history, the events we're throwing this year, and much more. To discover our Centennial products and publications, click here!

Our Centennial

William F. "Buffalo Bill" Cody was the consummate storyteller and enthusiastic student of history. More than a century ago, as his Wild West played in arenas around the world, Buffalo Bill contemplated his legacy. He dreamed of a new arena that would "teach people by seeing history." For more than 100 years, the Center of the West has nurtured Cody's dream, teaching and sharing the West he loved. As we enter our second century, his dream continues to shape and define how the Center celebrates the Spirit of the American West.

Center History

Since Buffalo Bill's death in 1917 and the founding of our parent organization, the Buffalo Bill Memorial Association, the Center has had several significant milestones and grown to our current complex of five museums and a research library, all inviting you to discover the real and mythic West through art, culture, history, and natural science.

Click here for a quick summary of our history.

Our Start

How and why did the Buffalo Bill Center of the West get its start? Find out in this video presentation by Jeremy Johnston, Curator of Western American History and our Buffalo Bill Museum as well as Managing Editor of the Papers of William F. Cody. Jeremy enlightens us in a talk titled Establishing a Pioneer Center in a Small Town: The Early History of the Buffalo Bill Memorial Association, presented for the Cody Culture Club on January 19, 2017.

Explore more about our Centennial and how we're celebrating below.

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