Buffalo

Buffalo is not named for the animal. By the most common telling, the first residents dropped proposed names into a hat and drew the slip of William Hart, who had written his hometown, Buffalo, New York; another version credits a different New Yorker. The town grew along a winding main street laid out to follow a gulch, was incorporated in 1884, and for years claimed to be the largest town in the country without a railroad. The first train arrived in February 1918, on a line from Clearmont begun in 1914.

What the plaque says

Buffalo Near the base of the Bighorn mountain range, the City of Buffalo was founded in 1879 after the end of the Indian War Campaigns. Buffalo originally serviced soldiers from Fort McKinney located 3 miles south on the Bozeman Trail. In the years that followed, the town became a center for the cattle and sheep industry. As the influence of agriculture grew, Buffalo took center stage when conflicts between large cattle interests and local homesteaders led to an event known as the Johnson County War. In 1892, large cattle interests hired 50 Texas gunmen to seek out and kill suspected cattle rustlers in the area around Buffalo. Known as the "Invaders", the armed men made their way through Johnson County and were stopped at the TA Ranch 13 miles south of Buffalo. During a prolonged battle at the TA Ranch, 200 armed citizens confronted the "Invaders" and President Harrison dispatched soldiers from nearby Fort McKinney to quell the escalating violence. The City of Buffalo has numerous buildings showcasing the atmosphere of a bustling late 19th and early 20th century western town. The Buffalo Main Street Historic District exhibits historically significant buildings dating from 1900 to 1932 highlighting Buffalo's unique position as a crossroads of commerce, entertainment, and agriculture. Of particular note are the Occidental Hotel (made famous by Owen Wister, the author of "The Virginian"), the Johnson County Courthouse (one of the oldest structures in Wyoming built in 1884), and the Jim Gatchell Memorial Museum (formerly an Andrew Carnegie Library). Historic sites in the surrounding area include Fort McKinney and Fort Phil Kearney which served as frontier outposts in the 19th century. Fort Phil Kearney is a Wyoming State Historic Site and is open year round for visitation.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Occidental Hotel — 3.2 mi
  Buffalo's 1880 grand hotel, its 1908 saloon ceiling still pocked with bullet holes, won once in a poker game and nearly torn down in the 1990s.
• Fort Phil Kearny State Historic Site — 16 mi
  A Bozeman Trail fort whose wood trains were attacked for two years, and the wagon-box corral where its woodcutters held out behind new breech-loaders in 1867.

More markers nearby

• Buffalo and the Bighorn Mountains — 0.2 mi
• Bozeman Trail — 2.8 mi
• Powder River Country — 3.3 mi
• Fort McKinney Monuments and Plaques — 5.2 mi