Golden has always had an outsized cultural imprint for a town of our size. Many of the organizations have been around for decades. The Buffalo Bill Museum has been operating for more than a century!
William Cody died in 1917 and was buried on Lookout Mountain. The City of Denver was developing their Mountain Parks System at the time. Recognizing a good tourist attraction when they saw one, they incorporated the grave site into the parks system.
In 1920, Cody’s “foster son,” Johnny Baker, proposed founding a museum, cafe, and gift shop near the grave, and the City accepted the proposal. Baker put up some of the money and Denver the rest. Together they built a large log building that included living quarters, exhibit space, and room for the gift shop/cafe.
Baker had appeared in Cody’s Wild West shows for many years and used his connections to help build the collection. After Mr. Baker’s death in 1931, his wife, Olive Baker, took over the operation and ran it until her death in 1956.
Most museums dedicated to an individual lose popularity over time, as the memories of that person fade. That never happened with the Buffalo Bill Museum and Grave. Cody’s Wild West shows had done much to define the history and the mythos of the American West. People all over America, as well as Europe, saw that show and were captivated by the pageantry and romance of the stories that Cody presented.
As the twentieth century progressed, the budding movie industry discovered the popularity of western stories. Cody’s show programs, posters, and story lines served as great source material.
By the 1970s, the 1920 log building was clearly inadequate for the hundreds of thousands of visitors that the museum hosted every year. The City of Denver allocated funds to build a new, modern building with a large deck overlooking the spectacular view of the plains. The original log building served as a gift shop for the next 50 years and is now undergoing maintenance and remodeling (but the museum itself remains open).
Golden benefits from its position as the gateway to this museum, and the staff work regularly with other Golden area museums. After more than a century, the Buffalo Bill Museum and Gravesite remains one of the most popular visitor destinations in the state. (Go visit!)
