“Buffalo Bill” Cody and the Transylvanian: Connections Between the American West and Count Dracula By Elizabeth M. Foss, Public Outreach and Engagement Director Vampires and cowboys are not often talked about in the same breath, though these two figures loom large in popular media. As distant as they may seem, vampires and cowboys are uniquely […]
Era of Corporations in Ranching: A Look at Meeteetse Livestock Corporations By Amy Phillips, Director of Education and Programs After the Civil War, rapid changes were occurring in the United States. As the era of ranching grew in the West, the era of corporations took hold in the East. It would have immense impacts for […]
Victor Arland, founder of the townsite Arland, is somewhat of a local legend in Park County. For all the myths and legends surrounding him, there is very little historical documentation. Arland was born in 1848 outside of Paris, France. One source reports that he lived in Vincennes, France. Vincennes, a commune on the outskirts of […]
Richard Ashworth: The Cattleman Who Barely Left a Trace By Alexandra Deselms, Interim Director & Director of Collections Meeteetseans know the story of Richard Ashworth, his unique house, and the jealousy of his foreman, Wilfred Jevons. But do you know the full story? Richard Ashworth was born between 1853 and 1856 in England (sources vary). […]
By Amy Phillips, Director of Education and Programs Dr. William Sabin Bennett was Meeteetse’s town doctor from 1899 until moving to Cody in 1909. Aside from being a well-respected physician, Bennett also served as mayor numerous times. William Sabin Bennett was born in Lawrence, Kansas on July 1, 1870, to Joseph Dexter Bennett and Carrie […]
By Amy Phillips John Franklin Corbett was a founding member of both Arland and Meeteetse. Corbett was born in Massachusetts to Matthias and Johanna Corbett soon after the couple immigrated to the United States from Ireland. Genealogy records of Corbett are rare until he settled in Meeteetse, but a biography published by A.W. Bowen in […]
Stage & Mail Service to Meeteetse Part I: A Brief Look at Otto Franc and his Pitchfork Ranch By Tom Davis “Pitchfork Ranch History: The valley of the Greybull River in northwestern Wyoming has been the center of operations for the Pitchfork Ranch since 1878 when Count Otto Franc von Lichtenstein selected a location and […]
The Mystery of the Iron Creek Brickworks By Amy Phillips The First National Bank and Weller Hotel are both built from local brick. The question is, how local is that brick? The First National Bank was built in 1901. Unfortunately, the newspapers from Meeteetse at that time period are not digitized or are completely missing. […]
Early History of the Meeteetse Blacksmith Shop By Amy Phillips, Director of Education and Programs William McNally earns the distinction of owning the Meeteetse townsite before it was a town. McNally was born in New Jersey in 1853 to Irish immigrants. At age 22, in May of 1875 McNally enlisted with the U.S. Army 5th […]
1918 Pandemic in Meeteetse & Park County: Part III Not “Business as Usual” By Alex Deselms, Interim Director & Director of Collections For our next post in this series on the 1918 pandemic in Park County, we focus on how life goes on or is paused during an epidemic. Politics continued through the influenza pandemic […]