memorial to the Cody Family and to our famous kinsman Buffalo Bill. The
idea was endorsed at that meeting and a committee was appointed of which
I was chairman; leaders on this committee were Francis A. Cody, of Vernon
N.Y.; Hiram S. Cody, of Chicago, and Harry B. Cody, of Cleveland, Ohio.
This committee later looked over locations and finally we settled on Cody,
Wyoming. Hiram S. Cody went to Cody and with the leading business men
of that town arranged for the financing of the building of the Museum by a
bond selling plan. In this plan the Cody Family undertook to subscribe six
thousand dollars in bonds and the town of Cody four thousand. For the Cody
Family Hiram and Francis Cody each took a thousand, our good friend J. C.
Nichols a thousand, and I took three thousand. It was further arranged that
the deed of the land be given to the Cody Family and that Hiram, Francis,
Harry and myself be appointed life trustees and myself as life Director of
the Museum. Construction got under way and soon the Museum took shape as
a replica of Colonel Cody’s old T.E. ranch home, with its many rooms, halls,
porches and fireplaces and spacious grounds and gardens. On July 4th, 1927
the Museum was dedicated at sunset by President Calvin Coolidge, and Francis
A. Cody, then President of the Cody Family, speaking for us.
The location of the Museum is ideal; it is situated near the Shoshone
Canyon at the beginning of the Cody Road to Yellowstone National Park;
its site typifies the ideal Western landscape. The Museum was a real success
from the day of opening. At first we were handicapped by the lack of relics.
Outside of the collection sent out by Hiram S. Cody, who took things from
his own walls, and the many relics owned by my mother, my daughter Cody
and myself, no member of the Cody Family had a single relic in the Museum
when it was dedicated. The family should hold in deep gratitude therefore the
fine and generous spirit shown by William Cody Bradford, Aunt May’s son,
and Louis Decker, her husband, who rushed their splendid collection into the
Museum within a few days of the dedication. Of that magnificent act all
Codys should approve; it saved the day for us and made it possible to hold
our own against other competition. At once far away relatives began searching
and forwarding relics and for this I am deeply grateful; every relic helped
in the start. Thus commenced our Cody Family exhibition, and now I hope
that soon we can have a Cody Family house in conjunction with the Museum,
perhaps the old Iowa home built by my grandfather, Isaac Cody, in 1840, and
in which home Colonel Cody was born, and which building has been moved
to Cody by the Burlington Railway. The Museum now houses thousands of
relics of Colonel Cody, and of Indian and pioneer days of the West.
There was much discouragement to face; we started handicapped with
tremendous debt and an eight per cent interest on our building bonds; the first
summer I wondered if we could hold out. I stood from five in the morning
until after midnight every day that entire season, talking, telling our story,
making friends, trying to gain interest, making the display of personal interest
to every visitor. It was hard work and I feel that the dear God must have
thought it what we strived to make it, a living vital story of American pioneer
history, of magnificent bravery and unselfish devotion to the freedom and
safety of the West. My daughter and I gave our time and energy gratis.
Finally the bills were paid, every penny going into that. People liked us, they
always have, we hold a record for repeat visitors, some people coming every
year for thirteen years and making detours just to put their name on the
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