Cody’s Irma Hotel has been pouring drinks since 1902 in the building Buffalo Bill named for his daughter. Jackson’s Town Square sits inside four arches built entirely from naturally shed elk antlers. Sheridan’s Mint has been collecting cowboy memorabilia behind its neon facade since 1907. Thermopolis runs free public hot-spring baths under the state’s permanent treaty obligation with the Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho. These eight Wyoming downtowns hold some of the most concentrated Old West heritage left in the Mountain West.
Buffalo
Buffalo’s wide Main Street sits at the base of the Bighorn Mountains, with the Occidental Hotel as the visual anchor. Founded in 1880 and restored to its 19th-century interior, the Occidental reputedly hosted Buffalo Bill Cody, Calamity Jane, Theodore Roosevelt, Butch Cassidy, and the Sundance Kid through its early decades. The Jim Gatchell Memorial Museum in the downtown core holds the personal artifact collection of pharmacist Jim Gatchell, who received gifts from cowboys, lawmen, settlers, and Native American friends across the late 1800s and early 1900s. Behind Main Street, the Clear Creek Trail follows the creek through a green corridor of water, cottonwoods, and mountain views.