Buffalo, Wyoming, is not Buffalo, New York, but is named for Buffalo, New York. The town at the base of the Big Horn Mountains sits on a popular area visited for centuries by the Northern Plains Indigenous people. Eventually, in 1879, Western settlers founded the town of Buffalo when Fort McKinney moved nearby to protect travelers as they passed on the Bozeman Trail, which cut through Buffalo and across the state. Visitors can still see the marker on the edge of Buffalo where the historic Fort once stood.
All of downtown Buffalo is on the National Register of Historic Districts. A dozen historic buildings still stand on Buffalo’s Main St., including the Occidental Hotel. Local legend claims that this is where they put names into a hat, and a man from New York put his home city in the mix and was selected. The Occidental Hotel is a restored hotel with multiple restaurants and a saloon. Some famous visitors to the hotel include Teddy Roosevelt, Calamity Jane, Butch Cassidy, and The Sundance Kid. The Jim Gatchell Museum celebrates the region’s history and takes its name from the man who opened Buffalo Pharmacy in 1900. Crafty visitors can