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Workers ripped the siding from a circa
1880 house in Mankato and Old West history burst forth.


      Tattered from more than a century's worth of wear, the large
billboard montage once touted the Mankato appearance of a
world-famous entertainment extravaganza - Buffalo Bill's Wild West
show.


      And homeowner Joanne Dalton is glad that the re-siding project
she started last week gave her more than she bargained for.


      "I've always been a fan of the wild West," said Dalton, who
will enjoy the colorful tableau until it's covered up once again
for the ages - or thereabouts.


      "Maybe someone 100 years from now will open it up and see it,"
she said.


      The paper billboard on the house near Sibley Park trumpets
"Buffalo Bill's Wild West" in large red letters and features
images of war-party Indians, cowboys and Spanish-American War
references.


      On the basis of the billboard's references, the Buffalo Bill
Historical Center in Cody, Wy., determined the show's Mankato
appearance date was Sept. 2, 1899.


      A headline in the Mankato Daily Free Press a few days later
alluded to the performance, describing it as "Mankato Invaded by
Indians, Filipinos, Mexicans and Other Picturesque People."


      The newspaper said thousands witnessed two performances in the
downtown area, and that Buffalo Bill Cody, though still true of aim
and erect of posture, "is showing signs of age. His long hair that
was formerly raven black now being almost gray."


      As for the billboard on Dalton's house, Blue Earth County
Historical Society Director Jessica Potter surmises it was put
there not to tout the show but to serve as windbreak insulation
sometime afterward.


      "In my mind, they just took the pieces of it and randomly
smacked them on the side of the house," she said.


      The Buffalo Bill Wild West show ran from 1883 until it went
bankrupt in 1913. The show typically ended with a melodramatic
re-enactment of Custer's Last Stand, in which Cody portrayed
General Custer.

      Cody, deemed by some historians as the world's most recognizable
celebrity at the turn of the 20th century, died in 1917.

Gallery

Workers ripped the siding from a circa
1880 house in Mankato and Old West history burst forth.


Wild West poster found under home's siding

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