If this is Thursday it must be postcards, 316

Irma Hotel aka Buffalo Bill’s hotel in the Rockies, 1902

Continuing from the theme of last week’s postcard is this new card using a vintage photograph the Buffalo Bill Hotel, otherwise known as the Irma Hotel, in Cody, Wyoming, published by Shoshone Distributing Co. Inc.  The original photograph comes from the Park County Archives.   It has the identifying code, PC-SHO 075 at the lower left on the reverse side of the card.

The hotel is still open for business today as both a hotel and restaurant.  It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.  Built by William (Buffalo Bill) Cody, it opened in 1902 and is named after his daughter, Irma.  The hotel quickly became a social center for the town of Cody.   Under pressure from creditors Buffalo Bill signed the hotel over to his wife, Louisa, in 1913.  After Cody’s death in 1917 the property was foreclosed and sold to Barney Link who sold it back to Louisa within a year.  Louisa kept the hotel until she died in 1925 at which time new owners, Henry and Pearl Newell, took over expanding the hotel and building an annex in the 1930s.  Pearl died in 1965.  The hotel collection of Buffalo Bill memorabilia was given to the Buffalo Bill Historical Center and proceeds of the estate were used as an endowment for the museum. 

For additional information, see:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irma_Hotel