Special Places To Visit: The Irma Hotel

   Cody Wyoming has many great places to see and visit, but one historical place that you should see is the Irma Hotel.  The hotel was built by Buffalo Bill Cody and named after his daughter Irma.

   From the Wikipedia page:  The Irma opened with a party on November 18, 1902, to which Cody invited the press and dignitaries from as far away as Boston. The hotel quickly became the social center of Cody. In the meantime, Buffalo Bill was under pressure from creditors and was forced to sign over the hotel to his wife Louisa in 1913, who was at that time on bad terms with him. After Cody's death in 1917 the hotel was foreclosed upon and sold to Barney Link. Before the end of the year Link's estate sold the property back to Louisa, who kept it until she died in 1925. The new owners, Henry and Pearl Newell, gradually expanded the hotel, building an annex around 1930 on the west side to accommodate automobile-borne visitors. After her husband's death in 1940, Pearl Newell operated the hotel until her own death in 1965. She left the hotel's extensive collection of Buffalo Bill memorabilia to the Buffalo Bill Historical Center, and stipulated that proceeds from the estate be used as an endowment for the museum.

  It is still a working hotel and restaurant.  The food there is very good and I would highly recommend you try the Rocky Mountain Oysters.  My Dad tricked me into eating them when we traveled across the US on BMW motorcycles.  The highlight of eating in the restaurant is seeing the  famous back bar made of cherry that was a gift given by Queen Victoria to Buffalo Bill. 

   If you are visiting during the summer tourist season you can catch the gunfights that are staged in the street out front of the Irma Hotel.  They put on a great show and the kids will love it.