Kansas Community Partner Travel Information Center (C-TIC)
The Buffalo Bill Cultural Center is a Kansas community partner Travel Information Center. We have Kansas state maps, brochures, and a great gift shop featuring many Kansas made products. Come in for travel assistance, enjoy a cup of coffee, and stay for a picnic lunch. Our spacious parking lot can accommodate cars, RV’s, buses, and trucks of any size. Your four legged family members are welcome too! Outside potty station and plenty of room to exercise your pet. And, we always have a water bowl full and ready for thirsty pets just inside the lobby.
The Wild West Historical Foundation, Inc. (d.b.a. Buffalo Bill Cultural Center) is a non profit 501(c)3 corporation.
Our Vision
To be the destination connecting people to the Kansas story of Buffalo Bill and the history of the Wild West.
Our Mission
To engage and expose our visitors to the stories, the people, the history, and the landscapes that define our plains culture both past and present.
OUR HISTORY
2012 – Wild West Historical Foundation Receives Travel Enhancement Grant
With the help of a Transportation Enhancement Grant from Kansas Department of Transportation and more than $500,000 of private donations, the Wild West Historical Foundation, Inc. opened the Buffalo Bill Cultural Center in Oakley, Kansas November 12, 2012. Located just south of I-70 off exit 70, on US Hwy 83 and Second Street, the 8,000 square foot cultural and visitor center provides visitors with travel and attraction information for the entire state. A 3,200 square foot multipurpose event center with state of the art audio and video equipment can accommodate meetings for just a few people to events of 250 or more. The first event at the center was the 2012 Kansas Governor’s Ringneck Classic. Governor Sam Brownback, hunters and guests took part in the event celebration ribbon cutting.
2007 – Wild West Historical Foundation Receives Humanities Grant
The Wild West Historical Foundation announces the receipt of a $15,000 Grant from the Kansas Humanities Council.
The Grant awarded was expressly for the purpose of planning and erecting a “Story Board of Buffalo Bill and the Interpretation of Northwest Kansas Heritage” at the Buffalo Bill site. The story board is made up of several panels, each representing a different aspect of our area culture both past and present. These panels include: Buffalo Bill and the Wild West, Annie Oakley and her life as well as local Native American culture, Modern Agriculture and our city of Oakley, past and present. The story board educates both visitors and local residents about the rich heritage of our area.
Dr. Paul R. Fees, past Senior Curator of the Buffalo Bill Historical Center in Cody, Wyoming and freelance Historical Consultant was hired to work with us to complete this outstanding project. Paul’s involvement in our project brings with it a high degree of credibility and professionalism.
May 22, 2004 – Welcome to Oakley….”The Birthplace of the Legend of Buffalo Bill”
After four years of planning, fund-raising and artistic creation by Charlie and Pat Norton, the twice life-size monumental bronze sculpture was dedicated on Saturday, May 22, 2004 here in Oakley to commemorate the event where William F. Cody earned his life-long nickname, Buffalo Bill.
The Wild West Historical Foundation, a non-profit corporation with a local seven member board of directors, was created to bring this monumental project to life. The project began back in 1995 when the contest between William Cody and William Comstock was discovered to have taken place here in Logan County. The idea was the brainchild of local bank president Lewis Evins, who convinced Kansas artist Charlie Norton to take on the project. The idea was to create a two times life-sized sculpture of Buffalo Bill mounted on his favorite buffalo running horse, Brigham, in pursuit of a buffalo. The sculpture was to be placed on a mound of dirt on the west edge of Oakley, high enough to get it well above the sky line. Thanks to dedication, hard work, support and many, many much appreciated tax deductible contributions, this project was completed just as envisioned.