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The Sheridan Inn Opened 128 Years Ago
Built by the Sheridan Land Company and funded in part by the Burlington Missouri Railroad in 1892, the Sheridan Inn opened in the spring of 1893. Since that day the Sheridan Inn has played an important role in Sheridan, especially for visitors to the area.
An article in the May 10, 1894 Sheridan Post reads,“Col.W.F. Cody (Buffalo Bill) and Mr. Sherman Cantfield have become interested financially with Mr. Geo. Canfield in the Sheridan Inn, and they are making extensive preparations for the summer tourist trade….
Mountain hotels will be erected in the Tongue River, Big and Little Goose canyons, and at Dome lake, where tourists can be cared for without carrying along a camping outfit.”
The Inn cost about $25,000 when it was first built. With inflation, that is approximately $733,664.84 today. However, according to current building prices, building even a small scale hotel can cost between $750K up to one million.. Most cost considerable more.
The Sheridan Inn is not a small scale hotel. It has three stories and when it was built there were 62 sleeping rooms; as well as a saloon and billiards room, a large dining room and kitchen. At the time it the Inn was built, it was heated by steam, lighted by electricity, and has its own system of water works and sewerage. All very luxuriant for that or any era.
In the saloon visitors continued to be awed by the famous cherry wood mirrored bar, given to Buffalo Bill by Queen Victoria and shipped across the Atlantic Ocean.
Today, the Sheridan Inn is registered as a National Historic Landmark, and designated as a Historic Hotel of American. It is still a hotel, with 22 fine rooms.
Each rooms focuses on Buffalo Bill and key characters from his life. The William Pickett, Sitting Bull, Teddy Roosevelt and Wild Bill Hickock rooms present the times and individual histories of these people in the room’s overall finish, furnishings, art and artifacts. There is book for sale at the desk, enlarging on the histories of these individuals.
It even has a ghost. Miss Kate Arnold, who worked at the Inn for 64 years. In 1909 she moved into the Inn and lived there until 1965, and she only moved out when she was told the Inn was to be torn down. Luckily, it wasn’t.
When she died in 1968, it was her request that her ashes be left at the Inn. Somewhere, in the walls between the rooms, her ashes reside. No one knows exactly where. However, her presence is often felt and her spirit is sometimes seen by the people who work there.
She is, however, a friendly spirit, and guards the Inn to this day.
The Miss Kate room is on the third floor, and features two queen-sized beds and faces north towards the railroad.
Step back in time and visit the Historic Sheridan Inn.
Last modified: January 12, 2022