Eastern OK section visits Pawnee Bill Ranch and Museum
Twenty-two members of the Eastern Oklahoma section ventured on a weekday drive to Pawnee Oklahoma.
The Pawnee Bill Ranch was once the showplace of the world-renowned Wild West Show entertainer Gordon W. “Pawnee Bill” Lillie. Members toured Pawnee Bill and his wife May’s fourteen-room mansion, fully furnished with their original belongings. Their dream home, completed in 1910, is filled with Lillie family memorabilia, photographs, original artwork, and more. The ranch property also houses a museum with exhibits related to Pawnee Bill, Wild West Shows, and the Pawnee tribe. The 500-acre grounds include the original ranch blacksmith shop, a 1903 log cabin, a large barn built in 1926, and an Indian Flower Shrine.
A herd of bison, longhorn, and several draft horses call the Pawnee Bill Ranch home and were found grazing in the drive-through exhibit pasture. In fact, a baby Bison was born this week. The Pawnee Bill Ranch also proudly re-creates Pawnee Bill’s Original Wild West Show each year.
Our tour guide was Historic Interpreter Anna Smith who has worked for the Oklahoma Historical Society for eighteen years. Anna provided the attendees so much more historical background information that would have would have been missed on a self-guided tour.
After the tour, the group lunched at a local landmark Click’s Steakhouse.
