Buffalo Bills Wild West 1889 Notebook

Buffalo Bills Wild West 1889 In May 1889, Buffalo Bill's Wild West returned to Europe for the Exposition Universelle in Paris. The Exposition commemorated the 100th anniversary of the Storming of the Bastille and featured the debut of the Eiffel Tower. The show was a spectacle that included trick riding, marksmanship displays, and races. It also featured the myth of the “inverted conquest” with staged Native American attacks on white frontiersmen. The show also had dates in Spain and Italy, where members of the show had an audience with the Pope. The Wild West show also encouraged a certain view of events in that part of the country, one that was both romantic and militaristic. Cody's show could be forgiven for not dwelling on the physical hardships of life on the frontier.