The Jim Gatchell Memorial Museum is an

American West The Western United States (also called the American West, the Far West, and the West) is the region comprising the westernmost states of the United States. As American settlement in the U.S. expanded westward, the meaning of the term ''the Wes ...

museum in Buffalo, Wyoming, housed in a 1909 Carnegie Library building.

Building history

The Carnegie Public Library in Buffalo, Wyoming was built in 1909 adjacent to the Johnson County Courthouse in the Neoclassical style. Andrew Carnegie provided $12,500 to build a library in Buffalo, contingent upon the provision of a site and $1250 a year for maintenance. A portion of the county courthouse grounds was donated as the site. The building consists of a raised main floor and a large basement level. The rough-faced ashlar masonry features contrasting quoins and belt courses. The facade is arranged as a porch with two slender Norman-style columns ''in antis''. A semicircular apse projects from the north side of the building.

Jim Gatchell Memorial Museum

In the late 1980s the Jim Gatchell Memorial Museum acquired and moved into the library.http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2007/01/16/news/wyoming/30-museum.txt?rating=true Billings Gazette, "Little museum with big reputation marks 50 years", January 16, 2007 The original museum was founded 1957 and focuses on Johnson County and frontier history. The museum's dioramas feature historic events and life along the Bozeman Trail, including the

Wagon Box Fight The Wagon Box Fight was an engagement which occurred on August 2, 1867, in the vicinity of Fort Phil Kearny during Red Cloud's War. A party of twenty-six U.S. Army soldiers and six civilians were attacked by several hundred Lakota Sioux warriors. ...

, the Johnson County War between ranchers in the 1890s, the siege at the TA Ranch and a view of Buffalo's Main Street in 1894. Artifacts include frontier and military weapons, wagons, Native American artifacts, ranching gear, and household and historic items. The grounds include a two-room furnished log cabin. The Jim Gatchell Memorial Museum is accredited by the American Alliance of Museums.

References

External links

Jim Gatchell Memorial Museum
- official site * at the NPS Focus site
Carnegie Public Library
at the Wyoming State Historic Preservation Office Library buildings completed in 1909 Libraries on the National Register of Historic Places in Wyoming Buildings and structures in Buffalo, Wyoming Buffalo, Wyoming Neoclassical architecture in Wyoming Institutions accredited by the American Alliance of Museums American West museums in Wyoming History museums in Wyoming Museums established in 1957 Museums in Johnson County, Wyoming Former library buildings in the United States National Register of Historic Places in Johnson County, Wyoming {{Wyoming-museum-stub