Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Sheridan Inn
When the Sheridan Inn (856 N. Broadway, Sheridan, www.sheridaninn.com ) opened in
1893, it was considered the finest hotel between Chicago and San Francisco. Designed after
a Scottish inn and with a bar imported from England, the inn was the only hotel in Sheridan
to have electric lights (200 of them, to be exact). The porch runs the full 130-foot length of
the hotel, and there are 62 dormer windows.
Buffalo Bill Cody helped inaugurate the hotel—chilled champagne was served—and
went on to become a co-owner. He would hold auditions for his Wild West Show on the
hotel's veranda, and the Sheridan Inn quickly became the social center for Sheridan's afflu-
ent residents.
The hotel has hosted famous guests, including presidents Theodore Roosevelt, Howard
Taft, and Herbert Hoover. Its longest resident, however, is said to still reside in the hotel:
Catherine B. Arnold worked and lived at the inn for 64 years, from her arrival in 1901 until
she left, only when the hotel closed, in 1965. She had worked as a desk clerk, seamstress,
housekeeper, and hostess, and her dying request was to be buried in the hotel. When she
died three years later, her ashes were placed in the wall of the 3rd-floor room she often oc-
cupied. According to local lore, the presence of “Miss Kate” is still felt. From the sound of
footsteps and lights turning on and off to doors being opened and shut, the rumor is that she
still likes to manage the inn.
The hotel reopened in 1967 and continued to operate for another 20 years before closing
its doors again. In 1991 a restaurant opened in the inn and tours of the building were avail-
able, but it no longer functioned as a hotel. In the fall of 2012, the property was completely
shuttered. The board of directors was trying to pay off loans and raise money for the com-
pletion of the hotel renovation, but as of 2013, all phone numbers for both the inn and the
Sheridan Heritage Center, whose goal it was to preserve the inn, had been disconnected.
With town as close-knit and respectful of its heritage as Sheridan is, however, it's hard to
believe that this beautiful, old property won't get its day in the sun.
MM King's Saddlery
In a town full of Western stores, King's Saddlery (184 N. Main St., Sheridan, 307/
672-2702 or 800/443-8919, www.kingropes.com , 8am-5pm Mon.-Sat.) is indeed aptly
named. A legendary tack store founded by the King family in the late 1940s, founder Don
King is a local hero and was a renowned saddle maker. Many of his saddles are on display
in the store's Don King Museum (8am-5pm Mon.-Sat., donation requested) as well as at
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