In August on our family vacation we spent an enjoyable afternoon at Cowtown, Kansas, not too far from St. Louis. Exploring what it was like to live in an Old West town during the cattle boom was fascinating. There were reenactors to demonstrate and answer questions, but most buildings you could just walk through and explore.
There were Victorian houses of different levels in society, a myriad of businesses like the grain elevator and scale house, barber, milliner, dry goods and general stores, blacksmith, livery stable, hotel, saloon, marshal's office, dentist, furniture maker, mortician, etc. In the ink-smelling printer's office you can see the all the job printers and other machinery, some of which is still in use by the reenactors, and the overflowing bins of hand carved type. You can take a chuckwagon ride back to see a nearby farm complete with garden and barns and tools of the era; or watch an (unrealistic) gunfight in front of the saloon.
The town provided the perfect backgrounds for my costume - not exactly period correct, but worn just for fun! When we reluctantly left, it was a shock to see the modern skyscrapers of the city and realize we weren't actually living in the 1880s after all.
The lady waits for the train.
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Part of the business section.
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A comfortable chair awaits a vistor in the residential section. The school house is beside it.
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The lady at the Victorian house.
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Cowboys and cabins.
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Gossiping instead of working?
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Get a cold sasparilla in the saloon, or go in the hotel to see the red plush chairs and high mahogany counter with ornate cash register, or go upstairs by way of the outside staircase by the Chinese laundry to peer into the fanciest rooms for rent.
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Send a telegram inside the station while you wait. Those telegraph keys were heavy!
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The angel shows the daddy cowboy a flower.
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Blacksmiths can mend anything!
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Ah, the train at last. Conductor - my bags if you please!
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And it was over too soon.
Thanks to my brother Dale for the photos of me!
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