In our trip around the Great Plains and Midwest, it was Oklahoma, where we learned about Cowboy culture most. In Oklahoma, we visited Cowboy museum and the town of Guthrie, where cowboys still live and follow their traditional way of life, conducting rodeo contests and cowboy poetry festivals. Moreover, the town has many Victorian buildings well-preserved, and that is why we recommend to visit it too.
The city.
Guthrie was founded in the middle of prairies in 1889, and in 1910 it became the capital of Oklahoma State. The settlement developed so fast because of being placed at the railway station, but there are very few things that remind of trains and trams in the town now.
Yet, today Guthrie includes 2169 buildings of Victorian architecture, designated as a National Historic Landmark. One of the oldest buildings is Blue Belle Saloon.
From 1902 to 1904 the bar was tended by the great cowboy silent film star, Tom Mix. At his times, the cowboys probably still tied their horses to these poles.
Miss Lizzie’s Bordello was conveniently located upstairs and the girls there “were all purty and they was clean”, according to some of Guthrie’s old-timers. The bordello is now a souvenir and gift shop.
Architecture.
The first brick structure of Guthrie was a National Bank.
Another sight is a post office first opened in a tent at the end of the 19th century, soon after Guthrie was founded. Less than in a month after it opened, the demand for post service increased so much, that they had to erect an actual building and hire more personnel. Today you may take a guided tour by the tram departing from the post office.
Also, Guthrie houses the oldest theatre in Oklahoma.
Wild west.
The town indeed resembles the settings for Wild West movies.
This feeling persists even when you enter the buildings and meet people there. For instance, this is the cowboy shoe-making shop.
Deep from the shop, a real cowboy who makes the shoes appears, not a touristic one, a real cowboy!
At the same time, even the modern elements in the landscape do not spoil the cowboy feel, on the contrary, they blend well with the Victorian architecture.
Still, it is not possible to escape from modernity. This t-shirt in one of the shop windows brings us back to the present.
We continued further acquaintance with cowboy landscapes in the state of Kansas were we visited real prairies, ran away from cows and bison and went down to the salt-mine. Soon we will tell about it too!
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