Abandoned Towns

Living community · Park County, Wyoming

Cody

Buffalo Bill's town at the east gate of Yellowstone, with a museum village of old log buildings on its first townsite.

44°30′56″N 109°06′13″W
Living community

Cody is a living city of 10,028 people (2020 census) and the seat of Park County, not a ghost town. What ghost town hunters come for is Old Trail Town, a museum of old Western buildings on the site of Buffalo Bill's first townsite, and the 1902 Irma Hotel downtown.

The label

Why Cody is called a ghost town

Cody appears in a long-running ghost town directory, which calls it "semi-ghost" and points visitors to the Irma Hotel, Buffalo Bill's hotel named for his daughter, and to "Old Cody". The label comes from the old West that Cody sells: Old Trail Town, at the west edge of the city, says it stands on the original town site of Cody, founded by Buffalo Bill in 1895, and fills it with old cabins, a schoolhouse, a post office and a livery barn. Walking among those old buildings, a visitor could take it for a ghost town. Cody is not on Wikipedia's list of ghost towns in Wyoming; the only Park County town on that list is Kirwin.

History

Cody then

Cody was laid out in 1896 by Buffalo Bill Cody's Shoshone Irrigation Company, with George T. Beck, on the Shoshone River east of Yellowstone. Old Trail Town gives 1895 for the founding and says its grounds are the original townsite. The Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad finished a spur line in 1901, and the town incorporated the same year. Buffalo Bill built the Irma Hotel in 1902 and named it for his daughter; it is still a hotel and restaurant and has been on the National Register since 1973. When Park County split from Big Horn County in 1909, Cody became its seat.

Old Trail Town's site remembers Bob Edgar (1939 to 2012), a Big Horn Basin native who saw that old historic buildings were rapidly disappearing. Its buildings include a hunting camp cabin of 1880, the Coffin School (1884), the Bonanza post office (1885), a livery barn of about 1890 and the home of Cody's first mayor (1897).

1895. Buffalo Bill founds the first townsite, by Old Trail Town's account; Wikipedia gives 1896 for the settlement.

1901. The Burlington railroad's spur reaches the town, and Cody incorporates.

1902. The Irma Hotel opens, named for Buffalo Bill's daughter.

1909. Cody becomes the seat of the new Park County.

1973. The Irma Hotel is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

2020. Census: 10,028.

Today

What is there now

Old Trail Town after a September snow, 2014
Old Trail Town after a September snow, 2014 · Photo: Paul Hermans, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
The Irma Hotel, September 2007
The Irma Hotel, September 2007 · Photo: Acroterion, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

Cody is a busy small city and the gateway to Yellowstone's east entrance, with the Buffalo Bill Center of the West and its five museums, the Cody Nite Rodeo and the Irma Hotel downtown. Homes and businesses are private.

Old Trail Town is at 1831 Demaris Drive, off West Yellowstone Avenue on the city's west side. Its own site lists the 2026 season as May 15 to September 30, with the gates open at 8 a.m. daily and last entry at 5:15 p.m.; admission is $15 for adults, $14 for seniors, $8 for ages 6 to 12, and free for children under 6 and active military (read October 29, 2026). The season has ended for this year, so the next chance to walk its street is May 15.

The historic maps below show Cody's street grid on the bench above the Shoshone River, with the museum and the Riverside Cemetery at its west edge on the 1951 sheet. The 1987 sheet marks the rodeo ground and a drive-in theater on the flat near De Maris Springs, by the site of Old Trail Town.

Historic maps

Cody on USGS maps, 1951–1987

Crops from the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection, centered on the map point. Each sheet shows what surveyors mapped that year; compare them with today's topo and aerial on this page.

USGS topographic map around Cody, 1951
Cody sheet, 1951, 1:62,500 · U.S. Geological Survey, public domain · catalog record

Map & directions

Getting there

Old Trail Town is on Cody's west side, off West Yellowstone Avenue (US 14/16/20) toward the Yellowstone highway. From Billings, Montana, the nearest large city, take I-90 west and US 310, MT 72 and WY 120 south. The routes were computed from OpenStreetMap and haven't been driven by us.

USGS topographic map of Cody on the Shoshone River, with the route from downtown to Old Trail Town drawn on it

Base map: USGS The National Map (public domain). Routes: OSRM on © OpenStreetMap contributors data (ODbL). Times assume dry roads.

From downtown Cody3.0 miabout 8 min
  1. From 16th Street, turn onto Beck Avenue.0.6 mi
  2. Turn on 11th Street.0.2 mi
  3. Turn on Canyon Avenue.0.3 mi
  4. Turn onto 8th Street (US 14/16/20), which becomes Yellowstone Avenue, and head west.1.8 mi
  5. Turn right on Demaris Drive to Old Trail Town.0.1 mi
Google Maps directionsApple MapsOpenStreetMap

Road and visiting notes

  • Old Trail Town is open only from May 15 to September 30.

Photos

Cody and Old Trail Town in photos

Questions

Common questions

Is Cody, Wyoming a ghost town?

No. Cody is a living city of 10,028 people (2020 census) and the seat of Park County. Its ghost town reputation comes from Old Trail Town, a museum of old Western buildings on the original 1895 townsite.

What is Old Trail Town?

A collection of about 28 historic buildings from the region, among them cabins, the 1884 Coffin School and the 1885 Bonanza post office, set along a street on Cody's west side. It is open May 15 to September 30.

Can you visit Old Trail Town in winter?

No. Its season is May 15 to September 30, gates open 8 a.m., last entry 5:15 p.m. (its own site, 2026).

Nearby

Ghost towns and sites near Cody

Straight-line distance to other mapped sites in our Wyoming index.

Sources

Sources and credits

  1. ghosttowns.com, "Cody": the "semi-ghost" listing, the Irma Hotel, "Old Cody".
  2. Wikipedia, "Cody, Wyoming", read October 2026: the 1896 founding, the 1901 railroad and incorporation, the Irma Hotel, county seat in 1909, the 2020 census, the Center of the West and rodeo.
  3. Old Trail Town, read October 29, 2026: the 1895 original townsite, Bob Edgar, building dates, season, hours, admission, address.
  4. Wikipedia, "List of ghost towns in Wyoming": Cody is not listed; Kirwin is the Park County entry.
  5. Wikipedia, "Irma Hotel", read October 2026: added to the National Register on April 3, 1973.
  6. Old Trail Town point: OpenStreetMap, October 2026. Routes: OSRM on OpenStreetMap data, October 2026.

Photo and map credits