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A Wild West Cowboy, The secret of the"little people", and Dick Tracy... All in Pawnee Okla

Aug 9, 2017
9 min read

 I remember my grandmother telling me about how she wanted to run away and join the circus when she was a little girl, well we wanna run away and join Pawnee Bill's Wild West Show!! Whose with us?? 

 Well...since we have to live in reality, we decided to run away... for the day anyway, we had to see about the famous cowboy and entrepreneur; Pawnee Bill and his homestead in Pawnee, Oklahoma.

If you are from this state, then you probably already know about Gordon William Lillie...aka Pawnee Bill, but I bet you haven't heard about him since you were in 3rd or 4th grade Oklahoma History. Time to renew some history!

Gordon William Lillie known as Pawnee Bill owned one of the largest Wild West shows in the country along side some other famous shows like the 101 Ranch owned by the Miller bros. and Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show.  He got his start by being a Pawnee interpreter in the Buffalo Bill Show as a young man, This is how he got the name Pawnee Bill...eventually leaving to start his own show with his wife May Manning who became a sharp shooter and a popular horse woman in his act. In fact, The Buffalo gal as May was sometimes known had two fingers shot off during an act by her husband Pawnee Bill. Miracoulsly, May finished the act without the audience ever knowing. The picture above shows Pawnee Bill and Buffalo Bill signing a contract to join forces in 1908 to start the Two Bill's Show enjoying their greatest success of their career. Although the show didn't last long due to other types of entertainment arriving on the scene, Buffalo Bill and Pawnee Bill would remain close friends for the remainder of their lives. Pawnee Bill and May would retire to their favorite hideaway in the Oklahoma Pawnee Nation hills... What a nice surprise it was to venture upon this wonderful treasure. 

The Pawnee Bill Ranch includes a 14 room mansion, fully furnished with the Lillie original belongings. Their dream home, completed in 1910, is filled with Lillie family memorabilia, photographs, original art work, and much more.

 Pawnee Bill's Ranch is like venturing back in time to the Old West we only hear about in stories or see on tv today.  .. Quipped with a full black smith shop,  carriage house, large barn that housed most of the wagons used in his Wild West show, and even an alligator pit that kept one of his favorite pets from his show close by. 

So of course we started the journey out like normally, on summer break teacher time. I turned to my hubby, the administrator, on Saturday morning with a look of confusion and angst... He just smiled and said, "Oh... another adventure is in the works huh? Where to now?" I really didn't have an answer for him. It was already 9am and we had no idea where we were going that day, we just knew that summer was almost over and we had to go somewhere!! 

 For a moment we thought we had seen Austin Powers on I35

 We took off for the city, still not knowing where we where We would end up... We did know one thing, we was HUNGRAY!! Lisa and Marla didn't get to Lindsay til about 11:30 or so.... no surprise there...so by the time we arrived in the city it was time to eat. We stopped at The Garage in midtown and it was yummy as usual!! 

 We had pulled up different places to go but finally we all agreed...We decided to head to Pawnee Bill's... He has always been someone I was interested in, but I had no idea what to expect. None of us did. We drove through Perry Oklahoma, but this time we drove around town. Of course it was after Lunch and it was a Saturday (Our summer teacher timing isn't so good) so nothing much was open, but we did find one business. Georgia's antiques. It had three buildings full of goodies. We didn't get a chance to look long, we gave our condolences and promised to return soon!! The last two pics were of a small town called Morrison, there wasn't much there but we could see old history in some of the buildings and homes and how the town was set up... we enjoy that kind of thing...

 Finally we passed  the Pawnee Nation sign saying that we had arrived...and it wasnt long before we saw the signs for the Pawnee Bill's Ranch, WOW! We were already impressed and so excited to see what it offered.

We went into the museum and paid our $5.00 and waited for the tour to begin. It was outstanding and our tour guide was so knowledgeable about the home and the family who lived on the ranch. We learned much more than we ever had known before. 

 Our tour guide first took us into the dining room... It was beautiful with lovely wall paper of the time, gorgeous wooden floors, and china that was hand made for May Lillie with the initials GWL on it.... she took great pride in the home that she and Pawnee Bill created. 

This beautiful bay window in the dining room is where the story of this family gets sad. You see Pawnee Bill and May Lillie had a son that died in infancy and later in life they adopted a infant boy from an orphan train up North. They named him Gordon William Lillie Jr.. They called him Billy Lillie. He was the light of their lives and they adored him. When Billy was 8 years old, he and another boy were playing Cowboys and Indians and decided to act out a scene from a western that they had watched in town playing at one of the 2 movie theaters that Pawnee Bill himself owned. As the story goes, the friend came into the kitchen one afternoon to complain that Billy wouldn't play with him. The cook who was watching the boys that day told the little one to go on and stop being a tattle tale... What adult has never said that. The little friend came back in later with the same complaint, the cook finally asked, "Well what is Billy doing if he won't play with you? " The friend replied, "He is just hanging there." The cook ran out to see that little Billy had accidentally hung himself on the windmill that is still there today outside of the house.

The family was devastated and this Bay window seat here is where all of the little 3rd and 4th graders of Pawnee elementary sat during little Billy's funeral.

Photo's of little Billy Lillie are all over the house and museum. It is heart wrenching to think of losing a child and in such a horrible way,  but the Lillies went on with life, as hard as it was. 

We made our way past a guest bathroom and wash room where the tile had gold inlay and then into May's office. Here on her desk, was a picture of her beloved husband and her precious son. May and Pawnee Bill shared a bedroom until May passed away and then Pawnee Bill moved into his own room.We then traveled down to the foyer where we looked into the living area and then to the beautiful front door that Pawnee Bill had made. They called it a coffin door, he wanted it big enough to take a coffin through easily, little did he know it would be his young son. So heartbreaking.... 

On the other side of the foyer was another sitting room where they had a statue of President Abraham Lincoln. We then walked up the beautiful staircase where we saw the gorfeous wall paper. It actually looked like leather. They didn't have the tools to put real leather on the walls at this time, so the paper was made just for May Lillie and stamped to look like leather. It is spectacular. A painting of a Osage Native American friend of Pawnee Bill's stands at the top of the first landing. It's Erie how his eyes follow you and then another portrait at the top of the staircase has the silhouette of Will Rogers. Pawnee Bill loved to tell the story of Will Rogers  ghost haunting the house....always the showman and entertainer.  Here we go again with the friend that everyone had, Oklahoma's son Will Rogers. 

Directly across from the painting of Will Rogers silhouette is the Will Rogers guest bedroom.

At the top of the stairs we see not only Will Rogers room, but a room that was filled with little Billy Lillie's toys. We found a bathroom with a secret door that leads to the roof, a room that was called The Buffalo Bill Room, especially used for Buffalo Bill when he came to stay, and a servants room that was big and spacious. The Lillie's loved to have company and the house was filled with friends and family at all times. 

We made our way to the grounds where the Black Smith shop and the small wood cabin that the servants and those who may have worked for the Lillies would have lived. To see the dirt floors and how cool the small cabin was on that very hot day was so interesting. 

 The barn where Pawnee Bill kept his horses, carriages, and wagons from the Wild West Show was amazing. They also had a full size panel of an advertisement that had been hidden behind a layer of plaster in Lamont Oklahoma, A small town not far from where the show was held in Blackwell Oklahoma in 1900. It won't be discovered until 1983.... Isn't that amazing!! What a treasure!!

 The Pawnee Bill Museum was full of lovely photographs and memorabilia... we thoroughly enjoyed all of it. 

We enjoyed our time at Pawnee Bill's... as we got ready to leave we overheard a family who were so excited that they were seeing Bison.... it made us smile. We are Oklahoman's and use to seeing Bison... we forget that others don't sometimes have the luxury. 

We then had read about a Bath House that Pawnee had. Marla began to message a friend that she knew to ask where exactly the Bath House was located. Her friend, Amy Funkhouser  replied, "I'm managing the bath house this summer, come on over!!" It turns out... she is a broke teacher too!! It was such a fun experience and we thank her and her broke teacher sister-in-law for the history lesson as well!! 

The beautiful, historic 1939 WPA sandstone rock bath house overlooking a fresh water pool with sandy beach, water slide, high dive, diving board and paddle boats is open to the people of Pawnee. It has become their "swimming hole."  It is located at Pawnee Lake.  The Pawnee Bath House is on the National Historic Register and was selected as Discover Oklahoma's Favorite Summer Destination for 2003. Amy and her sister-in-law run the bath house in the summer, as well as take care of the grounds. She also told us of a story of little people who live in the area. We of course believed she was talking about dwarfs or something of that nature, but in fact she was talking about something much more mythical. A legend or Native American folklore of  a small tribe of little people known as Homunculus or Nunnupi.

Wikipedia tells us that The Native peoples of North America told legends of a race of "little people" who lived in the woods near sandy hills and sometimes near rocks located along large bodies of water, such as the Great Lakes. Often described as "hairy-faced dwarfs" in stories. Native legends often talk of the little people playing pranks on people, such as singing and then hiding when an inquisitive person searches for the music. It is often said that the little people love children and would take them away from bad or abusive parents or if the child was without parents and left in the woods to fend for themselves. Some believe that the little people are mean and vindictive.  We were told that when the WPA built the bath house in 1939, they actually built a small door in the side of the building for the "little people" to enter in private. The Pawnee, like many other Native Nations believe this to be true.... and by golly so do we!!!

After our visit with Amy we headed into town where  we saw that Pawnee was having a car cruz. We went to a restaurant, that of course Marla and the Farm Bureau man had heard had great food... we were ravished at this point. While Marla put our name in at Clicks Restaurant , Lisa and I roamed about the town. 

 While we were roaming around town, we discovered this.... Dick Tracy was born here.... WHO KNEW??

 Finally our name was called at Clicks Steak House.... and oh my .... It was worth the wait!!! Lisa and I had the all you can eat salad bar while Marla, (the cow connoisseur) had the steak... and let me just say... she said it was the best steak she has ever had... EVER....and remember... Marla knows her meat people...Hello?? That is saying something....And well... I know pie.... It was amazing. The most creamy delectable coconut cream pie I have ever tasted. If I could have bought 10 of them.... I would have.... The Chocolate was just as good...Our bellies were once again full and a we got ready to leave Pawnee we drove around just to see.... Pawnee History.....

 What a wonderful trip... and who knew that the small town of Pawnee had so much history... Come one folks.... you gotta see this one for yourself.... 

until next time.... The Three Broke Teachers

 
 
 

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We love to teach, but when we have some time off we love to find adventure, ride bikes, eat good food, and bargains, we love a good bargain... follow us if you want to see what fun inexpensive places we find in our lovely land of the free and the brave... well.. don't just sit there.. come on!!!!

Lori, Marla, and Lisa

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