The Best Show In Brooklyn: Wild Bill And Annie Oakley Were Here

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Ambrose Park 1894

Can you imagine Annie Oakley and Wild Bill Cody right here in Brooklyn? Well, it happened in 1894 in Ambrose Park. Industrial New York City at the turn of the century must have been an unbelievable backdrop for the " Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show".
Apparently the show was not the financial success that Bill had envisioned. Since he had committed to keep the show at the Ambrose Park location for an entire season, attendance was spotty at times.
"Trying to meet $4,000 a day in expenses (today this is equivalent to over $75,000 per day) during the long Ambrose Park stand created great financial strains for Cody, who said it was "the tightest squeeze of my life."(1) It would lead to a change in the show's production - numerous short term venues traversing the country."
(Buffalo Bill Historical Center, read more here)
From The New York Times, 1894

"Every known specimen of rough riding is indulged in by these people throughout the entertainment which follows the military review, and many other interesting and instructive features besides. the shooting of Ms. Annie Oakley, the celebrated woman shot, is a part of the programme always appreciated; also the marksmenship of "Johnnie" Baker. The breaking of glass balls by Col. Cody while his horse is going at full gallop is a thrilling piece of marksmanship."
From The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, May 10, 1894

EXPERT ROUGH RIDING

Performed by the Indians and Cowboys with Buffalo Bill

These days have returned to Brooklyn, and may be enjoyed at Ambrose Park, or more explicitly, Third avenue and Thirty-seventh street, where the Wild West show of Buffalo William has pitched its tepees and corralled its ponies. There the wonderful west of a few years ago has been revived in all its rugged and romantic splendors. Its plains, prairies and mountain passes, the log cabin of the frontiersman, the wigwam of the Sioux, the burly bison, the pony express, the lumbering treasure coach of the overland route to Deadwood, the Mexican with his lariat, the cowboy with his broncho and the cavalry troops of the United States army; all are there in picturesque grouping... and finally, chief figure of them all, is William F. Cody, ex-scout, ex-colonel and ex-legislator, the handsome, long-haired, mustached and imperialed Buffalo Bill, the object of more hero worshiping by young America than any other character in national history....

The riding of the cowboys, Indians and cavalrymen was as exhilarating as a sea fight. It made the observers' blood tingle and nerves vibrate to see these specimens of hardy manhood sit in saddles or on bare backs and never see daylight under them while the horses plunged and ran like stags before the hounds.

***Update***
June 2016.
I was contacted by Linda S. Clark, Assistant Managing Editor of The Papers of William F. Cody,  who
clarified some of the facts of the above mentioned performances in Brooklyn.
I would like to thank her for taking the time to reach out.
Please read her note to me below.

As I was browsing online today, looking for information on Buffalo Bill’s Wild West appearances in Ambrose Park, I ran across your site.
If you will allow, I wish to correct your information as follows:

Buffalo Bill’s Wild West was owned and operated by William F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody (1846-1917), rather than James Butler “Wild Bill” Hickok (1837-1876). Their nicknames are often confused, but it was “Buffalo Bill” Cody who took his Wild West exhibition on the road, including three European tours—from 1883 until a few months before his death on January 10, 1917. It was “Wild Bill” Hickok who was shot in the back and died on August 2, 1876, while playing poker in a saloon in Deadwood, S.D.
Hickok and Cody had been friends, fellow scouts, and briefly performed together on the theatrical stage until 1874.

Buffalo Bill’s Wild West, including Annie Oakley, performed in Ambrose Park, Brooklyn, during two seasons—1894 and 1897—on the dates I have listed below:
1894
5/12/94 through 10/06/94
Ambrose Park, Brooklyn, New York – one show missed on Sept. 14th due to heavy rain
No Sunday performances during this season. 
1897
4/12/97  through 4/24/97       

Brooklyn, New York (Ambrose Park; no Sunday performance)

4/26/97 through 5/15/97      

New York, New York (Madison Square Garden; no Sunday performance)

Please visit CodyArchive.Org or contact me if you have further questions.

Cheers and best,
Linda

Assistant Managing Editor
The Papers of William F. Cody

centerofthewest.org