On July 4, 1882, in North Platte, Nebraska, Buffalo Bill Cody did what he did best—put on a show. What was supposed to be a simple Fourth of July celebration turned into something bigger: an exhibition of frontier skills that would set the template for rodeos to come. He called it the Old Glory Blowout, and in true Cody fashion, it was more than just a party. Cowboys competed, crowds cheered, and a new American tradition took its first steps into the spotlight.
Texas Jack: The Cowboy Who Inspired Buffalo Bill
To understand how Buffalo Bill came to recognize the cowboy as a natural performer, you have to look at his partnership with Texas Jack Omohundro. Before Texas Jack, Cody saw cowboys as tough, resourceful, and necessary. After Texas Jack, he saw them as legends.
Jack had been a real-deal cowboy, trailing cattle, riding hard, and roping anything that moved. He lassoed a buffalo for the Niagara Falls Museum, proving that cowboy skills weren’t just for the range. More importantly, he took those same skills onto the stage when he and Buffalo Bill toured together in Scouts of the Prairie. It was Texas Jack who first showed audiences that cowboy life could be more than hard work—it could be entertainment.
The Old Glory Blowout: Where Cowboys Became Performers
The Old Glory Blowout was an experiment in spectacle. There were horse races, shooting contests, and cowboy competitions that looked an awful lot like modern rodeo events. Roper
s showed their skill, riders proved they could stay on the meanest broncos, and the people of North Platte saw, many for the first time, the athleticism and artistry of the working cowboy.
Buffalo Bill was already thinking bigger. He’d spent a decade in theaters, learning how to shape a narrative and captivate an audience. That instinct carried over into the Blowout, where he turned the everyday work of cowboys into something thrilling. He framed it as a patriotic display, a way of celebrating the frontier spirit, and he made sure the press took notice.
The Most Consequential Fourth of July in North Platte
The North Platte Telegraph later described the Old Glory Blowout as “the most consequential Fourth of July since the first.” Cody’s celebration didn’t just entertain—it laid the foundation for two major cultural institutions: rodeo and Buffalo Bill’s Wild West. According to historian Adam Jones, Cody “offered something to the people that they never saw before.”
Cody’s larger-than-life presence guaranteed the event’s success. A local reporter from the Omaha Daily Bee arrived by train and noted that the town was “alive to the importance of the occasion.” The day began with a booming cannon and a parade featuring the North Platte Cornet Band, Civil War veterans, Sunday-school children, and carriages filled with spectators. The highlight of the event was Cody’s reenactment of a buffalo hunt, where cowboys lassoed and rode wild bison—a spectacle that foreshadowed what would later become Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show.
A Tribute to Texas Jack
Texas Jack passed away in 1880, but his influence on Buffalo Bill never faded. When Cody launched his Wild West show, cowboys weren’t just background players—they were stars. The show’s programs honored the cowboy as a symbol of the American West, a clear nod to the way Texas Jack had embodied that role. Every time Buffalo Bill’s riders lassoed a steer or busted a bronc, they were paying homage to Jack’s legacy.
The Birth of a Tradition
Buffalo Bill never set out to invent rodeo, but the Old Glory Blowout lit a spark. Within a decade, cowboy contests were popping up all over the West, and rodeo was on its way to becoming the defining sport of the frontier.
Buffalo Bill’s Wild West spread the cowboy legend across two continents, but it all started in North Platte, on a hot summer day in 1882, when a showman with a knack for spectacle turned a holiday celebration into history.