More than 50 years after her death, Miss Kate Arnold still lovingly looks after guests at the historic Sheridan Inn in Sheridan, Wyoming.
The railroad made it to Sheridan, Wyoming, in 1892, and the Sheridan Inn opened a year later in the suddenly booming town. Buffalo Bill Cody was such a fan of the inn that he is said to have led the grand march at the opening and held auditions for his Wild West show on the front lawn. He would become a frequent guest, and, for a time, he would even own it. No coincidence, then, that all 22 rooms at the revitalized inn focus on Buffalo Bill and are named for him and 21 other key characters from his life. There’s a room named after Annie Oakley, and another for her shooting competitor Lillian Frances Smith, who for a time was also one of Cody’s trick shooters. Theodore Roosevelt, Sitting Bull, Wild Bill Hickok, Bill Pickett, Broncho Billy, Queen Victoria — all famous names recognizable around the world — have rooms in their honor.
And then there’s Room 306, named after Miss Kate Arnold.
A well-known presence in Sheridan, Wyoming, Miss Kate Arnold served lovingly at the Sheridan Inn in many capacities for many decades; her ashes are laid to rest in a wall of Room 306, her former accommodations (PHOTOGRAPHY: Museum at the Bighorns Memory Book Collection).
Born in 1879 on a farm in Virginia, Kate arrived in Sheridan, Wyoming, as a young woman in 1901 on the Burlington train, getting off just across from the Sheridan Inn. The first person she met on the inn’s distinctive veranda was Buffalo Bill’s daughter, Arta Cody Boal. Almost immediately, Miss Kate, as she would come to be known, joined the inn’s staff and would spend decades as a dedicated employee, working as a housekeeper, nightwatchman, hostess, desk clerk, and babysitter, while also doing sewing for a living.
In 1909, she moved into the inn, looking after the owners and guests, taking her meals there; sewing tablecloths, napkins, and pillowcases; and growing flowers to place on the dining room tables. During World War II, she frequently worked 12-hour days. Even after retiring in 1950, she continued to work at the front desk. Miss Kate spent 65 years at the Sheridan Inn, remaining there till it closed temporarily in 1965. After her death in 1968, her ashes, at her request, were buried in the wall of her room on the third floor.
The view from Miss Kate Arnold’s room at the Sheridan Inn (PHOTOGRAPHY: Courtesy of Sheridan Inn).
The inn Miss Kate spent her adult life caretaking was designed by the firm Walker and Kimball. Architect Thomas Rogers Kimball, from Omaha, Nebraska, is said to have fashioned the building after a hunting lodge he visited in Scotland. Part of the program for extending the Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy Railroad in Wyoming, the inn was equipped with the first bathtubs and electric lights in that part of the state.
“It was considered the finest hotel between Chicago and San Francisco at that time,” according to the Library of Congress. “The inn was the first building of any size and importance built in this ranching and coal mining center growing up along the Old Bozeman (Cattle) Trail.”
During its long life, the inn has survived several threats of demolition. In 1964, it was designated a historic landmark and is now part of Best Western’s Signature Collection. Through the years and various owners, hotel staff have insisted Miss Kate continues to maintain a close watch on the place and its guests. “Miss Kate doesn’t haunt the inn,” director of operations Karen Schumacher emphasizes. “She cared deeply for the inn for over five decades, and to this day does still oversee the inn lovingly.”
People still trade stories about Miss Kate’s watchful presence. Back in the day, Miss Kate would personally check that all candles were extinguished every night at turn-in, and some guests on the third floor have reported hearing the whistle that once let guests know it was time to blow out candles. And sometimes Miss Kate lets it be known when she’s not pleased about something — rock music, for instance. “She couldn’t stand it,” one manager said, offering as proof malfunctioning amplifiers and instruments going out of tune when rock bands play in the ballroom.
A recent view of the famous inn, now a National Historic Landmark (PHOTOGRAPHY: Gates Frontiers Fund Wyoming Collection within the Carol M. Highsmith Archive, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division).
“At times, when a new staff member talks ... about the inn, you hear the story of the mysterious noises that come in the dead of night,” Sheridan County Heritage Book recounts. But lest you think that the old inn must be haunted, “The older folk just smile and say, ‘That’s just Miss Kate checking.’”
The Sheridan Inn is at 856 Broadway St. in Sheridan, Wyoming (sheridaninn.com). In Sheridan you’ll also find King’s Saddlery & Ropes and the Don King Museum, which houses the King family’s extensive collection of Western and cowboy memorabilia (kingssaddlery.com). Plan a day trip to the Brinton Museum on the historic Quarter Circle A Ranch, about 15 miles away in Big Horn (thebrintonmuseum.org).
From our October 2024 issue.
