Recently,
the brick facade of the Ellicott Building at the corner of Pine and
Third Streets in Jamestown, New York, began to collapse and was
removed. Glued to the wooden side of the building was a rare
26’X10’ 1878 Buffalo Bill Billboard Poster. When originally
affixed to the wall 124 years ago, the billboard was composed of
multiple sections measuring approximately 3 feet by 2 feet, the size
of hand-carved blocks from which it was printed. In its present
state, only two or three pieces of paper that size remain. The rest
of the pieces range in size from a couple of square feet down to a
few inches. The Civic Center Development Corporation has taken on the
responsibility of conserving this historic poster.The billboard poster advertises a theatrical production which played in Jamestown on March 14th, 1878 at the originial Allen Opera House (present site of the Reg Lenna Civic Center). The theatrical production was billed as a “New and Thrilling Border Drama”, the production, “May Cody or Lost and Won” was presented by the "Buffalo Bill Combination". This performance was among the earliest of William Cody’s long career, preceding by several years the formation of Cody’s better known theatrical troupe called “Buffalo Bill’s Wild West” show.