MI Man Finds Rare Buffalo Bill Poster From the 1800s in Manistee

A Michigan man recently discovered something extremely rare when he uncovered a Buffalo Bill poster in Manistee. Unfortunately, not long after the find, it was stolen.

Jesse VanderBie, of Jack VanderBie Builder LLC and his crew, were replacing siding on an old apartment building when they found a Buffalo Bill poster dating back to the late 1800s. The century-old poster was an advertisement for Buffalo Bill and the Congress of Rough Riders of the World.

According to MLive, VanderBie reached out to the Manistee County Historical Museum, which in turn reached out to the Buffalo Bill Center of the West in Wyoming.

It's believed that the poster is from 1898 which was when Buffalo Bill apparently visited Manistee.

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The plan was to document the finding and preserve it but that didn't happen, because the buffalo Bill poster was peeled from the wall and stolen.

VanderBie said they were on their lunch break when the poster was peeled off and stolen and now it's in pieces.

However, he knows who took the poster and hopes they can get it back.

An amazing piece of history is found and then some loser comes along and steals it. I have no idea if there was any real value tied to the poster aside from the historical value but it has to be upsetting nonetheless. I'm sure it was worth something to the Buffalo Bill Center of The West because they didn't have that specific poster in their collection.

If your history of Buffalo Bill is a little rusty, the video below will get you caught up.