The hidden history of Buffalo Park

Buffalo Park is a Flagstaff park located on McMillan Mesa off of Cedar Avenue. The park is popular with joggers because of it's well maintained loop of trails. The park is also beloved by photographers for its wide open fields and its views of the San Francisco Peaks. Buffalo Park is known for its recreational activities, but do you know the secrets of its "hidden history"? The background behind Buffalo Park is a story known only to a few locals who have lived in Flagstaff for their entire lives. Contemporary visitors know the park as a wide open area with a loop trail, log gates and a buffalo statue in the parking lot. For a short time last century, visitors could experience "Buffalo Park, the ride."

Buffalo Park was created as a wildlife preserve and western town, complete with an "Old Front Street" and General Store. (Photo above from NAU Special Collections; Call Number: NAU.PC.85.3.1.12)

A plaque in the parking lot reminds visitors about what the park that once stood on the site.

The text on the plaque reads as follows:

The City of Flagstaff purchased this land in 1959 from the United States Forest Service

In 1964, James Potter Sr., long-time resident, entrepreneur, and Flagstaff Chamber of Commers President, led the effort to form a non-profit organization, lease the site from the city, and operate Buffalo Park as a tourist attraction and wildlife refuge for elk, deer, antelop and of course, bison. A blend of Old West and Navajo culture was represented with stagecoach rides, cowboy storytellers and native artists.

In 1973, the Flagstaff City Council officially dedicated the site for municipal park and recreation purposes, and has provided this public regional park for the enjoyment of citizens and visitors.

James Potter, Sr. (1923-1999) was the park's original designer. His dream became a reality with the help of the founding  park committee and generous donations of time and money from the community.

We acknowledge the vision, energy and determination of those who made Buffalo Park possible.

Founding Park Committee:
James M. Potter Sr.
John G. Babbitt
Ernest Chilson
Robert W. Prochnow
Platt Cline
Rollin Wheeler

Special Thanks To:
Charles Bonney, Jr. Sculptor
Bar T. Bar Ranch
Yellowstone National Park
William Campbell, Warner Bros. Studios
O.T. gillette, Old West Storyteller
Dorothy Secody & Sally Tee, Navajo Weavers

Buffalo Park opened on Saturday, May 30, 1964 as a 217 acre "Western Wonderland" with two stagecoaches, two wagons, a mule team and a surrey for tours. According to an article in the 1964 Arizona Daily Sun, the surrey was donated by Lucille Ball, the famous television personality responsible for bringing Star Trek to NBC airwaves.

For an admission price of $1 for adults and 50 cents for children ($8 and $4 in 2018), visitors could come face to face with a variety of animals including buffalo, elk, deer and water fowl. Food dispensers were placed around the park for patrons who wished to feed the wildlife. Aside from encounters with the eponymous Buffalo (actually bison) of Buffalo Park, the main attraction was a 45 minute tour by wagon ride which would take travelers back in time to visit an imagined frontier. On the tour, visitors passed by a trapper's cabin, a Navajo Hogan with a live rug weaving, a recreation of old Flagstaff, and the site of "Fort Flag."

"Buffalo Park, the ride" closed in 1968 due to low ticket sales and an extreme winter that produced record-breaking snowfall. Snows from the 1967 to 68 winter season led to downed fences and wild animals wandering free in neighborhoods around McMillan Mesa. All animals were removed soon thereafter.  What followed was a long process of degradation and decay leading to what we know today as "Buffalo Park, the meadow". After closing, the ground was left to lay fallow until the landowners could find a new use for it. Original buildings erected for the park were still standing until the early 1970s when the city proposed opening the site for winter use by snowmobile enthusiasts.

Although most of the park's original details have been forgotten by history, a few clues and reminders can still be found by those who look closely.

The outline of a Hogan can still be seen near what was once a recreation of a Navajo village.

Remains of what appears to be an oven or a kiln near the recreated Navajo village.

One of the original tourist wagons lies in deteriorating condition near the entrance.

An original brochure shows the locations for all attractions and the route of the stagecoach tour. (Brochure published by Flagstaff Chamber of Commerce.)

The loop trail that is enjoyed today by hikers, joggers and bicyclists follows the same outline with a road first laid out as a circuit for stagecoach rides.

The Park's original admission building and frontier style front gates still stand to welcome visitors. The buffalo statue in the parking lot was designed by local Flagstaff sculptor Charles Bonney who was a high school student at the time and would later attend Northern Arizona University where he created a bronze statue of a lumberjack which now stands near NAU's student union.

Sources:

Various Arizona Daily Sun Articles: 1964 to 1973.

Mountain Town: Flagstaff's First Century by Platt Cline

Personal visits to Buffalo Park