The Story of Buffalo Park in Flagstaff, Arizona

In January 1963 Flagstaff Chamber of Commerce president Jim Potter proposed to the Flagstaff City
Council a plan to create a wildlife park - similar to Yellowstone National Park - that would showcase
buffalo, elk, and other animals in a natural setting.
Potter suggested locating the park on a city-owned tract of land atop McMillan Heights Mesa, known
today simply as McMillan Mesa. The council approved the plan and agreed to a five-year lease to the
park. The council also committed to build a road and provide water for what soon was called Buffalo
Park.
Buffalo Park is Developed
The Buffalo Park Committee was formed to oversee the development of the new park. Members of
the committee included Potter, Ernest Chilson, Robert Prochnow, Platt Cline and Rollin Wheeler. By
July the committee had raised $10,000, most of which was dedicated to building a seven-foot chainlink fence to surround the 217-acre park. This fence and a stockade fence at the entrance were in
place by mid January, 1964, and various buildings were also being constructed.

The first animal - a deer - arrived on January 31, 1964, and the first buffalo (technically, they are
bison) arrived on April 8. Eventually, the park boasted more than 200 animals including elk,
antelope, Ring-necked dove, Chinese and Golden pheasants, Gamble's quail, wild ducks, Egyptian
and Canadian geese, mouflon sheep, llamas, Barbary sheep, Blackbuck antelope, Cornish game
hens, peacocks, a javelina named Convair (because she had been flown in to Flagstaff on a Convair
aircraft), and numerous barnyard animals.
Local artist Charles Bonney, Jr., then a student at Arizona State College (now Northern Arizona
University), offered to create a buffalo statue that would greet visitors at the park entrance. The
statue, which still stands, was constructed of a steel frame covered with wire mesh and coated with
a concrete and latex-silicon mixture. It weighed more than three tons and was erected at the park on
April 26, 1964. Bonney charged $500 to build the statue, and the cost was covered by a donation
from Carl Tremaine of Pacific Palisades, California.
Flagstaff's Wildlife Park Opens
On May 30, 1964, the park officially opened. The admission fee was $1 per adult and 50 cents per
child. The highlight of the visit was a 45-minute tour of the grounds aboard one of the park's fleet,
which included a pair of stagecoaches, two wagons, a mule train, and a surrey that was donated by
Fred Ball on behalf of his sister, actress Lucille Ball.
The tour, which featured sightings of buffalo, elk, and other animals wandering around, started at an
old-time stage depot, near the entrance of the park. From here, visitors rode west and down into a
canyon, then went around a bend and over a slight rise, stopping at "Old Trapper's Cabin." Here,
they heard legendary cowboy philosopher, radio star, and raconteur O.T. Gillette spin a yarn or two.
The tour then proceeded up a long rise and onto a mesa, where Navajo women wove blankets in
front of four hogans. Soon the construction site of "Old Flagstaff" - an area that, when completed,
would represent Flagstaff in the 1880s - came into view, followed by the beginnings of "Fort Flag" - a
replica 19th century frontier fort. From here, the tour headed back to the park entrance, where
visitors could feed the smaller animals, which were kept in cages made of split rail fence.
To ensure western authenticity, the park sought advice from a Warner Brothers film crew, which
had been in Flagstaff filming A Distant Trumpet. The crew helped design many of the buildings and
the rustic stockade fence. Warner Brothers even suggested the possibility that they may use the
park as a setting for future films, but this never happened.
The Short Life of Buffalo Park
Despite a successful first summer, Buffalo Park soon ran into financial difficulties. It was doomed by
the heavy snows of 1967-68, and by 1969, the park was closed. The animals still there escaped on a
number of occasions, trampling nearby lawns and gardens. On one occasion, several of the buffalo
wandered down to Sechrist School to graze.
A plan for Old Tucson, Inc. to take over the park fell through, and in October 1969 the city ordered
that all remaining animals should be removed.
In 1973, the Flagstaff City Council banned a proposed reroute of Highway 180 through the park and
dedicated the site as a recreational park. The council later rescinded the ban, opening the possibility
of paved roads running through the site. However, in 1986 Flagstaff residents voted to restore the
ban, protecting Buffalo Park and ensuring that people could continue to exercise where buffaloes

once roamed.
Resources
Arizona Daily Sun newspaper stories written between 1963-1969.
Mangum, Richard and Sherry. 2003. Flagstaff Past & Present. Northland Press.