Ellicott Apartments
Downtown Jamestown, New York·Restoration·Apartments and a restaurant
- Where
- Downtown Jamestown Historic District
- Building
- Apartments upstairs, a restaurant on the first floor
- Found
- An 1878 Buffalo Bill billboard behind the brick
A restoration that found Buffalo Bill.
The Ellicott Apartments stand in the Downtown Jamestown Historic District. The building belonged to the Reg Lenna Civic Center, which restored it. It holds several apartments upstairs and a restaurant on the first floor.
The restoration turned up something nobody expected. A crumbling facade had to come down, and the work was scheduled at night because the area sees heavy tourist traffic. In the low light, a crew member noticed tattered paper faces and lettering under the brick.
On the wooden wall behind the brick was a complete billboard, 10 feet by 26 feet, advertising an early Buffalo Bill touring show from 1878. William Cody and his troupe performed at Jamestown’s Allen Opera House soon after it went up. The billboard had been pasted onto a building under construction, bricked over, and forgotten for more than a century.
It was carefully removed and restored, and it is now part of a museum collection of Old West artifacts. Western New York Heritage magazine told the story in its Winter 2009 issue.
An 1878 Buffalo Bill billboard, hidden for more than a century. It is now in a museum.
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