On February 11, 1920, the Cody Club met for its first luncheon at the Chamberlin Inn in downtown Cody. Also known as the Cody Country Chamber of Commerce, the economic organization was created by the two men that founded the town.
William F. Cody and George Beck started the Cody Club as part of their effort to bring people into the community.
Tina Hoebelheinrich, the organization's president and CEO, said it was originally created as a sportsman group.
"It became aware that they were also the group that was concerned with the issues or the concerns or the struggles that the citizens of Cody were facing. And so the focus turned away from hunting and really more inclusive of all of the challenges of the region," she said.
From there on, Cody community members gathered together at the Chamberlin Inn on a weekly basis to talk business.
"In order to know what your neighbors were doing or to connect with businesses and find out what you were doing, it was really important to get in the same room. And so the Cody Club luncheon facilitated that," she said.
Hoelbelheinrich said the Cody Club began to focus on the economic activities of Cody. And then in 1970, it officially changed its name to the Cody Country Chamber of Commerce. To mark its anniversary, a celebration will take place at the Chamberlin Inn the afternoon of February 11.
Have a question about this story? Contact the reporter, Kamila Kudelska, at kkudelsk@uwyo.edu.