Over many years Rochester has held horse pulls, tractor pulls and even circuses. It has become known as a “horse” town due to the number of stables within its borders and now there will be a rodeo in town.
The word rodeo comes from a Spanish word that means round up. The earliest rodeos were informal competitions between neighboring ranch hands to see who was best at the roping and riding skills needed to work on a cattle ranch. The first ranches covered extensive, unfenced prairie where cattle grazed and when it came time to round them up in order to trail them to market, those skills were of prime importance. The early names of what would later be called rodeos-stampedes, round ups and cowboy contests reflected this.
The fencing of the West in the early 1900’s put many cowboys out of work and some turned to performing their roping and riding skills in western shows in a tradition that went back to the 1880’s and Bill Cody’s Wild West Show. With time, a need was seen to bring organization and structure to what were at times chaotic contests.
In 1929, the Rodeo Association of America was created. It set up rules which excluded many, including women from participating and which attempted to make the contests safer. Seven years later in October of 1936, rodeo cowboys boycotted the Madison Square Garden Rodeo demanding better prize money and judges who actually understood rodeos. By 1939, they had formed their own organization called the Cowboy Turtle Organization. They picked that name because they had been “slow to act but had finally stuck their necks out for the cause”. In 1945 the name changed to Rodeo Cowboys Association and then in 1975 to Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association.
Stories of cowboys and the old west grew in popularity fueled first by radio, then early movies and finally TV starring a host of western stars including the Lone Ranger, Roy Rogers and Gene Autry. By the 1950’s and 60’s, TV was full of western shows and today there is a Cowboy Channel on Cable.
As rodeos popularity grew, venues in the East, particularly Madison Square Garden, hosted them. The first rodeo in Boston Garden was in 1931. In a box of “historical stuff”, I found a program for the Ninth World’s Championship Rodeo held at Boston Garden in 1940 which my mother attended. Inside the program was the autographed picture of Gene Autry (shown here) who had just begun bringing his rodeo to larger venues.
I wonder how many other Rochester kids made the exciting trip into Boston to experience the rodeo. For any who did, like my mother, it was one of those events that make you want to save the program and pictures that hold those good memories.
And now this summer, new rodeo memories can be made right here in town.
By Connie Eshbach
