Lucille Mulhall

{{Short description|American cowgirl (1885–1940)}}

File:Lucille Mulhall, vaudeville actress (SAYRE 7536).jpg

File:Lucille Mulhall at 101 Ranche LCCN00651246 (cropped).jpg

Lucille Mulhall (October 21, 1885 – December 21, 1940) was a well-known cowgirl and Wild West performer.

She was born in St. Louis, Missouri to Zach and Agnes Mulhall.{{cite web|title=Mulhall, Lucille|url=http://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry.php?entry=MU006|website=The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture|publisher=www.okhistory.org|access-date=December 31, 2017}} Her parents brought her to the Oklahoma Territory in 1889. She was raised on her family's Mulhall Ranch in Oklahoma Territory, near what is now Mulhall, Oklahoma.

Known as one of the first women to compete with men in roping and riding events, she was called Rodeo Queen, Queen of the Western Prairie, and Queen of the Saddle (among many other appellations). She began performing in her father's rodeo show, the Mulhall Wild West Show, in 1899.{{Cite book |last=Moulton |first=Candy |title=Wild Women of the Old West |publisher=Fulcrum Publishing |year=2003 |isbn=9781555912956 |editor-last=Riley |editor-first=Glenda |pages=118–134 |language=en |editor-last2=Etulain |editor-first2=Richard W.}} Alongside other acts from her father's show, she performed at President William McKinley's inauguration ceremony in 1901. In 1903, she set the world record for steer roping after roping a steer in 30 seconds in Dennison, Texas.

She starred in the Miller Brothers' 101 Ranch Wild West Show, formed her own troupe in 1913 and performed in many rodeo and Wild West shows throughout her career. She produced her own rodeo in 1916. She retired to her family's ranch in Mulhall around 1922.

She was inducted into the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum into their Rodeo Hall of Fame in 1975,{{cite web|title=Rodeo Hall of Fame Inductees - Lucille Mulhall|url=https://nationalcowboymuseum.org/rodeo-hall-of-fame/5084/|website=National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum|access-date=December 31, 2017}} and into the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame in 1977.{{cite web|title=Lucille Mulhall|url=http://www.cowgirl.net/portfolios/lucille-mulhall/|website=National Cowgirl Museum & Hall of Fame|access-date=December 31, 2017}}

Mulhall died in Logan County, Oklahoma, in an automobile accident less than a mile from the Mulhall Ranch.