When did the Wild West truly end?

by BlueMagma212

So I was playing red dead redemption 2 for the 4th time and was wondering when did it actually end because on google it says 1895 but the game is set in 1899-1907 so it doesn’t really make sense.

Also, was crime legal back then?

ChuckRagansBeard

This is a tricky question. First, does the google link say 1995 or is that a typo? Over the years I have heard various dates argued for the end of the "Wild West", from 1895 with the first patent for the automobile all the way to 1917 with the US entrance into The Great War. Time periods are often quite subjective. We often have this image of the frontier and Wild West as the 1870s-1880s, post-Civil War, and it seems often difficult for people to grasp just how varied and diverse the United States was. One of the most well-known cowboys was Wyatt Earp, and he spent is final years in Hollywood consulting on Western films. Red Dead Redemption 2 does a great job of showcasing the end of that era and the transition to the 20th century, which is a more apt reference for the end of the Wild West than a strict date to follow.