Calamity Jane Days

Third Saturday. Princeton is the birthplace and childhood home of Calamity Jane. In recognition of this Princeton hosts Calamity Jane Days Fall Festival each September. Martha Jane Cannary (aka Calamity Jane) was born May 1, 1852 in Princeton, Missouri, the oldest of six children.

This hard drinking woman wore men’s clothing, used their bawdy language, chewed tobacco and was handy with a gun. She traveled from Arizona through the Dakota territories during her rough life. At her death, the “White Devil of the Yellowstone” was remembered as a saint by the citizens of Deadwood, where she helped nurse the sick during a smallpox plague. She is buried near Wild Bill Hickock at Deadwood, South Dakota.