Born in Lexington, Missouri, FRANK L. HOUX graduated from Shaw’s Business College in Kansas City, Missouri in 1884. He traveled to Montana in 1885 to enter the cattle business and moved to Cody ten years later. He was elected to two terms as Mayor of Cody. He was also elected to two terms as Secretary of State before becoming governor upon the election of then-Governor John Kendrick to the U.S. Senate. Serving as governor during World War I, Houx mobilized the National Guard of Wyoming for federal service, appointed the Wyoming Council for National Defense, and nominated persons to administer the Select Service draft. After being defeated for reelection in 1918, he went into the oil refining business in Texas, but in 1935 returned to Cody, where he is buried.