[1] In 1890, Wilcox was involved in the case of Rogers v. The Common Council of the City of Buffalo[3] that established the constitutionality of the Civil Service Law.

[3][4] In 1891, Wilcox took the landmark case[5] of Briggs v. Spaulding to the Supreme Court and with it, established the liability for negligence of directors of national banks.

[6] The case, which was decided on May 25, 1891,[7] involved the First National Bank of Buffalo and its directors, Reuben Porter Lee, Francis E. Coit, Elbridge G. Spaulding, William H. Johnson, and Thomas W. Cushing.

[9] On September 6, 1901, while attending the Pan-American Exposition, anarchist Leon Czolgosz twice shot President William McKinley.

[10] McKinley's Vice President, Theodore Roosevelt, was in Isle la Motte, Vermont when word of the assassination attempt reached him.

He resumed his planned schedule which included a family camping and hiking trip to Mount Marcy in the Adirondacks.

Officially having learned that he was now President of the United States, Roosevelt continued by train from North Creek to Buffalo.

Wilcox would recall that "the family and most of the household were in the country, but he [Roosevelt] was offered a quiet place to sleep and eat, and accepted it.

[15] Mark Hanna lamented that "that damned cowboy is president now," giving expression to the fears of many old line Republicans.

[16] Though he never ran for public office, Wilcox was very interested in politics and was a friend of at least three presidents, Cleveland, Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft.

He was also a founding member of the Wanakah Country Club and enjoyed riding his horses and polo ponies in Delaware Park.

[citation needed] Today, the Wilcox house is the oldest part of a National Historic Site including the lone surviving structure from the Buffalo Barracks compound.

The structure that would later be incorporated into the Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural National Historic Site started life in 1840 as the Barrack's officer's quarters.