O'Neill was, among many other things, a member of Theodore Roosevelt's Rough Riders, who had previously been an author, sheriff, and a judge in his native Arizona.

It was used as an office for tourist accommodations in the area during the 1890s, which eventually evolved into the Bright Angel Hotel.

[2] The one-story cabin is a wood-frame structure on a low stone foundation, right on the edge of the Grand Canyon.

The cabin is connected to other lodge buildings using compatible, unobtrusive materials, and has been cited as an early example of an adaptive reuse of a historic structure.

[2] The Buckey O'Neill Cabin was individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 29, 1975.