The saloons of the Wild West evoke images of gunfights, heavy drinking, and dangerous outlaws.
These remarkable photographs provide tangible evidence that the Old West watering holes truly lived up to their notorious historical reputation.
Captured in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, these images from states like Montana to Texas offer a glimpse into life inside these iconic establishments.
Saloons, a hallmark of the Wild West, were typically among the first buildings to appear in frontier towns. They attracted cowboys, miners, fur trappers, and gamblers alike.
Quickly gaining notoriety as hubs of vice, saloons often housed brothels and opium dens. Street brawls were not uncommon, with conflicts frequently spilling out from the saloons.
Interestingly, women who were not parlor girls or dancers were typically not allowed entry into these establishments.
Cowboys enjoy drinks at the Equity Bar in Old Tascosa, Texas, 1907.
A Western saloon was a special kind of bar found in the Old West, where all sorts of people would gather, including fur trappers, cowboys, soldiers, lumberjacks, businessmen, lawmen, outlaws, miners, and gamblers.
These places were also called “watering troughs, bughouses, shebangs, cantinas, grogshops, and gin mills”.
The very first saloon opened up in Brown’s Hole, Wyoming, back in 1822, mainly to serve the fur trappers.
By 1880, saloons were really taking off. In Leavenworth, Kansas, for example, there were about 150 saloons and four places selling liquor wholesale.
Men gather outside the Sweetwater Saloon in Texas.
The look of a saloon could vary a lot depending on where and when it was.
As towns grew bigger, the saloons got fancier. Bartenders took pride in how they looked and how they poured drinks.
But in the early days, especially in remote areas, saloons were pretty basic.
They had minimal furniture and weren’t fancy at all. Sometimes, the only way to stay warm in winter was a single wood-burning stove.
Several men, and a dog named Peggie, stand in John Powell’s Saloon in Plainfield, Illinois. Photo from the 1910s.
One of the things that really stood out about saloons were the “batwing” doors at the entrance.
These doors were on special hinges that let them swing both ways, and they went from your chest down to your knees.
In some parts of the American West, people even sold liquor out of wagons.
Saloons were often built using whatever materials were around, like sod from the ground, or they might even be made from the hull of an old ship, or dug into the side of a hill.
A photo of the “Shamrock Saloon” in Hazen, Nevada, 1905.
Saloons were not just places to drink; they were entertainment hubs too. They had dancing girls, who sometimes also worked as prostitutes.
You could also find games like Faro, poker, brag, three-card monte, and dice.
As saloons got more popular, they started adding more games like billiards, darts, and even bowling. Some saloons went all out, with piano players, can-can dancers, and even little theater shows.
When a new town started, the first saloons were often just tents or shacks selling homemade whiskey made from things like “raw alcohol, burnt sugar, and chewing tobacco”.
Back then, beer was usually served at room temperature because there was no way to keep it cold.
It wasn’t until 1880 when Adolphus Busch introduced refrigeration and pasteurization for beer with his Budweiser brand. Some saloons would keep their beer in kegs on racks inside the saloon.
The interior of the Long Branch Saloon in Dodge City, Kansas.
Plenty of saloons had ‘unofficial’ areas, like opium dens and brothels, drawing rural girls with promises of high wages and easy work. However, some saloons aimed to maintain a ‘respectable’ image and banned these activities.
Regulars at saloons often developed calluses on their elbows from leaning on the bar so much.
These places weren’t very welcoming to minorities – by law, Indians were excluded, and a Chinese man could risk his life by entering.
Soldiers weren’t usually welcomed in Western saloons. They were seen as representing the state and were often blamed for spreading venereal diseases to the saloon girls.
The Northern saloon in Tonopah, Nevada, around 1902, co-founded by the legendary lawman Wyatt Earp.
Women outside of the Klondyke Dance Hall and Saloon in Seattle, Washington, 1909.
The Crystal Palace Saloon in Tombstone, Arizona, 1885.
The White Elephant in Fort Worth, Texas, stood among over 60 Wild West saloons in the city by the late 19th century.
Clancy’s Saloon in Skagway, Alaska. Circa 1897.
A saloon in Wyoming in the late 1800s.
