Found in nearly every frontier town, the saloon was a place where outlaws and lawmen alike enjoyed gambling, swapping wild tales, and stiff drinks.
The tumbleweed towns that dotted the American West in the 19th and early 20th centuries almost always had one thing in common. There, miners, outlaws, cowboys, lawmen, and dance hall girls routinely gathered at Wild West saloons to gamble, swap stories, and throw back drinks.
Many of these saloons started off as simple places. As Legends of America notes, they were initially nothing more than a hastily erected tent or lean-to where weary travelers could pop in for conversation and a drink.
But as towns grew, so did their variety of watering holes. In 1848, the town of Santa Barbara, California had just one saloon. Then, gold was discovered nearby, and just a few years later, the settlement boasted over 30 saloons.
Explore some of these Wild West saloons in the photo gallery and then learn more about these iconic frontier institutions below:
This Wild West saloon — pictured circa 1915, location unknown — has a pool table, a card table, and even a poster of Buffalo Bill.Buyenlarge/Getty Images A Wild West saloon, circa 1890. There are a couple of spittoons — used for chewing tobacco — on the floor. Buyenlarge/Getty Images Circle City Saloon in Nome, Alaska. Circa 1902. Buyenlarge/Getty Images Men pose in a Wild West saloon. Date and location unknown.Buyenlarge/Getty Images Men playing Faro at the Orient Saloon in Bisbee, Arizona, circa 1903. Faro was a popular saloon game, along with other activities like poker, Chuck-A-Luck, and Three-Card-Monte. Historica Graphica Collection/Heritage Images/Getty Images Saloons and wagons line the streets of this Wild West town. Date and location unknown.McClelland/Library of Congress/Corbis/VCG via Getty Images A saloon in Pierre, South Dakota. Circa 1890-1900.R.L. Kelly/Buyenlarge/Getty Images Men standing in front of a saloon called "Table Rock." Circa 1890-1900.Mark Jay Goebel/Getty Images Men outside of the U.P. Saloon in Murray, Utah in 1906. Most Wild West saloons catered almost exclusively to white men on the frontier, though women could sometimes find work in the bars as dance hall girls or sex workers.Murray Utah Parks and Recreation Dewar's Saloon in Zortman, Montana. Circa 1905.Montana Historical Society Research Park Saloon/Tripp and Melloy in Gardiner, Montana.Yellowstone National Park Heritage and Research Center The interior of a saloon in Castle Dale, Utah, where one of the patrons apparently decided to pose with a horse.Sherratt Library/Southern Utah University Mueller Saloon in Ripon, Wisconsin. Circa 1894.Ripon Historical Society A saloon in Missoula, Montana. Date unknown.Mansfield Library/University of Montana Cowboys enjoy drinks at the Equity Bar in Old Tascosa, Texas. Circa 1907.Public Domain Men gather outside the Sweetwater Saloon in Texas.University of Texas at Arlington Library Several men, and a dog named Peggie, stand in John Powell's Saloon in Plainfield, Illinois. Circa 1900-1920. Plainfield Public Library/Plainfield Historical Society The Toll Gate Saloon in Black Hawk, Colorado. Circa 1897.Public Domain A photo of the "Shamrock Saloon" in Hazen, Nevada. Circa 1905.Public Domain The interior of the Long Branch Saloon in Dodge City, Kansas. Though this saloon has a chandelier, mirror, and art, many saloons were bare-boned.Public Domain The Northern in Tonopah, Nevada, circa 1902. This Wild West saloon was cofounded by the legendary lawman Wyatt Earp.Public Domain Women outside of the Klondyke Dance Hall and Saloon in Seattle, Washington. Circa 1909."Respectable" women didn't frequent Wild West saloons, but women who were less concerned about their reputations might find work there.
Public Domain The Crystal Palace Saloon in Tombstone, Arizona Territory. Circa 1885.Public Domain The White Elephant in Fort Worth, Texas was one of more than 60 Wild West saloons in the city at the end of the 19th century. It's still open today, albeit in a different building.The White Elephant Clancy’s Saloon in Skagway, Alaska. Circa 1897.Between 1896 and 1899, about 100,000 prospectors rushed to Alaska for the Klondike Gold Rush and saloons quickly followed.
Public Domain A simple saloon in Wyoming. Circa late 1800s.Public Domain The Combination Saloon in Utah. Late 1800s.Public Domain At an unspecified saloon, likely in Wyoming, patrons appear to be forcing a man to "dance," pointing their guns at his feet.Public Domain Unique furniture fills the Table Bluff Hotel and Saloon in Table Bluff, California, circa 1889. Wild West saloons were often built with whatever material people had on hand, but some owners got creative with their bars.Public Domain The Cowboy Bar in Jackson, Wyoming. Circa 1908.Public Domain The exterior of Abe Warner's Cobweb Palace in San Francisco, California.Online Archive of California The interior of Cobweb Palace, where the eccentric owner Abe Warner allowed spiders to spin countless webs.Library of Congress As some of the largest and newest buildings in Wild West towns, saloons often served multiple purposes. The Judge Roy Bean Saloon, pictured in 1900, was also a "Hall of Justice." Here, men gather to watch the trial of a horse thief.Library of Congress
33 Rare Images Of Wild West Saloons That Show What These Frontier Institutions Actually Looked Like View GalleryInside The Rowdy World Of Wild West Saloons
Saloons were so prevalent in some Wild West towns that they completely consumed daily life. According to Legendary Watering Holes: The Saloons That Made Texas Famous, drinking and gambling were considered "Big Business" in Fort Worth, Texas during the 1880s. Back then, the future city had just nine churches — and more than 60 Wild West saloons.
Some of these saloons looked a lot like they do in Hollywood films. Many had swinging doors — called cafe doors or "batwing" doors — which allowed for easy access, ventilation, and privacy. Some even had a swinging chandelier or a big mirror behind the bar, but as Ranker notes, these fancy embellishments were relatively rare.
Regardless of what they looked like, most Wild West saloons attracted the same kinds of people. From Oklahoma to Kansas to California, they served everyone from cowboys to outlaws to miners to dance hall girls, where people could gamble — games like Chuck-A-Luck, Three-Card-Monte, Faro, and poker were popular — and enjoy a drink.
Modern-day drinkers, however, might not recognize the beverages offered. According to Legends of America, the whiskey was often made of raw alcohol, burnt sugar, and chewing tobacco, and sometimes went by names like bottled courage, coffin varnish, joy juice, and gut warmer. The nicest cocktail available would probably be Cactus Wine (tequila and peyote tea) or Mule Skinner (whiskey and blackberry liquor).
Orange County, California Public LibrariesA Western saloon in California, possibly once called the Rust Winery.
Attempting to order a fancier mixed drink could incur the ire of other bar customers — unless the person ordering already had a "tough" reputation.
Although Wild West saloons welcomed a variety of characters, from dust-encrusted miners to scowling cowboys, they usually didn't accept women or people of color as customers. Black people in the Wild West — who found work as cowboys, lawmen, mail delivery people, and more — were not typically welcome at white saloons and opened their own instead.
Indigenous Americans and Asian Americans would similarly not enter most Old West saloons. They might have been invited in on rare occasions, but would generally not cross the "color line" because of the deep-seated prejudices held by most white bargoers in the Wild West.
For women, the relationship with Wild West saloons was a little different. According to Legends of America, "respectable" women would never enter a saloon in the Old West, but women less concerned with their reputations might work at one. Women could find jobs as dance hall girls or sex workers, though they rarely held both of those positions at the same time.
Oklahoma Historical SocietyThe J.A. Bunch Saloon in Grand, Oklahoma. Circa 1890-1916.
At saloons, they entertained male patrons by singing, dancing, and flirting. They sometimes drank watered-down whiskey or even plain tea that looked like whiskey to ensure that they didn't get too drunk.
But Wild West saloons were primarily patronized by white men — miners, farmers, cowhands, outlaws, lawmen, and others who used the saloon as a gathering place. Since they didn't want to drink at home, men came to enjoy a glass of whiskey and to strike up a conversation with a fellow bargoer.
These gatherings sometimes devolved into violence but were far more often peaceful affairs. Artifacts found at old saloons usually include bottles, smoking pipes, and game boards. Bullets and other evidence of shootouts are rare. By and large, saloon patrons were careful not to ask each other too many personal questions, but they frequently bought each other drinks and often offered a drink to anyone unable to afford one.
After looking through these storied Western saloons, go back in time with these fascinating Wild West mugshots of old-school outlaws or peruse these vibrantly colorized photos of the Wild West.
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