Where Was Wyoming’s First Saloon?

Let's face it, as soon as the white man showed up in what would soon be called Wyoming, he thought to himself, "What this place needs is A SALOON!"

And so, one was built.

Wyoming's first saloon was established in 1822 at Brown's Hole (near the Green River, bordering Colorado and Utah) to serve fur trappers, marking it as potentially the first in the American West. It was a rugged, early outpost for travelers, distinct from later, more permanent establishments. At first, it was not a building, but just a big tent.

Doing just a little more digging, I found,

The Original (1822): Founded in Brown's Hole to accommodate trappers during the fur trade era.

'Oldest' Operating Saloon: The Miners and Stockmen's Steakhouse & Spirits in Hartville, opened in 1862, is recognized as the oldest continuously operating bar in the state.

Other Historic Locations: The Occidental Saloon (Buffalo) was a famous, later-era establishment known for hosting figures like Butch Cassidy.

Context: Early saloons were often just tents or shacks, serving as essential "watering holes" for miners, cowboys, and travelers, according to True West Magazine.

Forget what you see in old west movies. Real Western saloons were a bit different.

A saloon might also be known as a "watering trough, bughouse, shebang, cantina, grogshop, and gin mill.”

Saloons were mostly for socializing, not for gunfights. Nobody walked up to the bar and said Whiskey! The names of the drinks were more like Tanglefoot, Red-Eye, Forty-Rod, Tarantula Juice, Taos Lightning, and Coffin Varnish. And don’t forget Firewater. They made booze out of whatever they could find. Ingredients included such ingredients as raw alcohol, burnt sugar, and chewing tobacco. YUCK!

Early Wyoming and old west saloons sometimes traveled with the workers. They could be found in big tents. They were casinos, brothels, and opium dens.

After a Saturday night of sin, the local preacher might deliver a sermon on Sunday morning in the same place.

Some places offered free food in order to get people drinking.

But, anyway, now you know where the first Wyoming saloon was.