German-Texan Heritage Society Newsletter, Volume 9, Number 1, Spring 1987 Page: 18
89 p. : ill.View a full description of this periodical.
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That was the bar that was:
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Ou*When the Buckhorn closed, its horn and trophy collec-
tion was purchased by the Lone Star brewery.music. Old Friedrich probably
would've loved today's video games.
Also, simild to the free buffets of-
fered by today's Loopiand discos,
Friedrich instituted what came to be
a known as the "free lunch" at the
Buckhorn. A special counter was of-
Co ten laden with sausages, cheeses,
hardboiled eggs, pickles, onions and
radishes, and rye or whole wheat
Z bread. Sometimes there was Irish
stew. The free lunch went with a
-- nickel glass of beer.
A somewhat fictionalized version
0 of the Buckhorn appears in "Lone-
some Dove," Larry McMurtry's Pul-
itzer Prize-winning epic novel about
Texas cattle drives.
In one scene, Capts. Augustus Mc-
a) Crae and W.F. CalL two old former
Texas Rangers, stop in the Buckhorn
a) for the first time in years. Modern
U, civilization is encroaching and they
C) aren't too happy with the changes.
a~
U-
CoWhen the "surly" young bartender
"dawdles," Gus' McCrae breaks his
nose on the bartop and then pulls his
big Colt and shatters a whiskey
glass. A gambler sitting at a back ta-
ble laughs.
When the Buckhorn closed, the old
cherry wood backbar with marble
columns and the entire horn and tro-
phy collection was purchased by the
Lone Star brewery. Today the rem-
nants of the old saloon can be found
at the Buckhorn Hall of Horns lo-
cated on the grounds of the brewery.
It's hard to imagine McCrae and
Call and their real-life counterparts
from the cattle-drive days being
pleased with this turn of events. It's
hard to imagine them standing
around holding small clear-plastic
cups of beer with a bunch of wide-
eyed tourists from Des Moines.
The Hall of Horns is no longer run
like a real saloon anyway. For $2.25you gain admission and the right to
two small draft beers or two root
beers. No longer are there tables or
chairs in the barroom. People are
not encouraged to linger and drink.
Move 'em in and move 'em out,
seems to be the plan.
This is not to knock the Hall of
Horns, which is a trip in itself. And, it
the old Buckhorn Saloon had to close.
it's good someone salvaged as much
as they could. Many additions have
been made to the original Buckhorn
collection and the place is fascinat-
ing.
The place is divided into the Asi-
atic Hail, the African Hall, the Euro-
pean Hall, the North American Hall
and the Texas Room with each rep-
resenting game trophies from each
region. Other additions include the
Boar's Nest, th'eHall'Qf Feathers, the
0. Henry Housd, the' Hall of Fins, the
Toepperwein Gallery, a section ofNELSON ALLEN
There are places I want to go,
things I want to see. Trouble is -
none of 'em are now.
For example, I'd like to visit Cuba
in the 1920s. Castro's Cuba, regard-
less if it's better or not for Cubans,
bores me. Likewise I'd like to drop in
on (long Kong during that same pe-
riod. And, of course, Paris in the '20s.
Paris, too, in the '30s and late '40s
after the war. But not Paris now.
Also I'd like to be in London during
the early (pre-Beatles) '60s. Or
Hamburg when they were first
breaking out. Yeah, and for some
reason I keep thinking I want to visit
Denver in 1952. Don't know why,
except I have this feeling something
would happen if I could.
So people are always asking
what's my favorite bar in San Anto-
nio. Well, it's this one for this, that
one for that, and this other one for
this other stuff. But, truth is, the S.A.
bar I would most like to visit no lon-
ger exists. At least, not exactly.
The legendary Buckhorn Saloon
operated in San Antonio from 1881
until 1956. The original location was
on Dolorosa Street. Later it was situ-
ated at the corner of Houston and So-
ledad streets. I'd like to stroll in
there about 1887, park my bootheel
on the brass rail and order a nickel
schooner of "fresh San Antonio cityLone Star Beer memorabilia, a Lone
Star gift shop and the Hall of Texas
History. Brewery guides, tradition-
ally colorful and knowledgeable, will
escort groups through the Buckhorn.
At the gift shop I bought a history
of the old Buckhorn and a copy of
"Rolling Stone," the iconoclastic
newspaper 0. Henry put out in San
Antonio and Austin during the 1890s.
The Hail of Fins is kind of a yawn.
Dead fish don't do much for me, al-
though I Like the huge blue marlin
they have in there. Someday I'm still
gonna catch one. And there's this
monster blowfish that looks like a
person's head after the flesh erupted
into fire worms.
The Hall of Texas History is full of
wax figures set in historical scenes.
There's Bowie and Travis and Hous-
ton. etc. I don't like wax figures ei-
ther; too corpselike. Besides, how
does anyone know wchat Ponce de
Leon or Jack the Ripper really*piI.
oARtSlooked like?
But the rest of the collection
including the horns from the old
saloon, is really interesting. Of
particular note are the "freaks of
nature" which include two-headed
calves, a female whitetail deer with
antlers, red-eyed albinos, Siamese
calves and Siamese lambs.
Imagine a world where the people
were stuffed and the animals cruised
about going, "Oh, my. look at that:"
Well, it's educational and I'm glad
Lone Star was able to save the old
saloon and keep its history alive.
But I still wish I could hop in a
time machine and find myself stand-
ing at the bar in 1&8. I'd order a
nickel draft beer and a shot of rye.
Then I'd look around to see what was
going on.
The Buckhorn Hall of Horns is
open from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. Mon-
day through Friday and is located at
600 Lone Star Blvd.The Buckhorn
most sought after - locked horns,
horns with siralet growtls on them,
horns that had grown into the eye.
Emilie was a little weird, too. Her
thing was cbllecling rattlesnake rat-
tles. She designed signs and even pic-
tures with them. One example is a
deer Mrs. Friedrich made entirely of
rattles in honor of Teddy Roosevelt's
visit to the Buckhorn. The rattles
from 637 rept miles were used in that
one design. A cowboy could count on
a drink in trade for rattles and sev-
eral drinks if lie ought In the skin
as well.
The skins were mostly used to
make bells, ties and watch fobs,
which were sold in the saloon's curio
shop. Tourism, apparently, has al-
ways been with us.
In some ways Friedrich was
ahead of his time. lie loved coin-op-
crated machines and thue old saloon
was filled with nickel machines that
could tell your fortune, cause me-
chanical birds to warble, produce
photos of theatrical idols, test your
strength, advise the lovelorn, flicker
stereoscnpic scenes, dispense good
luck tokens and sell stamps. There
were "marble tables" which pre-
dated the pinball machines and there
was a nickelodeon which provided
Continued on pu. S-Hr
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beer on tap," and maybe play a little
farn in hack.
For over 70 years the old saloon
was home away from home for
downtown locals as well as for gener-
alions of visiting cowboys, trappers,
traders, hunters, gamblers and sol-
diers. It quickly became known for
its collections of horns and trophy
heads. Even in its early years the sa-
loon's horn collection was considered
to be the largest in the state.
The Buckhorn was founded by Al-
bert Friedrich, and he and his wife,
Emilie, operated the saloon for al-
most 50 years. It was Albert who
started the deer antler and cow horn
collection to decorate the bar. Cow-
boys and trappers could count on get-
ting a few free drinks by bringing in
a rack of horns. Soon there were so
many horns that things took a weird
turn and "freaks of nature" were the.#
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German-Texan Heritage Society. German-Texan Heritage Society Newsletter, Volume 9, Number 1, Spring 1987, periodical, Spring 1987; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1507400/m1/22/: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting German-Texan Heritage Society.