The Buckhorn Exchange

The Buckhorn Exchange began in November 1893 when Henry H. “Shorty Scout” Zietz opened a saloon in a building erected about 1886 by Neef Brothers Brewery. First known as the Rio Grande Exchange, it served railroad workers from the Burnham Yards of the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad across Osage Street, and Zietz later renamed it the Buckhorn Lodge and then the Buckhorn Exchange. Local legend held that Shorty Scout had been a frontiersman, a scout with Col. William F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody, a hunting guide for President Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt, and a worker in Leadville mines owned by U.S. Senator Horace W. Tabor. He operated the Buckhorn until his death in 1949, after which his son Henry Jr. took ownership, and over three generations the Zietz family assembled hundreds of taxidermied trophies, antique firearms, Native American artifacts, photographs, and western memorabilia displayed there. Sold in 1978 to a group of Denverites led by Roi Davis, the Buckhorn was carefully restored and retained its original interior, including an 1857 white-oak bar from the Zietz family tavern in Essen, Germany, and Colorado Liquor License #1 on the back bar. This small 19th century saloon became world-famous for its steak and game dinners, museum-quality artifacts, and celebrity patrons, including many American presidents and British royalty, and it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and was designated a Denver landmark on August 28, 1972.

Denver, Colorado · United States