The Last Chance Saloon

The first building erected at Caldwell was a saloon, built of thick logs in 1869 by Curley Marshall about a mile southeast on the north bank of Bluff Creek. It opened in time to serve the great cattle drives moving from Texas to Abilene on the then new Chisholm Trail. A sign greeted Texas drovers as they crossed into Kansas by calling it the "First Chance Saloon," while on the return ride toward Texas the sign called it the "Last Chance Saloon," reminding them that liquor was prohibited in Indian Territory. In 1874, a posse from Caldwell pursuing outlaws believed badmen had taken refuge there and burned the saloon to force them out, but the suspicion proved unfounded and the building was destroyed. The business continued for a time in a secondary building at the same location, but it soon fell into disuse because innumerable new saloons in the City of Caldwell created too much competition.

Caldwell, Kansas · United States