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All the United States Texas San Antonio Buckhorn Saloon and Museum
Gastro Obscura

Buckhorn Saloon and Museum

A 131-year-old wunderkammer of Texas history.

San Antonio, Texas

Added By
Michelle Enemark
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The Buckhorn Saloon and Museum.   Ed Schipul/CC BY-SA 2.0
The Buckhorn Saloon and Museum.   Ed Schipul/CC BY-SA 2.0
“My motto is honest goods and honest dealings” written in the honest ink of rattlesnake rattles.   michelle / Atlas Obscura User
The skull of a buffalo, shot by Buffalo Bill in 1852.   michelle / Atlas Obscura User
Exterior of The Buckhorn Saloon and Museum.   Gaberlunzi/CC BY-SA 3.0
The Buckhorn used to be called Horn Palace, circa 1904.   The University of Houston Digital Library/Public Domain
The saloon.   michelle / Atlas Obscura User
One of the many taxidermy-laden walls of the museum.   michelle / Atlas Obscura User
Bucks with antlers fatally locked.   michelle / Atlas Obscura User
“View the Dressed Fleas!”   michelle / Atlas Obscura User
A patriotic piece of rattle art by Emile Friedrich.   michelle / Atlas Obscura User
“Manboon” from the gaff wing of the museum.   michelle / Atlas Obscura User
Enter the saloon through the Hall of Horns.   michelle / Atlas Obscura User
Texas Badge Collection: made up of 254 sheriff badges from every country in Texas, plus the badges of Texas Rangers, Parks and Wildlife, Game Wardens, Constables and others.   michelle / Atlas Obscura User
The Buckhorn Saloon & Museum in San Antonio, Texas (United States).   Michael Barera / Atlas Obscura User
An impressive throne comprised of 202 horns, made in 1912.   michelle / Atlas Obscura User
The museum has a great section on gaffs, including the famous Feejee Mermaid.   michelle / Atlas Obscura User
“A White-tailed deer made of 637 rattlesnake rattles. Gift to Theodore Roosevelt from Mrs. Albert Friedrich. 1898”   michelle / Atlas Obscura User
  Toriaroscuro / Atlas Obscura User
A replica of the Bonnie and Clyde getaway car, riddled with bullet holes.   michelle / Atlas Obscura User
  AJofTX / Atlas Obscura User
  notoriousFIG / Atlas Obscura User
  michaelamiller / Atlas Obscura User
  michaelamiller / Atlas Obscura User
  SemiruralYeti / Atlas Obscura User
  michaelamiller / Atlas Obscura User
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About

Drink a beer whilst you admire stuffed cougars and shrunken heads.

Albert Friedrich was just a 17-year-old bellhop in 1881 when he purchased the building across the street from the hotel he worked at and opened a saloon. In what could have been an ill-advised business move, he began accepting antlers, horns, pelts, and other game trophies as payment for drinks.

A skilled furniture maker, Albert would craft the trophies into chairs and tables, which were sought after by the likes of Kaiser Wilhelm. These went on to decorate the ceiling and walls of the bar, eventually coating it entirely. His wife, Emile, got in on this action as well; she would accept jars of rattlesnake rattles and then use them in decorative works of folk art.

The Prohibition era could have proved disastrous for the Buckhorn Saloon, but the Friedrichs stayed afloat by charging admission to their ever-growing collection of curios. When alcohol was legal again, they doubled their income by officially opening as a twofold saloon and museum.

Through several changes of ownership and one massive move to a more central location, the Buckhorn Saloon and Museum has remained a fixture of San Antonio's tourism industry. It won't be difficult to spot The Buckhorn from San Antonio's riverwalk: The building is adorned with giant plaster heads of longhorn cattle, elk, and buffalo.

Though it is billed as a museum of wildlife, the Buckhorn's museum sports some impressive specimens, including a 10,000-year-old prehistoric elk. But the museum also sports a robust collection of oddities. There is a hall of taxidermy fakes, or gaffs, which boasts a "Manboon" and a Feejee mermaid that is equal parts monkey and fish.

Other non-wildlife related items reside in the Texas Ranger Museum, part of the Buckhorn. Part of the exhibit includes a replica of San Antonio at the turn of the century, which contains a model of Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow's car, complete with bullet holes. 

The wax figure exhibit portrays important events in Texan history, with a little bit of dramatic flair. In one, a Comanche Native American scalps a pioneer while the man's wife and child look on in horror.

Related Tags

Bars Taxidermy Museums And Collections Museums Natural History Museums Natural History Hunting And Taxidermy Feejee Mermaids Wonder Cabinets

Community Contributors

Added By

michelle

Edited By

RHyzer, Molly McBride Jacobson, notoriousFIG, Toriaroscuro...

  • RHyzer
  • Molly McBride Jacobson
  • notoriousFIG
  • Toriaroscuro
  • Michael Barera
  • W5IPA
  • michaelamiller
  • SemiruralYeti
  • AJofTX

Published

August 31, 2016

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Sources
  • http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/9181
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buckhorn_Saloon_%26_Museum_(San_Antonio)
Buckhorn Saloon and Museum
318 E. Houston Street
San Antonio, Texas
United States
29.426205, -98.488951
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