The Long Branch Saloon was a well-known saloon in

Dodge City, Kansas Dodge City is the county seat of Ford County, Kansas, United States, named after nearby Fort Dodge. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 27,788. The city is famous in American culture for its history as a wild frontier town ...

from about 1874 to 1885. It had several owners, most notably Chalk Beeson and

gunfighter Gunfighters, also called gunslingers (), or in the 19th and early 20th centuries gunmen, were individuals in the American Old West who gained a reputation of being dangerous with a gun and participated in gunfights and shootouts. Today, the t ...

Luke Short. The establishment provided gambling and live entertainment, including Beeson's five-person orchestra. It was the scene of several altercations, shoot-outs, gunfights, and standoffs often associated with cattle towns in the

American wild west The American frontier, also known as the Old West or the Wild West, encompasses the geography, history, folklore, and culture associated with the forward wave of American expansion in mainland North America that began with European colonial ...

. Most famous was the 1879

Long Branch Saloon Gunfight The Long Branch Saloon gunfight, on April 5, 1879, was an altercation that took place between Frank Loving and Levi Richardson at the Long Branch Saloon in Dodge City, Kansas. Both men were gamblers who frequented the saloon. Background Fran ...

, in which Frank Loving killed Levi Richardson.

Origins

The saloon was built as the result of a wager between cowboys and soldiers playing ball. Bets were placed and if the cowboys beat the soldiers, the soldiers agreed to provide building materials to construct a saloon. Chalkley Beeson, a wealthy farmer and rancher, and William Harris bought the saloon in 1878. Harris named it after his hometown of

Long Branch, New Jersey Long Branch is a beachside city in Monmouth County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2010 U.S. census, the city's population was 30,719,lemonade Lemonade is a sweetened lemon-flavored beverage. There are varieties of lemonade found throughout the world. In North America and South Asia, cloudy still lemonade is the most common variety. There it is traditionally a homemade drink using ...

sarsaparilla Sarsaparilla often refers to the sarsaparilla soft drink, made from Smilax plants. Sarsaparilla may also refer to: Biology *Several species of plants, of the genus ''Smilax'', including: **''Smilax ornata'', also known as Honduran or Jamaican sar ...

, and many types of alcohol, including champagne and beer.''The Long Branch Saloon''
; retrieved March 11, 2010.

Anheuser-Busch Anheuser-Busch Companies, LLC is an American brewing company headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri. Since 2008, it has been wholly owned by Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV ( AB InBev), now the world's largest brewing company, which owns multiple ...

was the original beer served at the Long Branch. Drinks were kept cold in the winter with ice hauled up from the river; in the summer, ice was shipped by train from the mountains of Colorado. Gambling ranged from five cent

chuck-a-luck Chuck-a-luck, also known as birdcage, is a game of chance played with three dice. It is derived from grand hazard and both can be considered a variant of sic bo, which is a popular casino game, although chuck-a-luck is more of a carnival gam ...

to thousand dollar poker.

Notable patrons and events

The saloon hosted many Old West characters including

Clay Allison Robert A. Clay Allison (September 2, 1841 – July 1, 1887) was a cattle rancher, cattle broker, and sometimes gunfighter of the American Old West. He fought for the Confederacy in the Civil War. Allison had a reputation for violence, having s ...

Wyatt Earp Wyatt Berry Stapp Earp (March 19, 1848 – January 13, 1929) was an American lawman and gambler in the American West, including Dodge City, Deadwood, and Tombstone. Earp took part in the famous gunfight at the O.K. Corral, during which la ...

Doc Holliday John Henry Holliday (August 14, 1851 – November 8, 1887), better known as Doc Holliday, was an American Old West, American gambling, gambler, gunfighter, and dentistry, dentist. A close friend and associate of Sheriff, lawman Wyatt Earp, H ...

, Frank Loving, Mysterious Dave,

Charlie Bassett Charles E. Bassett (October 30, 1847 – January 5, 1896) was a lawman and saloon owner in the American Old West in Dodge City. He was one of the founders of the Long Branch Saloon in Dodge City, served as the first sheriff of Ford County, Kan ...

(

town marshal Marshal is a term used in several official titles in various branches of society. As marshals became trusted members of the courts of Medieval Europe, the title grew in reputation. During the last few centuries, it has been used for elevated o ...

), and brothers Ed, James, and

Bat Masterson Bartholemew William Barclay "Bat" Masterson (November 26, 1853 – October 25, 1921) was a U.S. Army scout, lawman, professional gambler, and journalist known for his exploits in the 19th and early 20th-century American Old West. He was born to ...

. The saloon was the site of a gunfight on April 5, 1879, between Frank Loving and Levi Richardson. Loving accused Richardson of making disrespectful advances towards his wife, and the two got into an argument that turned into a gunfight across a table. Loving was grazed on the hand by one bullet; Richardson was shot three times and died. Town Marshal Bassett arrested Loving, but on April 7, a

coroner A coroner is a government or judicial official who is empowered to conduct or order an inquest into the manner or cause of death, and to investigate or confirm the identity of an unknown person who has been found dead within the coroner's jur ...

′s inquest ruled that Loving had acted in

self-defense Self-defense (self-defence primarily in Commonwealth English) is a countermeasure that involves defending the health and well-being of oneself from harm. The use of the right of self-defense as a legal justification for the use of force ...

and he was released without charges. Professional gambler and gunfighter Short's purchase of a partial interest in the saloon in 1883 was credited as one of the causes of the bloodless Dodge City War.

In popular culture

A saloon of the same name was featured in the long-running

radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a tr ...

and

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

drama, ''

Gunsmoke ''Gunsmoke'' is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman Macdonnell and writer John Meston. It centers on Dodge City, Kansas, in the 1870s, during the settlement of the American West. The central chara ...

''. A new establishment named the Long Branch Saloon, largely based on the ''Gunsmoke'' series, was built as part of the modern

Boot Hill Museum Boot Hill Museum is an American historical museum located in Dodge City, Kansas. A non-profit entity, the mission of the museum is to preserve the history of the Old West with emphasis on Dodge City. There are over 20,000 artifacts in the comp ...

entertainment and exhibit complex in Dodge City. The exterior was modeled on period photographs of the original building, while the interior is consistent with period saloons of the era. It is furnished with an 1881 bar and two Golden Eagles on top of the back bar that were once owned by Beeson.

Origins

Notable patrons and events

In popular culture

References

Further reading