The Last Chance Saloon
Posted by: 
YoSam.
N 37° 01.930 W 097° 36.410
14S E 623909 N 4099348
Not actually in town, but east of town, still left and imprint.
Waymark Code: WM990X
Location: Kansas, United States
Date Posted: 07/16/2010
Views: 10
Marker Erected by: The Caldwell Historical Society
Marker Sponsors: Richard D. Lowe and the Caldwell Cherokee Strip Centennial Committee
Date Marker Erected: 1993
County of Marker: Sumner County
Location of Marker: 3 S. Main St., Caldwell
Marker Text:
The first building erected at Caldwell was, appropriately enough, a saloon. Constructed of thick logs in 1869 by Curley Marshall, it was located about a mile southeast of this marker on the north bank of Bluff Creek. It was open for business in time to serve the great cattle drives which moved from Texas to Abilene over the then new Chisholm Trail.
A sign on the building greeted Texas drovers just as they crossed into Kansas, proclaiming it was the "First Chance Saloon", and as they rode back toward the Lone Star state, the sign stated it was the "Last Chance Saloon", as a reminder of the prohibition of liquor in Indian Territory.
In 1874 a posse from Caldwell, while in pursuit of outlaws, thought badmen had holed up in the Last Chance and burned the saloon to drive them out. Though their suspicions proved to be unfounded, the building had been destroyed. The business was operated for a time from a secondary building at the same location, but soon fell into disuse as there was too much competition from the innumerable new saloons being established within the City of Caldwell.