Still Old School
Bale of Hay Saloon
Named after the livery next door. Montana didn't overthink names.
The Story
Virginia City saloon on Wallace Street with roots in the 1860s gold rush. Empty from 1908 to 1946, rebuilt inside its log walls after a 1983 fire, and still pouring every summer.
They’ll tell you the Bale of Hay has been pouring since 1863, when Virginia City was a gold boom town. J.F. Stoer was running a saloon here in the 1860s and kept at it until about 1890. Then Smith and Boyd, who had the livery stable next door, took it over and called it the Bale of Hay. Some names write themselves.
After 1908 the building sat empty until 1946, when Charlie Bovey saved it from collapse, added the front porch, and opened it as a saloon again. The state has owned it since 1997 through the Montana Heritage Commission, and different folks have run it each summer since.
A fire in 1983 took the roof. The fix went inside the old shell: a deep concrete foundation, new walls, and a tin ceiling out of the Mint Saloon in Great Falls, with the square hewn log front left alone. From Wallace Street it looks the way it always has.
It opens for the summer season. Have a beer on the porch and decide for yourself about the oldest bar in Montana thing.
Featured in: What are the oldest bars in Montana?
Why It's Still Old School
Square hewn log walls out front, a tin ceiling that came out of the Mint Saloon in Great Falls, and a name borrowed from the livery stable next door. They'll tell you it's the oldest bar in Montana.
Photos
Coming soon. Know something that belongs here?
Still There.
- Address
- 344 W. Wallace St., Virginia City, MT, 59755
- Phone
- 406-843-5867
Sources
Got a Story About This Place?
What do you say?
While You're Here
Been Here Awhile
Virginia City Players
The exclamation points come at no extra charge.
Montana Original
Bridger Bowl
Opened with one employee. One.
Somehow Still Here
Haufbrau House
Nobody has sanded anything.