04/13/2025
Texas history pours out of the Stonewall Saloon in Saint Jo—a Lone Star original that’s been standing since 1873! Built by Captain Irby Holt Boggess, a Tennessee Confederate vet, this native-stone saloon on the town square was the first permanent structure in what was then called Head of Elm. It opened its swinging doors to thirsty trail drivers herding cattle up the Chisholm Trail, offering a last stop for whiskey, rest, and tall tales before the Red River crossing into Indian Territory. With a boarding house upstairs (rumors hint at more than just beds!), it was a rough-and-ready hub in Montague County’s wild frontier days.
The Stonewall wasn’t just a bar—it was a Texas survival tool. Named possibly for Stonewall Jackson, it served cowboys pushing 6 to 10 million Longhorns north from 1867 to the 1880s, anchoring Saint Jo near the trail’s Red River Station end. Boggess and partner ‘Peg Leg’ Fulton ran it until 1897, when a county prohibition shut the taps—national Prohibition sealed it in 1899. It morphed into a restaurant in 1902, then Citizens National Bank in 1905 under James R. Wiley. By 1958, H.D. Field Jr. restored it as the Stonewall Saloon Museum for Saint Jo’s centennial, hauling in a mirrored back bar from Floresville and branding the doors with local ranch marks. A 1967 Texas Historical Marker cemented its legacy.
Today, it’s a nonprofit museum, reopened in 2011 after a $100,000 community-funded facelift—think restored stone walls and a 1870s mural of urns and curtains, uncovered mid-renovation. Over 2,600 visitors from 38 states and 11 countries have stepped inside since.
