Jackson Hole Historical Society & Museum's video: Million Dollar Cowboy Bar

One of the most-known and most-visited businesses on the Town Square has been serving locals and tourists alike since the early 1930s. It was known then as Joe Ruby's Cafe & Saloon. It became the Cowboy Bar when Ben Goe, Sr. purchased the business. In 1953, a gas explosion resulted in expensive repairs to the building, and the moniker "Million Dollar" was added to the name when the business officially reopened. It would take more than a gas explosion that took out the basement and knocked patrons off their feet to close this business, regular ads in the newspaper declared uninterrupted service, although somewhat limited. The blast sent two men sitting by the front windows onto Cache Street, who were thankfully unharmed because the plate glass windows had blown out milliseconds before them, and a woman reportedly lost the heels off her shoes. The neon marquee was added in the 1940s, and the famous saddle barstools in the 1970s. Today the Cowboy is one of the longest-running businesses in Jackson.