Brown Palace Bar (Saloon) circa 1906

The Brown Palace bar in Palisade, Colorado was open from 1905-1908.  Robert Brown was the bartender, and James Purcell built the building and owned the saloon.  Here is an early photo.  Notice the Coors signs in the window.  Purcell was sole agent for Coors in the area.

Senate Saloon Quart Cylinder Bottle

This bottle dates to about 1900-1907.  It was found in the forest floor above Glade Park in the 1970's or 1980's.  Later purchased by Jimmy Purcell's grandson, Jim Golden, and given to me for Christmas (grin).

Another Nice Label Under Glass Back Bar Bottle

It's not mine, and it has no Colorado connection, but it just sold on eBay for over $1200.  Here's a picture:

S. HIRSCH & CO., KANSAS CITY, MO.

S. Hirsch & Co. of Kansas City was owned by Simon Hirsch.  In 1888, S. Hirsch & Co. was located at 602 and 604 Delaware Street, Kansas City. According to an 1888 description,  the business was established in 1879 by the firm of Stiefel & Determan, by whom it was conducted until 1885, when S. Hirsch & Co. was formed, composed of Messrs. S. Hirsch and C. Stiefel. The premises occupied embraced the main floor and two cellars, each 40 x 120 feet in dimensions, giving the facility plenty of space for the successful conduct of their business, which consisted of a large trade covering the States of Kansas, Missouri and Colorado, as wholesale dealers "in every description of imported and domestic liquors, wines and cigars." In liquors the S. Hirsch & Co. dealt in all the leading brands of bourbon and whiskies, and was a large direct importer of wines, brandies, gins and other foreign liquors. They were also sole agents for the celebrated Marshal Ney cigars, as well as a number of other leading brands. Four competent clerks and assistants were employed in the house in 1888 and four traveling salesmen take the road and represent the firm in its business territory.  S. Hirsch & Co. continued to operate very successfully well into the early 1900's, and won numerous gold metals for its whiskies.

COLORADO CONNECTION

Simon Hirsch was engaged in the wholesale liquor business at Leadville, Colorado with older brother Adolph Hirsch for a number years prior to coming to Kansas City.   In particular, from at least 1879 until about 1884, Simon Hirsch was the co-proprietor of a major saloon and wholesale liquor establishment in Leadville Colorado owned by older brother Adolph Hirsch.  



I'm still researching the Hirsch brothers dealings in Leadville, but all indications are that Adolph Hirsch was hugely successful and was a major financier of real estate in Leadville throughout the 1880's.  In 1890, the Pacific Wine & Spirit Review states that Adolph Hirsch had sold his Leadville liquor business.

 Interested in the S. Hirsch & Co. back bar bottle?  It's likely unique.  I'm interested in trading it for other embossed Colorado saloon bottle(s).  Send me an email at robertgoodson@gmail.com.

S. Hirsch & Co. Back Bar Bottle, Kansas City, Mo

For Sale or trade - $2000.00.  This label under glass ("LUG") back bar bottle came from the Gold Belt Theater or the Roma Saloon in Ouray, Colorado.  It was purchased in Denver a few years ago from the estate of a descendant of John Vanoli, who owned the Gold Belt and Roma.  It is a unique bottle, no other examples are known.  The glass over the label is fully intact, and it displays beautifully.

Bank saloon Token, Circa 1891-93

This trade token has been in the Purcell family since James Purcell was co-owner of the Bank Saloon in Grand Junction in the early 1890's. We don't know where the saloon was located, but it was definitely Grand Junction, as "Fredericks & Purcell" are listed in the Grand Junction section of the early 1890's Colorado Business Directories. Fewer than five of these tokens are known to exist, and this one is pretty much pristine.

Purcell's Mesa County Saloons

Bottles from the Senate Saloon and Brown Palace Bar

In 1875, attracted by the opportunities offered by the mining boom in Colorado, James "Jimmy" Purcell left Iowa and headed to Leadville to pursue his dreams. Within a few years, he moved to Western Colorado to Red Mountain, near Ouray, where he operated a string of pack horses into the early 1880s. He arrived in Grand Junction in 1883, just two years after the town was founded. This made Purcell one of Mesa County's early pioneers and over the next two decades, he would become a popular town figure and proprietor of four saloons. What got him into the saloon business is unknown. As with many successful saloon-keepers, Jimmy Purcell reportedly didn't drink, but he did have a reputation for being an excellent card player.  In the 1885 Mesa County census, Purcell reported his occupation as "gambler."  Did he win his way to his first saloon?

Bank Saloon

Purcell's involvement in Grand Junction saloons started in about 1891, when a Mr. Fredericks and Purcell were proprietors of the Bank Saloon. Fredericks and Purcell are listed in the Colorado business Directory from 1891-1893 in Grand Junction under "saloon." Almost nothing is known about the Bank Saloon, including its location.  The only known collectible from the Bank Saloon is a token that reads BANK SALOON / FREDERICKS / & PURCELL / PROPS  (rev.) GOOD FOR / ONE / DRINK.  Only a few examples are known.  By 1894, the Fredericks and Purcell partnership was no longer listed in the Colorado Business directories and the fate of the Bank Saloon is unknown. 

The Senate Saloon 

By 1894 or 1895, Purcell became co-proprietor of The Senate. The Senate Saloon was located at 413 Main Street in Grand Junction and is probably the most well known of the early Grand Junction saloons. The Senate was by far the longest continuously running saloon in Grand Junction. It was established in 1883 and continued operations until prohibition in 1909.  Although Purcell did not own or manage the Senate until the mid 90's, he is listed in an 1883 newspaper (see Brockett research) as playing cards there and accepting gold dust from the short-lived gold rush in Mesa County that was downstream from Grand Junction near the Grand (now Colorado) River.  The Senate Saloon had a number of proprietors over the years: 

1883-1884: George W. Thurston & Monroe Allison. 

1884-1885: M. Allison &  William B. Lesher. 

1886: "Lesher & Co." 

1887-1892: William B. Lesher and Joseph Crosby 

1892-1894: William B. Lesher and William H.H. James. 

1894: William H.H. James, owner, Frank Hughes, Manager. 

1895-July, 1898: James Purcell and Frank Hughes. 

1898-1909: James Purcell 

1909-1935: Saloon was closed but Purcell kept The Senate open as a billiards hall and cigar shop until his death in 1935. 

1935-1955: Tom Golden, Purcell's son- in-law, took over the Senate and maintained billiards, snooker, and cigar store, and sold 3.2 beer after prohibition was repealed. Poker was played in the "Bomb Shelter"(basement) starting in 1942. 

From all accounts, the Senate Saloon was a popular drinking establishment that also served as a community meeting place from its earliest times. In at least one Grand Junction election in 1887, the votes were counted at the Senate Saloon late into the night. In the 1890s, a portion of the Senate building may have served as the Senate restaurant, and in 1893 served such fine cuisine as "game, oysters and fish" and claimed that "Vaudeburg of the Senate restuarant is the acknowledged cook of the town." 

Bottle and token enthusiasts are well aware of the popularity and variety of Senate collectibles, which span a period of more than 50 years. As for bottles and jugs, there are numerous embossed flasks, at least two different cylinders, and a gallon jug. All of the Senate bottles can be attributed to Purcell's involvement there. The earliest and rarest known Senate flask is embossed with the name PURCELL & HUGHES.  Only a few of these early flasks are known to exist. Frank Hughes and Jimmy Purcell were partners from about 1895 to Hughes' untimely death in July, 1898 of a burst appendix. Having had my own appendicitis, I can certainly sympathize with the plight of poor Mr. Hughes (luckily, modern medicine fixed me right up). After Hughes' death, Jimmy Purcell was the sole proprietor of The Senate.  Between about 1900 and 1907, numerous varieties of Senate bottles were manufactured.  Purcell put out a pint and half-pint "defender" flask embossed THE SENATE SALOON / GRAND JUNCTION / COLO.  The SENATE SALOON flask came in both wiped and ground tops and are the most common Senate flasks.  Purcell also put out a slightly different flask embossed SENATE SALOON / GRAND JUNCTION / COLO (“THE” was omitted).  These later flasks also came in half-pint and pint, wiped and ground tops and were produced by the Western Glass Manufacturing Company in Denver. (They have the tell-tale "buckle" on the base.)  These later SENATE SALOON flasks are not particularly rare (compared to most Colorado flasks), but they are highly sought after due to three factors: "Saloon" bottle collectors want them, western whiskey  collectors want them, and Colorado  collectors want them.  Senate Saloon cylinders (quart-sized) are quite rare compared to the flasks and are also highly sought after by collectors.   In addition to selling whiskey and cigars, Purcell was the General Agent in Grand Junction for Coors Golden Beer and was acquainted with Adolph Coors.  In fact, Adolph Coors personally loaned Purcell the money he needed to purchase the 413 Main Street property in 1903 and his grandson remembers stories about Coors coming to dinner at Jimmy Purcell and Louise (Stoeckle) Purcell's house on the 700 block of Chipeta Ave. in Grand Junction. Whether they were friends or simply business acquaintenances is unknown.  

After several failed attempts by the Anti-Saloon League to ban alcohol in Grand Junction, the April 7, 1909 vote resulted in passage of prohibition by a 60% to 40% margin (1,480 people voted yes and 1,009 voted no).  Amazingly, the saloon-keepers were allowed only ten days to clear out their inventory.  With all the saloons in town set to close on April 17, 1909, the Daily Sentinel reported that April 17th was "about the busiest day the liquor houses of Grand Junction ever experienced." Purcell was forced to close both the Senate Saloon and the Annex Bar on that day, and reportedly held his leftover stock in the basement of his house.  But unlike many other saloon proprietors,  Purcell was lucky to have been able to continue operations of the Senate as a cigar and billiards hall after Prohibition.  He continued to be an agent for Coors, and sold Coors malted milk products through- out the teens and 20's until Prohibition was repealed. Upon Jimmy Purcell's death in 1935, his son-in-law, Tom Golden, took over operations. 

In 1940, Golden bought a number of new pool tables as captured by Frank Dean.  In 1942, Golden added a public entrance to the basement, which he renamed "The Bomb Shelter."  The Bomb Shelter contained poker tables, which was made legal because the players cashed in their winnings for Senate “Good For” tokens rather than cash. With pool tables, 3.2 beer, cigars and other products on the ground floor and poker in the basement, the Senate continued its successful run of business.  In early February of 2003, I went to the old Senate office with my father-in-law and gathered the last remaining files from the Senate's operations. In the file cabinets we found a Senate Saloon half- pint flask (what a surprise) and numerous monthly logs of gross receipts during World War II. One entry during a down month in 1943 explained that pool profits were down because the 19-year-olds were sent to war. Shortly after World War II was over, the Senate had a year of particularly good business, thanks, in part, to members of the "52-20" club.  As I understand it, World War II veterans were given 52 weeks of pay at $20 per week once the war ceased - and many Grand Junction members of that club liked to play pool at the Senate. The original Senate Saloon building still stands and is currently utilized as a fly-fishing shop. The facade was replaced in the 1930s, and the bar fixtures were sold in 1955 to an antique collector outside of Las Vegas, reportedly named Dobey Docke.   The fixtures were reportedly placed in a casino with western saloon decor. 

Annex Bar- Grand Junction

 In about 1904, Jimmy Purcell opened the "Annex" bar at 209-211 Colorado Avenue, Grand Junction. Newspapers advertised lunches twice a day at the Annex. While there are no known whiskey bottles from the Annex, Purcell had a major Coors bottling operation behind the Annex from about 1904-1909. The Weekly Sentinel in 1907 advertised "Coor's Celebrated Beer - Bottled and sold in Grand Junction by Jas. Purcell at the Annex." A dozen quarts cost $1.75 and a dozen pints $1.25. "Beer delivered to any part of the City between the hours of 3 and 5 p.m. and empty bottles called for."