By Patricia Jones
Every community has at least one saloon, even Dobby’s Frontier Town! The saloon was the news center, the place where traders and newcomers found out about the area. Sometimes it was even the town hall and the courtroom. The Lonesome Duck Saloon sits at the northwest corner of Dobby’s Frontier Town.
King’s Corner (where Dave’s Pharmacy now is located) was the original home of the bar at Dobby’s Lonesome Duck Saloon. The bar ran along one side of the saloon and is the last remaining section of what was once the longest bar in Nebraska, 92 ft. long. If you were male and tall enough that your head was over the bar, you could be served a drink. Proper ladies never entered a saloon.
Women, and jobs for women, were not readily available on the frontier. Single women often worked for a short period of time in saloons or brothels until they were married.
Decorating the saloon is a coat on a hook is made from a Hereford hide. There is a picture on the wall of a horse race down Box Butte Avenue in 1908, which still had dirt streets at the time, and some other photos of early Alliance. You can see a pair of skis hand-made at the TruTemper factory just southeast of Alliance, where Parker is now located. On the piano is a cow hide from a Scottish Highlander, a long-haired breed imported to our area in the 1920s. Notice the small still in the corner behind the bar.
On the higher wall you will see a Pick-A-Rib sign. This sign originally hung in front of a restaurant located in south Alliance. The restaurant and hotel were built in the early 1900’s at the request of the railroad, who didn’t think their “colored” workers would be welcome at the other establishments in town. The Pick-A-Rib was known for southern-style cooking, card games, and its waitresses. We will learn more about these waitresses next week when the article will be about the room upstairs.
Dobby’s Frontier Town is located at 320 East 25th Street/ Nance Road, Alliance. The town is open 10:00-6:00 daily for self-guided tours, and donations are appreciated.