When Swiss immigrant brothers William and Joseph Bucher opened Bucher’s Saloon in Columbus, Nebraska, in 1876, they were likely just hopeful to keep the business going into the 20th century.
Now operating as Glur’s Tavern well into the 21st century, the saloon is still going strong. Management at the historic establishment bills it as “the oldest continuously operated tavern west of the Missouri River.”
Here are five fun facts about the unassuming white building on the corner of 11th Street and 23rd Avenue in Columbus.
Some of the original furnishings remain
Manager Tabitha Riedmiller recently told KOLN that the business still uses some of the original tables from when Bucher’s Saloon opened. She added that much of the original flooring also remains, though it had to be reinforced after it started sinking two decades ago.
“Buffalo Bill” Cody was a customer
American soldier, bison hunter, and showman “Buffalo Bill” Cody is said to have been a visitor to what was then still Bucher’s Saloon in the late 1800s. Riedmiller told KOLN that Cody, who lived in North Platte for many years, would stop in whenever he was visiting a friend who lived in Columbus. The Platte County Historical Society says he dropped by in 1883 while in town rehearsing for the Omaha world premiere of his Wild West Show.
The official City of Columbus website says both are true, clarifying that Cody would come to town regularly to visit his friends, the North brothers, which led him to hold his first full dress rehearsal of his famed show in Columbus.
Not even Prohibition could stop the beer from flowing
The root beer, that is.
“When prohibition forced the end of alcohol sales, the tavern was run as a soft drink and ice cream parlor, including the sale of root beer,” reads an excerpt from the Platte County Historical Society’s entry about the business.
Louis Glur, a longtime employee who bought the Bucher brothers out in 1925, pivoted back to booze sometime after 1934, when Nebraska residents approved a statewide repeal of Prohibition.
A secret tunnel run underneath the business
Riedmiller told KOLN the dirt-floor basement leads to a tunnel that was used to sneak liquor into the establishment from a nearby funeral home during Prohibition, though she can’t confirm just where the tunnel leads because it’s boarded up and no longer accessible.
Glur’s is part of a deeper history
The town of Columbus was founded by a group of 16 pioneers in 1856, just two decades before William and Joseph Bucher opened Bucher’s Saloon. In the early 20th century, when the old Mormon Trail was paved as part of the Lincoln Highway, Columbus became known as “the crossroads of the nation,” referring to where Lincoln Highway (US 30) intersected with Meridian Highway (US 81).
If you’re looking to have some present-day fun during a visit to Glur’s Tavern, the bar is hosting a Halloween Costume Party & Contest on Friday, Oct. 30. There will be prizes for Best Costume and Best Couples Costume. We’re thinking there will be more than one Buffalo Bill Cody in attendance that night, so be original.
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