The History of the Buckhorn Saloon and Albert Friedrich's Horn Collection

Albert Friedrich of San Antonio began his exotic horn collection in 1881, three years before the founding of the Lone Star Brewery, the future home of the Buckhorn Saloon. At seventeen years of age, Friedrich, a bellhop and bartender at the Southern Hotel on San Antonio’s Main Plaza, decided to open his own saloon. Friedrich, whose father, Wenzel, made horn furniture, began to display his collection at the saloon he acquired on Dolorosa Street. He moved his business to what became the Buckhorn Saloon at Soledad and West Houston streets in 1896. There he maintained one of the most respectable saloons in San Antonio during one of the city's rowdiest eras and acquired the antler collection of a famed hunter, Capt. Ernest Dosch. In 1905 Friedrich fashioned electric light bulbs to the elk and deer antlers that adorned the ceiling of the Buckhorn. He expanded his collection in 1921 when he bought out the collection of his competitor, William “Billy” Henry Keilman, owner of the Horn Palace in San Antonio.

As a result of prohibition, in 1922, Friedrich moved his business to 400 West Houston Street at the corner of Houston and South Flores streets, where it was first known as Albert's Buck Horn Curio Store and subsequently as the Buckhorn Curio Store and Cafe. Unable to serve alcohol, Friedrich instead sold non-alcoholic drinks and lunches and established a variety store. The Buckhorn thrived as tourists and locals alike patronized the saloon and Hall of Horns—a collection Friedrich began when customers traded antlers and horns as a form of payment for alcohol when the saloon first opened. His wife, Emilie, accepted jars of rattlesnake rattles in exchange for libations. Many unusual framed artistic designs at the saloon were made by Friedrich's wife, a rattlesnake-rattle artist, who collected 32,000 rattles from patrons. She used the rattles to make art still on exhibit for visitors today. The Buckhorn was the first business in San Antonio to have coin-operated machines, and Friedrich always searched for exciting varieties of nickel machines.

Three decades later, in 1956, the Buckhorn Saloon was purchased and restored as part of the facility at the Lone Star Brewery with its mirrored back bar intact, and a facsimile of the main bar. Quaint machines and trick mirrors were brought from the old Buckhorn, along with the  Friedrich collection that was housed in the adjacent Hall of Horns. The collection included trophies of big game hunts throughout North America, Europe, Asia, and Africa.

The Texas Room, crowned by a chandelier composed of more than 4,000 horns from the old Buckhorn Saloon, featured such world champions as a longhorn with an eight-foot spread (see LONGHORN CATTLE), which was acquired by Friedrich in 1921 when Billy Keilman’s Horn Palace closed. Friederich mounted the horns on a whole steer named “Old Tex,” struck by lightning on a South Texas ranch. He reportedly removed the horns from the mount every night and locked them in his safe. A whitetail deer head with seventy-eight-point antlers and known as the Brady Buck adorns the mirrored back bar. Stuffed freaks of the animal world were found alongside a huge East African mountain gorilla, which was acquired by Friedrich in 1914 from two German hunters; the gorilla was shot on October 9, 1914, by William Mayer. The five feet, four inches gorilla became known as “The Guard” as he, the mount, stood in the front window of the saloon. Comedian and actress Carol Burnett recalled, as a small child growing up in San Antonio, being frightened and amazed by the gorilla. “The Guard” was heralded as the first African gorilla on display in Texas and the U.S. The largest trophy of the collection is an African elephant, which Harry Jersig, president of Lone Star Beer, killed in 1960 in Kenya, Africa. The Elephant’s tusks weigh approximately ninety-five pounds. The collection also includes memorabilia of the "world's greatest" sharpshooting team, San Antonians Elizabeth "Plinky" and Adolph Toepperwein, and famed bowhunter and fisherman Bill Negley.  

In 1960 the O. Henry House, which had been moved to the grounds of Lone Star Brewery, was added to the Buckhorn Collection as a museum that housed O. Henry memorabilia. The famed short story author rented the house while he lived in San Antonio and was a patron of the original Buckhorn Saloon. After Lone Star Brewery closed, the O. Henry House Museum was relocated to 601 Dolorosa Street in downtown San Antonio. A shark collection, the Hall of Fins, was added in 1964, and a bird collection, the Hall of Feathers, opened in 1973. In 1977 the Lone Star Brewing Company was sold to Olympia Brewing Company. The Buckhorn collection was sold five times during the next twenty years.

In 1996 Stroh’s Brewing Company decided to sell the historical collection, and in 1997 Albert Friedrich's granddaughter, Mary Friedrich Rogers, and her husband, Wallace, purchased the collection and entered into a lease agreement with Twisthorn Holdings and the Buckhorn Museum and Saloon Limited to manage the enterprise. The Buckhorn collection was moved from the Lone Star Brewery to a downtown site at the corner of Houston and Presa streets in 1998. In addition to the collections, the Buckhorn hosts live entertainment and features the Hall of Texas History Wax Museum, a gift shop, and an arcade. With 40,000 square feet of exhibit space, the museum grew to include the Texas Ranger Museum in 2006 after that exhibit (originally part of the Texas Centennial) moved from its location adjacent to the Witte Museum. Visitors can view the handguns, shotguns, and badges that belonged to noteworthy Texas Rangers Ray Martinez, John B. Armstrong, Frank Hamer, Joaquin Jackson, and others, as well as many other artifacts. Wallace Rogers III, son of Wallace and Mary Rogers, carried on the family business.