Saloon Doors

What purpose, if any, did saloon doors serve back in the old west?

Saloons weren't sturdy structures so there may not have been a frame for a door. The swinging doors gave an air of respectability (hey – they have a “door”!) and also cut down on the wind and dust that was kicked up by horse and wagon traffic on unpaved streets.

In many populated settlements, saloons never closed. The clientele could see who was coming in by their boots and the hat they wore. This would destroy the element of surprise.

I think that the shutter style saloon doors that we know are the stuff of Hollywood to a certain extent, but they are also practical because the doors would make practical high traffic doors in the day when hinges needed to be highly maintained. I think many establishments would use this style door because it's simple hinging and allows you to not knock someone silly when you come barging in to get your shot of whisky.


Let's also not forget that women (wives) would most likely not go into saloons so being able to see in was an advantage (probably more than being able to see out) although I doubt that it had anything to do with the use of the doors.


I think it's a simple case of hinging being a problematic thing back before metals were treated to not corrode and this style of door was appropriate for light weight high traffic doors. By the way, even today, high traffic doors require a lot of adjustment when they are very heavy.


Additionally it would have been very impractical to install a door with glass in it in a saloon because that glass would likely be broken a few times a week. Glass was expensive and hard to come by because shipping was difficult. It isn't very sensible to have a door that is constantly being opened and closed without glass because you can really knock into someone.

Speaking of hinges and the old West:


Oh the hinges are of leather

And the windows have no glass

While the board roof

Lets the howling blizzards in

And I hear the hungry coyote

As he slinks up through the grass

Round the little old sod shanty

On my claim


I came looking for the answer. All I see are more guesses, so I'll add my own. I think it's far more likely that the design of the saloon door was to block the view of the scantily clad (or nude) torso of the females from the passerbys outside. Dust would not have been stopped, and probably not even slowed, as it tends to stay close to the ground unless the wind pushing it is very strong (unlikely when driven by a walking horse or slow wagon).

I don't think that the women were scantily clad. Most of the people, including the men who frequented saloons, were very prudish. Note that one of the first buildings built in a newly founded town was usually a church.

I did see some interesting stuff last week on The History Channel’s show “Wild West Tech”. It was a program about saloons of the “Wild West”. While they did not address the saloon door issue, they did address the pictures of scantly dressed or nude women in saloons, so obviously I paid close attention . (Actually I like the show and watch it regularly)


The proprietors and customers were far from prudish. The proprietors used to pay good money for a picture featuring a nude woman, and most times kept it covered with a cloth. He would charge the customers to peek at the picture, hence the first “peep show”.


The only “prudish” fella featured in that episode was a man of slight stature who wore spectacles. He bellied up to a rough and tumble bar in the Wild West and ordered “coffee”. A local “tough guy” took his New York accent and his drink order as an insult and came up to him and demanded him to buy a round for the practically empty saloon. The man with the glasses simply said “no”. The really big tough guy then said that his money to buy the drinks, or his teeth will be on the bar real soon.


The smaller man turned removed his glasses and raised his fists in the classic (pre glove, I know that because the show also featured boxing in saloons) boxing position. The big guy laughed as this was not the common stance for saloon brawling, little did he know that the smaller guy was a boxer at Harvard University. Three quick blows to the face and the big guy was knocked unconscious much to the amusement of his friends.