In 1881, seventeen-year-old Albert Friedrich, a bartender and bellhop at San Antonio’s Southern Hotel on Main Plaza, decided to open his own saloon across the street. Friedrich soon realized that travelers often did not have much money in their pockets and began accepting horns and antlers in exchange for a service, thus starting one of the world's most unique and largest collections of horns and antlers.
In 1922, the first year of Prohibition in the United States, the Buckhorn made its first move to the corner of Houston and South Flores Streets. Many saloons, unable to serve alcoholic beverages, closed their doors, but Friedrich used his collection and his creativity to keep the Buckhorn afloat. Friedrich replaced the revenues lost from liquor sales by selling non-alcoholic beverages, lunches and by creating a curio store as unique as the collection itself. Albert’s wife, Emile got into the family business as well. She began to accept jars of rattlesnake rattles as payment, using them to create works of art that, to this day, can be seen on display at The Buckhorn. Such ingenuity made the Buckhorn more popular than ever and locals and tourists alike continued to pour into the Saloon.
For a period during the 1950s and 60s, the original Buckhorn bar and collection served as the setting for the hospitality room at the Lone Star Brewery of San Antonio. When new owners, Strohs’ Brewing Company planned to sell the historical collection, Mary Friedrich Rogers granddaughter of Albert Friedrich, and her husband, Wallace committed to preserving this important part of San Antonio history and purchased it, moving the Buckhorn Saloon and Museum and its entire exotic animal collection (and even the original cherry-wood bar and marble columns) to the corner of Houston and Presa Streets where it remains today.
Wallace Rogers III, the great-grandchild to Albert Friedrich, and his wife, Elizabeth still own the Buckhorn today. In fact, their children, the great-great-grandchildren of Albert, work at the Buckhorn daily and strive to uphold the traditions and excellence their great-great-grandfather instilled over 130 year ago. The Buckhorn now has more than 40,000 square feet of exhibit space and 8,000 square feet of convention and private event space.
