Since its founding as a remote ranching town in Southern Oregon’s Lake County, many businesses in Paisley have come and gone: a sawmill, bar and a hotel have all long since shut down.
One survivor has been the Pioneer Saloon and Restaurant, which recently celebrated its 140th anniversary, complete with a cowboy costume contest and live country music band.
The Pioneer Saloon and Restaurant in Paisley, as seen in June 2023, recently celebrated its 140th anniversary and claims to be the oldest bar in Oregon.
Joni Land / OPB
John Steffes bought the bar eight years ago after he stopped by during a road trip. He said owning such an old building comes with its own special challenges. But thanks to recently unearthed documents, he’s begun advertising the saloon as the “Oldest Bar in Oregon.”
That claim is still up for debate. Six hours away in Pendleton, the owners of the Rainbow Cafe said their place also opened sometime in 1883. Both owners have searched for documents in an attempt to prove their claims, and have even begun selling merchandise saying as much.
Walk in the Pioneer Saloon and you’ll find evidence of its age. The saloon’s Brunswick bar, which appears lifted from a Clint Eastwood movie, was originally shipped by boat from Boston around the tip of South America to Portland. It arrived in Paisley by horse-drawn freight in 1905.
The history attracts a loyal group of fans.
“This bar has not changed at all since I first started coming here, it looks exactly the same,” said Kim Finch, who’s been visiting the bar for nearly 30 years.
The Pioneer Saloon is the only bar and restaurant in town, and therefore is at the core of community life. It still hosts the annual Paisley Mosquito Festival, an event that raises money to abate the area’s large number of mosquitoes due to its proximity to Summer Lake.
A relative newcomer of eight years, Steffes said owning the bar has been a great way to meet locals.
“You’re right in the center of the town, and you get to know everybody in town, for better and for worse,” he said.
In its earliest days, the saloon garnered a reputation of fistfights and shootouts, said local historian Brenda Morgan. She grew up in Paisley and remembers going to the saloon almost 60 years ago.
Morgan is writing a book about the history of white settlers coming to the region. She’s spent a lot of time digging through dusty records in the basement of the Lake County Circuit Courthouse.
“It’s kind of like going into the catacombs,” she said. “Every time someone flushes a toilet you hear the water.”
There, amid piles of dusty papers, she came across an estate record for the Pioneer Saloon dated 1883.
An estate record for the owner of the Pioneer Saloon dated in June 1883. The owners of the saloon say it proves they have the oldest bar in the state.
Courtesy of Brenda Morgan / Courtesy of Brenda Morgan
Chris Zimmerman, co-owner of the Rainbow Cafe in Pendleton, said he’s tried finding his own records to verify the date his bar was founded. He’s attempting to reach owners from previous decades.
“We know that the building itself was completed in early 1883 and it opened as the State Saloon,” Zimmerman said. “We don’t know the exact date. We just kind of roll with it.”
Both Steffes and Zimmerman said the bars are a source of pride for locals in these towns. And until someone unearths an exact date, Oregon’s real oldest bar will remain a matter of personal opinion.
And one of the bars is looking for a new owner, so someone else can be part of its history. As of mid-June, Pioneer Saloon is listed for sale at $499,000.
OPB reporter Antonio Sierra contributed to this story.