Formerly: Zietz Buckhorn Exchange · Zietz Buckhorn Restaurant and Bar
Denver, Colorado · Founded 1893 · Building: late 1885 or early 1886
Founded by Buffalo Bill scout Henry 'Shorty Scout' Zietz in 1893, Buckhorn is Denver's historic game-meat restaurant and holder of Colorado Liquor License No. 1.
Henry H. 'Shorty Scout' Zietz opened a saloon and restaurant at 1000 Osage Street in Denver on November 17, 1893, across from the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad yard. The brick building already stood, built by the Neef Brothers Brewery in late 1885 or early 1886, and the business was commonly known as the Zietz Buckhorn Exchange. During Colorado Prohibition, the saloon stopped operating and the building became a grocery; after repeal, the business reopened as Zietz Buckhorn Restaurant and Bar and received Colorado Liquor License No. 1.
The two-story brick commercial building at 1000 Osage Street was constructed in late 1885 or early 1886, associated with the Neef Brothers Brewery. It predates the Buckhorn restaurant business.
Source: Denver Public Library, Buckhorn Exchange building history; Colorado Encyclopedia, Buckhorn Exchange; Historical Marker Database, Buckhorn Exchange.
Denver Public Library records the Neef Brothers Brewery and Investment Company taking title to the 1000 Osage Street property.
Source: Denver Public Library, Buckhorn Exchange building history.
Denver Library records a saloon called the Rio Grande Exchange at the building beginning in November 1892 under Henry H. Zietz's operation. The connection between that business and the later Buckhorn opening remains unresolved.
Source: Denver Public Library, Buckhorn Exchange building history.
Henry H. 'Shorty Scout' Zietz opened a saloon and restaurant at 1000 Osage Street, commonly called the Zietz Buckhorn Exchange, across from the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad yard.
Source: National Trust for Historic Preservation, 'The Buckhorn Exchange in Denver, Colorado,' October 27, 2016; Clio, Buckhorn Exchange; Colorado Encyclopedia, Buckhorn Exchange; Historical Marker Database, Buckhorn Exchange.
Colorado's statewide prohibition ended legal saloon operations. Buckhorn stopped its saloon business and converted the premises into a grocery.
Source: Clio, Buckhorn Exchange; Colorado Encyclopedia, Buckhorn Exchange; Buckhorn Exchange official history.
After repeal, the business reopened as Zietz Buckhorn Restaurant and Bar and received Colorado Liquor License No. 1, which remains displayed at the restaurant.
Source: Library of Congress, Highsmith collection caption; Visit Denver, 'Only in Denver: Colorado Liquor License No. 1,' June 7, 2023; National Trust for Historic Preservation, October 27, 2016; Buckhorn Exchange official history.
Henry H. Zietz died, and his son Henry Zietz Jr. acquired ownership of Buckhorn Exchange.
Source: Historical Marker Database, Buckhorn Exchange.
The City and County of Denver designated the Buckhorn Exchange building a historic landmark.
Source: Clio, Buckhorn Exchange; Buckhorn Exchange official history; Historical Marker Database, Buckhorn Exchange.
The Zietz family sold Buckhorn Exchange to Buckhorn Associates, a group of local investors that included Roi David, Steve Knowlton, and Bill Dutton.
Source: DiningOut Denver, 'For 100 Years and Counting, the Buckhorn Exchange Continues,' January 29, 2026.
Buckhorn Exchange continued operating at 1000 Osage Street as a game-meat restaurant and historic Denver dining destination.
Source: Denver7, 'Denver's oldest restaurant is still serving up fan favorite dishes,' July 10, 2026; Buckhorn Exchange official website; OpenTable listing, August 28, 2026.
Every claim gets rated. A business's own website can never earn "documented."
Institutional and historical sources consistently identify Henry H. Zietz as the founder and November 17, 1893 as the Buckhorn opening date at 1000 Osage Street. The early name appears as Zietz Buckhorn Exchange in several accounts, while Denver Library identifies an earlier Rio Grande Exchange at the address in 1892. The 1893 date documents the Buckhorn restaurant lineage, not the construction date of the building.
The Library of Congress, National Trust, Visit Denver, Colorado Encyclopedia, and the restaurant's own history all identify Buckhorn as the recipient of Colorado Liquor License No. 1 when legal alcohol service resumed in 1933. The license is displayed at the restaurant. The claim concerns post-Prohibition licensing, not a continuous liquor-license history from 1893.
Colorado's statewide prohibition began in 1916, and historical sources say Buckhorn stopped its saloon business and converted to a grocery. It reopened as a legal restaurant and bar only after repeal in 1933. The business may have retained a longer site lineage, but legal bar operation was interrupted.
Buckhorn is widely described as Denver's oldest restaurant by the Library of Congress, National Trust, Denver Library, Denver7, Colorado Encyclopedia, and the restaurant itself. It has a strongly supported 1893 restaurant origin and long tenure at 1000 Osage Street, but no full competitor audit or uninterrupted restaurant-operating chronology has been completed for this register. The citywide title is credible but not certified.
Visit Denver identifies the historic bar as crafted in Essen, Germany in 1857 and brought to Denver via New York by oxcart. Colorado Encyclopedia gives a related but less precise account, saying the white-oak bar was supposedly brought from Germany by the Zietz family. The bar is an established feature of the restaurant, but its exact manufacture date, route, and provenance need shipping, furniture-maker, or preservation documentation.
Buckhorn's current historical presentation and heritage coverage associate the restaurant with Buffalo Bill, Sitting Bull, Theodore Roosevelt, and other Western figures. The reviewed sources do not include period restaurant records, newspaper accounts, diaries, photographs, or correspondence confirming that each named person patronized the establishment. The associations should be treated as longstanding restaurant lore.
The restaurant is visibly and widely described as containing extensive mounted-animal, firearm, and Western-memorabilia displays. The reviewed sources do not provide a stable, independent inventory establishing exact object counts, provenance, or historical status for each item. The entry should describe the collection generally rather than repeat exact promotional totals.
The reviewed sources establish that Buckhorn ended its legal saloon operation and used the premises as a grocery during Colorado Prohibition. No reliable source was retrieved that verifies an upstairs speakeasy, its dates, operators, customers, or legal-enforcement history.
Buckhorn Exchange was built in 1893.
Henry H. Zietz opened the Buckhorn restaurant and saloon in 1893, but the brick building at 1000 Osage Street was constructed earlier, in late 1885 or early 1886, and associated with the Neef Brothers Brewery.
Source: Denver Public Library, Buckhorn Exchange building history; Colorado Encyclopedia, Buckhorn Exchange; Historical Marker Database, Buckhorn Exchange.
Buckhorn Exchange has operated continuously as a legal saloon since 1893.
Colorado Prohibition forced Buckhorn to stop saloon operations in 1916 and use the premises as a grocery. The business reopened as a legal restaurant and bar after repeal in 1933, receiving Colorado Liquor License No. 1.
Source: Clio, Buckhorn Exchange; Colorado Encyclopedia, Buckhorn Exchange; Buckhorn Exchange official history.
The Buckhorn's original name was definitively The Rio Grande Exchange.
Denver Library records Rio Grande Exchange at the address under Henry H. Zietz in November 1892, while several other historical sources describe the November 17, 1893 restaurant opening as Zietz Buckhorn Exchange. The precise relationship between the two names remains unresolved.
Source: Denver Public Library, Buckhorn Exchange building history; National Trust for Historic Preservation, October 27, 2016; Colorado Encyclopedia, Buckhorn Exchange.
Buckhorn Exchange is a National Historic Landmark.
The reviewed evidence supports a City and County of Denver historic-landmark designation in 1972. The exact National Register or National Historic Landmark status requires verification through official National Park Service records.
Source: Clio, Buckhorn Exchange; Buckhorn Exchange official history; Historical Marker Database, Buckhorn Exchange.
Buckhorn survived because it made its place in Denver's railroad-and-frontier history visible and edible. Its game menu, old bar, mounted animals, firearms displays, and Western memorabilia created a room that functioned as both restaurant and informal museum, even as the neighborhood around it changed. The business also adapted when legal alcohol was banned: Zietz converted the premises to a grocery during Colorado Prohibition, then moved quickly to restore the restaurant-and-bar model in 1933. Later owners preserved that formula after the Zietz family sold the business in 1978.
Henry H. 'Shorty Scout' Zietz opened the Buckhorn restaurant and saloon at 1000 Osage Street in Denver on November 17, 1893. The building itself was already standing, having been built by the Neef Brothers Brewery in late 1885 or early 1886. Buckhorn stopped operating as a saloon during Colorado Prohibition, became a grocery, and reopened as Zietz Buckhorn Restaurant and Bar with Colorado Liquor License No. 1 in 1933.
Buckhorn Exchange is widely described as Denver's oldest restaurant and has a strong 1893 restaurant history at 1000 Osage Street. This register does not certify it as Colorado's oldest restaurant because that is a statewide race requiring a comparative review of other Colorado restaurants, their founding dates, closures, relocations, and successor-business histories. Buckhorn's stronger supported claim is city-specific, not statewide.
Buckhorn Exchange received Colorado Liquor License No. 1 when legal alcohol service resumed after Prohibition in 1933. Founder Henry 'Shorty Scout' Zietz applied promptly after repeal, according to current Denver tourism reporting, while other prominent Denver establishments also sought the distinction. The displayed license marks the post-Prohibition reopening; it does not mean Buckhorn held a continuous liquor license from 1893 through Prohibition.
Buckhorn did not remain open as a legal saloon during Prohibition. Historical sources say Colorado's 1916 prohibition law forced the business to stop saloon operations and convert the building into a grocery. It reopened as a restaurant and bar after repeal in 1933, when it received Colorado Liquor License No. 1.
No. The restaurant opened in 1893, but Denver historical sources date the brick building at 1000 Osage Street to late 1885 or early 1886. It was associated with the Neef Brothers Brewery before Henry 'Shorty Scout' Zietz opened the Buckhorn restaurant and saloon there.
1000 Osage St, Denver, CO 80204
(303) 534-9505
Buckhorn is a historic Denver game-meat restaurant near Osage light-rail station. Confirm current dinner/lunch hours, reservations, game-menu availability, and parking directly before visiting.