Hartville, Wyoming · Founded 2014
A Hartville steakhouse opened by Scott and Christine Harmon in 2014, centered on a bar back locally said to have been carved in Germany in 1862.
Miners and Stockmen's Steakhouse & Spirits operates at 608 Main Street in Hartville, Wyoming. Scott and Christine Harmon reportedly bought a closed building in 2014 and reopened it as a destination steakhouse and bar. The restaurant markets itself as Wyoming's oldest bar because of an 1862 historical tradition, but the available evidence does not establish continuous operation of the present business from that date.
Local accounts date the restaurant's carved cherry-wood bar back to 1862 and attribute it to five German brewmaster brothers known as the Brunswick brothers. This date is not independently established as the start of a business at the present restaurant site.
Source: Cowboy State Daily, "Eating Wyoming: Legendary Miners and Stockmen's Steakhouse"; Miners and Stockmen's Steakhouse website
Local accounts say the bar back moved from Fort Laramie's officers' club to the Hartville Opera House after Fort Laramie closed in the late 1880s. The exact relocation date and documentary provenance remain unverified.
Source: Cowboy State Daily, "Eating Wyoming: Legendary Miners and Stockmen's Steakhouse"
According to local accounts, the Hartville Opera House closed in 1941; stories of when and how the bar back reached its present location require independent documentation.
Source: Cowboy State Daily, "Eating Wyoming: Legendary Miners and Stockmen's Steakhouse"
Scott and Christine Harmon purchased a closed Hartville building and converted it into Miners and Stockmen's Steakhouse & Spirits.
Source: Cowboy State Daily, "Eating Wyoming: Legendary Miners and Stockmen's Steakhouse"; Real Food Traveler, "Miners and Stockmen's Steakhouse and Spirits in Hartville, WY"
Miners and Stockmen's advertises year-round steakhouse dining Thursday through Sunday, with reservations required by phone.
Source: Wyoming's Oldest Bar / Miners and Stockmen's Steakhouse official website
Every claim gets rated. A business's own website can never earn "documented."
The restaurant markets itself with an 1862 date, but independent reporting says Scott and Christine Harmon bought a closed building in 2014 and converted it into the present business. The evidence reviewed does not establish uninterrupted operation of the current restaurant or an identifiable predecessor from 1862.
The business makes this claim, but the reported 2014 purchase of a closed building and conversion into the present steakhouse materially contradict a claim of uninterrupted operation by the current business. The distinctive bar back's age does not establish business continuity.
Cowboy State Daily and later features repeat a detailed account that the cherry-wood bar back was carved in Germany by five Brunswick brothers in 1862. The review did not locate a maker's mark, shipping record, early photograph, or provenance document independently confirming the story.
The retrieved local account says the bar traveled by ship to New York, train to Cheyenne, and wagon to Fort Laramie. It does not establish a Cape Horn route, and no shipping documentation was located.
The candidate supplied an 1898 building date but no identifiable source supporting it. Reporting says the building is not Wyoming's oldest, but that does not establish a construction year. A property record or historic-resource survey is needed.
Miners and Stockmen's Steakhouse & Spirits has operated continuously as Wyoming's oldest bar since 1862.
The 1862 date is associated with the restaurant's historic bar back. Independent reporting says Scott and Christine Harmon purchased a closed Hartville building in 2014 and converted it into the present steakhouse, so uninterrupted current-business operation since 1862 is not supported.
Source: Cowboy State Daily, "Eating Wyoming: Legendary Miners and Stockmen's Steakhouse"; Real Food Traveler, "Miners and Stockmen's Steakhouse and Spirits in Hartville, WY"
The current Miners and Stockmen's building was erected in 1898.
No independently verifiable source located in this review establishes the current building's construction year. The 1898 claim should not be published without a property record or historic-resource survey.
Source: Cowboy State Daily, "Eating Wyoming: Legendary Miners and Stockmen's Steakhouse"
Miners and Stockmen's is located at 26 Main Street in Hartville.
Current restaurant and directory listings identify the business at 608 Main Street, Hartville, Wyoming.
Source: Wyoming's Oldest Bar / Miners and Stockmen's Steakhouse official website; current restaurant listings
The Harmons turned a closed Hartville building into a small-town destination restaurant by combining steakhouse dining, whiskey service, and a memorable antique bar back. Its appeal rests on the bar back's local provenance story and Hartville's mining-era atmosphere, rather than on a documented unbroken business history.
Miners and Stockmen's Steakhouse & Spirits in Hartville, Wyoming, was opened by Scott and Christine Harmon after they bought a closed building in 2014. The restaurant's central historical feature is a carved cherry-wood bar back that local accounts date to 1862 and say was made in Germany. The bar back's claimed age is not proof that the present steakhouse has operated continuously since 1862.
No. Miners and Stockmen's markets itself as Wyoming's oldest bar, but independent reporting says its current owners bought a closed building in 2014 and created the present steakhouse and spirits operation. That reported closure and restart prevents the current business from being treated as a continuously operating 1862 bar.
Local accounts date Miners and Stockmen's carved cherry-wood bar back to 1862 and say it was made in Germany by five brewmasters. Those accounts are detailed but have not been independently confirmed with maker, shipping, purchase, or early-location records in this review.
Cowboy State Daily reported in 2023 that Scott and Christine Harmon were the sole owners of Miners and Stockmen's Steakhouse & Spirits. The couple reportedly purchased the closed Hartville building in 2014 and converted it into the current restaurant.
608 Main St, Hartville, WY 82215
(307) 836-2008
The restaurant currently operates Thursday through Sunday, 5–10 p.m., and requests reservations; it does not accommodate children under five.