Prescott, Arizona · Founded 1877 · Building: 1901
A working Prescott saloon and restaurant in the 1901 Palace Hotel building on Whiskey Row.
The Palace Restaurant & Saloon operates at 120 S. Montezuma Street in Prescott's historic Whiskey Row district. The present Palace Hotel building was completed in 1901 after the July 14, 1900 downtown fire.
Modern accounts commonly date a Palace Saloon opening in Prescott to 1877, but the direct business lineage to the current Palace is disputed by later local historical research.
Source: National Trust for Historic Preservation, "The Palace Restaurant and Saloon in Prescott, Arizona" (2016); Prescott Western Heritage Center, "The Truth About the Origins of Prescott's Famous Palace Saloon."
According to Prescott Western Heritage Center research, the Palace related to the present business was established on Goodwin Street in 1883; that account distinguishes it from earlier, unrelated businesses using the Palace name.
Source: Prescott Western Heritage Center, "The Truth About the Origins of Prescott's Famous Palace Saloon."
The Great Fire destroyed much of downtown Prescott, including the Palace. Local historical research supports that the Palace bar survived, but does not establish exactly how it was removed.
Source: City of Prescott, Historic Preservation; Sharlot Hall Museum Archives, Bradley G. Courtney, "The Truth About the Palace Bar & the Great Fire of 1900 - Part 2."
The Palace Hotel and Bar reopened in the rebuilt 1901 structure. A National Register nomination identifies the Palace Hotel as a 1901 building.
Source: National Park Service, Prescott Territorial Buildings Multiple Resources Area nomination; National Trust for Historic Preservation (2016).
A 2019 interview reported that Dennis and Derry McCormick, Scott Stanford, and Martha Mekeel bought The Palace. This does not independently establish current ownership.
Source: VoyagePhoenix, "Meet Dennis and Derry McCormick, Scott Stanford, Martha Mekeel..." (2019).
Every claim gets rated. A business's own website can never earn "documented."
Sharlot Hall Museum archival research cites an 1897 newspaper description and photographic evidence placing the same bar in the pre-fire Palace and later in Robert Brow's temporary plaza saloon.
The bar's survival is well supported, but the exact method of rescue is not. Sharlot Hall Museum research notes that contemporary reports and later eyewitness-reunion accounts did not record how it was saved; stories vary between men carrying it and horses dragging it.
The superlative is widely promoted in modern tourism and business materials, but the reviewed evidence does not provide a comparative statewide record or resolve the Palace's disputed lineage and possible interruptions.
The Palace's current structure has stood continuously since 1877.
The present Palace Hotel building dates to 1901. Earlier Palace structures were destroyed in the July 14, 1900 fire.
Source: National Park Service, Prescott Territorial Buildings Multiple Resources Area nomination; City of Prescott Historic Preservation.
Patrons are known to have carried the Palace bar across the street during the 1900 fire.
The bar's survival is supported by newspaper and photographic evidence, but Sharlot Hall Museum research finds no contemporary account establishing exactly how it was removed.
Source: Sharlot Hall Museum Archives, Bradley G. Courtney, "The Truth About the Palace Bar & the Great Fire of 1900 - Part 2" (2023).
The current Palace has an uncomplicated direct lineage to a Palace Saloon opened in 1877.
The lineage is disputed. Prescott Western Heritage Center research distinguishes several early businesses called Palace and traces the current Palace through an 1883 Palace and the Cabinet Saloon, which merged after the 1900 fire.
Source: Prescott Western Heritage Center, "The Truth About the Origins of Prescott's Famous Palace Saloon."
The business remains a current restaurant and saloon in a prominent 1901 Whiskey Row building, with a historic bar that local historical research places in the Palace before the 1900 fire.
No. The present Palace Hotel building dates to 1901, after the July 14, 1900 fire destroyed the prior Palace structure.
No. Modern accounts commonly use 1877, but local historical research argues that the Palace directly related to today's business began in 1883 and later merged with the Cabinet Saloon after the 1900 fire.
Yes, local historical research supports that the bar survived the fire. However, the often-repeated account that patrons carried it across the street is not established by contemporary documentation.
120 S Montezuma St, Prescott, AZ 86303
(928) 541-1996
The current website accepts reservations and advertises walk-in dining and private events.