FRONTIER TOWN, Montana — John Quigley was a dreamer who was good with his hands. He spent the winter of 1951-1952 building Frontier Town, a former tourist destination near Helena and home for what was for a time the largest bar in the world cut from a single giant 50-foot log.
Those bellying up to the bar can park their Levis in one of the broken-in Western saddles on posts lining the bar.
“There's a grand story that goes with it. It was down 20 below, and he cut it with a chainsaw,” Taegan Walker told Cowboy State Daily about how the unique bar came to be.
Walker is Quigley’s granddaughter, a University of Wyoming graduate and a fan of the bar with its sophisticated diorama.
The 50-foot bar was cut from one huge Douglas fir tree split down the middle. The log weighed 6 tons and held 2,500 board feet of lumber.
Quigley placed the bottom of the log on stone pillars and cut out the upper half overhead. The whole thing is held in place by log supports from the same tree.
After hundreds of hours of hand-sanding and polishing, Quigley finally completed the bar.
Quigley added two inlaid carvings under glass and installed real Western saddles as seats. They offer front-row viewing of the diorama.
“In terms of technology, we had a running train wreck, stagecoach and there were Native Americans and cowboys and there was a buffalo jump and an eagle that flew from the ceiling on a wire,” remembered Walker.
The water for mixed drinks at the bar was piped in from a natural mountainside spring. This also fed part of the diorama, forming a waterfall.
At one end of the bar was a small bronze sculpture of a cowboy cooking a meal over a tiny gas-flame campfire, according the website frontiertownmontana.com, which is licensed to Quigley’s daughter, Kitty Ann Quigley Taaler.
The website notes, “When a curious visitor peered into the cowpoke's frying pan, a bartender would remotely trigger a jet of ice-cold water to shoot from the cowboy's mouth, splashing first against a flat rock, then into the face of the victim.”
Recently, fans of Frontier Town started posting their favorite memories of the diorama and other attractions — the distinct towers at the gate, the chapel and the view of the Helena Valley below.
A family from California recently bought Frontier Town — log bar and all. They went shopping for a vacation home and instead bought a cultural landmark.
New owner Kirby Hays and his family. (Courtesy Kirby Hays) 
Frontier Town towers. (Courtesy Frontier Town) 
The Frontier Town Bar was constructed from a single log of Douglas fir and in its heyday, it was the king of rustic Montana bars. And now a new generation hopes to see the bar and its diorama reopen to the public. (Courtesy Frontier Town) 
The Frontier Town Bar was constructed from a single 50-foot log of Douglas fir and in its heyday, it was the king of rustic Montana bars. And now a new generation hopes to see the bar and its diorama reopen to the public. (Courtesy Frontier Town)
Accidental Frontiersman
Kirby Hays leads a construction firm based in Riverside, California. He’s done well taking on difficult projects, and in September he and his wife decided to buy a house in Montana.
They both appreciate historic homes, so when Hays started searching online for properties, he set specific guidelines.
“I want something that's this old and this much square footage and below this price and it spit out probably only 20 properties in the western United States,” Hays told Cowboy State Daily. “And Frontier Town was one of them.”
After Quigley passed away in 1979, the subsequent owners had issues financing Frontier Town.
"The integrity of the property has remained all along, with the exception of the contents being auctioned off around 2000," said Hays.
The property was last sold in 2001 at a sheriff’s auction for $190,000, according to news reports and Hays, who researched the property before purchase and was encouraged by the upkeep done by the new owners.
"They invested in roofing. They greatly improved the waterproofing around the property to preserve the structures," said Hays. "It was listed for $1.7 million, but I believe that it was listed for that around 2022, because they had a contingent buyer before me, but it fell through and sat on the market for a couple of years until I found it."
Hays said he recently hired a structural engineering team to assess what’s needed before he can reopen the bar and invite the public back to Frontier Town.
“It's 41 acres. And I think only about two and a half acres are actually developed,” said Hays. “And so it's a little bit of a blank canvas.”
Hays is accustomed to thinking big as the leader of his family’s construction company.
“We're not building Walmarts over here,” said Hays. “We're not just painting parking lots and things like that. We're doing pretty complicated stuff. The Alcatraz one is a good example.”
“We had to barge all the materials over onto the island,” recalled Hays, detailing how his company outfitted the infamous prison with a solar array.
“We're working through the tunnels. We're having our construction meetings in the different perches. And you've got the salt air corroding the electrical components,” said Hays. “And then you have the preservationists coming saying, ‘Hey, you need to design this thing where we can look over at Alcatraz and not see any solar panels.”
The project was a success, said Hays, offering the story as proof that he’s ready to take on the re-opening of Frontier Town.
The Frontier Town Bar was constructed from a single log of Douglas fir and in its heyday, it was the king of rustic Montana bars. And now a new generation hopes to see the bar and its diorama reopen to the public. (Courtesy Frontier Town) 
Perhaps the only unwelcome guest to the Frontier Town Bar — a bear reportedly shot in the bar after it broke in upstairs, then wandered down into the bar. (Courtesy Frontier Town) 
The Frontier Town Bar was constructed from a single log of Douglas fir and in its heyday, it was the king of rustic Montana bars. And now a new generation hopes to see the bar and its diorama reopen to the public. (Courtesy Frontier Town) 
The Frontier Town Bar was constructed from a single log of Douglas fir and in its heyday, it was the king of rustic Montana bars. And now a new generation hopes to see the bar and its diorama reopen to the public. There was a time when thirsty visitors could down a Frontier Town Beer at the Frontier Town Bar. (Courtesy Frontier Town) 
Frontier Town was a major tourist destination in Montana. (Courtesy Frontier Town) 
Frontier Town was a major tourist destination in Montana. (Courtesy Frontier Town) 
Frontier Town creator John Quigley. (Quigley Family)
Frontierland Inspiration
The most infamous visitor to Frontier Town was a bear reportedly shot inside the bar in 1962.
The bear broke into the kitchen upstairs, then wandered down into the bar around half past midnight one August night, where Quigley shot it three times, according to a newspaper report.
Among the famous to visit were Rear Admiral George C. Towner with the U.S. Navy, the famed Evangelist Billy Graham and some minor stars of minor Westerns playing at the local matinees in Helena.
The biggest name mentioned in Frontier Town’s history is Walt Disney.
Disney opened Frontierland at Disneyland in 1955, a few years after Frontier Town, and there is a connection between the two, according to Quigley’s granddaughter.
“Walt Disney was actually inspired by my grandfather's Frontier Town and went back and built Frontierland,” said Walker
Hays notes Frontierland and Frontier Town look enough alike that, “You can pretty easily draw a line and connect the dots from Frontier Town to maybe it was an influence for Frontierland.”
For Hays, some of the most inspiring past visitors to Frontier Town are the Native Americans. Hays is Cherokee on his father's side and Choctaw on his mother's side, with lineage back to Eastern Oklahoma.
“It's really interesting to see what an advocate for the Native Americans that John Quigley was,” said Hays. “That property has been blessed several times by Native Americans.”
Now Hays waits for the blessing of a structural engineer. With that in hand, the mountain water could flow again behind the giant log bar and into the face of patrons who lean in a little too close.
David Madison can be reached at david@cowboystatedaily.com.
