Soon after it opened in 1907 on Main Street in Sheridan, WY, the Mint Saloon became one of the most popular establishments by 1923. With Prohibition in full force, the Mint rebranded itself the "Mint Cigar Company and Soda Shop" under new owner Oran Moore. The bar was secretly set up in the back room and continued to operate as a speakeasy. Despite the secret liquor sales, Moore closed the Mint in 1930 due to other economic concerns. A series of offices occupied the building until the repeal of Prohibition in 1933. That year the Mint Bar reopened with a new liquor license and new owners. They constructed an addition to the rear of the building to enlarge the former speakeasy into a gambling parlor. The bar continued to grow in popularity, attracting locals and tourists alike. In 1938, they installed the
now-famous neon bucking horse sign. This sign is immediately recognizable from up and down Main Street. The phrase "Meet you at the Mint" began soon after the neon sign was installed.
The Mint Bar experienced its heyday from the 1940s through the 1960s with the national popularity of Hollywood Westerns. At the Mint, real-life cowboys and ranch hands drank and gambled amid tourists hoping for a glimpse of the "Real West." During these decades, the Mint became nationally known as a must-see destination en route to Yellowstone National Park. In the 1940s the bar underwent interior and exterior renovations. The knotty-pine paneled walls of the bar were decorated with unusual taxidermy specimens and brands burned into cedar shingles. Today the bar retains much of its original look from this period, with almost every square inch of the interior walls covered in Western memorabilia, from original newspaper clippings and historic photographs to arrowheads and over 9,000 brands, each on its own block of cedar. The bar extends about half the length of the interior, with knotty-pine booths and a pool table to the rear.
A large sign, painted directly on the brick of the north elevation, notes that the bar has been, since 1907, a place "Where Great Friends Meet."
