Have you heard the legend of Beer City?
Let us take you back to a time in the late 1800s to an amazing little town known as Beer City. Many believe they have heard it all about the Wild West, but this tale will give you a new bit to chat about at your local watering hole.
Welcome to a dusty town just 3 miles south of Liberal, Kansas (now Oklahoma), where laws didn’t really exist yet! This little settlement existed from 1888 to 1890 on a small bit of land the people called “No Man’s Land.” Beer City gained notoriety amongst the locals as a place full of saloons, a house of prostitution, and all sorts of raucous to get into. The party town had no real law enforcement and was a top pitstop for Texas Cattlemen looking for a place to ‘enjoy festive life’ while transporting cattle East.
The Texas Cattlemen weren’t the only ones to make the alluring trip to Beer City, as many residents of Kansas would pop South like moths to a flame—looking for a place to go to avoid the stricter drinking laws of Kansas at that time. Beer City was a place known for a darn good time, with brothels, gambling houses, and saloons housed in structures roofed with white tents. On any given day or night, one would be able to find the cowboys from Texas getting into drunk quarrels with the self-proclaimed owners of the Prostitution houses, looking for extra cash. Just an exciting time to live overall!
Like all good things, however, Beer City became no more when the territory of Oklahoma was enlarged thanks to the Organic Act of 1890. Oklahoma had these pesky things called laws and regulations, leaving the wild happenings of Beer City illegal. Naturally, the frequent visitors to this once entertaining place stopped coming, leaving Beer City as a place of history evidenced by few photos and folklore from a distant past.
Schools never taught us, at The Session, of this place—atleast now we know it once existed. We hope our readers can pass on this piece of history too. Cheers!
