Virginia City has a ton of interesting historical saloons and tourist attractions and one of them is now under new ownership.
The Delta Saloon's new owner, James Grimes, says he's been coming to Virginia City all his life since he was a boy. And once he saw The Delta Saloon come up for purchase he was ready to buy it.
"It's such a beautiful bar from the 1880's at least, and it's pretty much intact. So, the bar area is pretty intact and wasn't hurt too much by the explosion. It was a restaurant side that exploded," said James Grimes.
"I'm excited about it that the Delta will be back," said Joe Curtis, a Local Historian.
"There was an explosion here in 2019 and a lot of that work has already been completed and we're finishing it up. We're finishing up the kitchen, and the last of the remodel on the building. The bar area was pretty much the way it was before without the gaming, so we still have the suicide table," said Grimes.
Grimes says for him and his family, this new step of ownership is huge for them.
He also says they were trying to figure out the year The Delta Saloon was built, but they said it was a hard task because of what they call "The Great Fire" that burned many of their historical records. But they assume the saloon was built before 1880.
"We're working on it right now and we're going through historical photos,"Â Grimes mentions. "We're talking to Angelo, the former owner, to try and get it back to its former significance without too much brand-new gaming, but some of old slot machines with some of the new slot machines. We don't want to modernize it too much, but a little bit."
Curtis said The Delta Saloon used to be called The Smokery.
The Delta Saloon was also, as Grimes mentioned, a huge tourist attraction, especially with the ownership of the suicide table residing in the building.
"This fellow Shorty Harper actually came up with this story to generate interest in tourism and it just kind of stuck...." Curtis said. "But he made it up about these people who would lose money at the table and lose their last paycheck, and then apparently the story goes, they would commit suicide."
Grimes says, "It's an anchor, this place. It's really significant for this town and we understand that and we're going to do our best to do exactly what we have to do to bring it back to its glory and keep its historical significance and we're going to make that happen."
Grimes hopes to open the doors of the Delta Saloon sooner than later, even on the weekends while renovations are still underway. They also plan on adding updated gaming, a restaurant, bakery and live music.
