A longtime Roberts watering hole is up for sale, and what a history it has.
If you ever find your way to the Lost Village Road House Saloon for a beer or a burger, you will also find plenty of interesting stories.
“It just goes way back,” says owner Dave Oxford.
For nearly 80 years, the old bar has been a gathering place--- where the drinks and the laughs flow.
“The biggest compliments that I get are, thanks for saving the bar,” says Oxford.
He purchased the bar during the pandemic in June of 2020.
“I pretty much restored it from its last leg,” he says.
Built in 1929, it was first known as the Roberts Bar. It hasn’t always been on the main highway.
“They moved the bar over here in 1948 on a wagon train and the story goes that people stayed in the bar and were drinking in the bar all the way over here. And they never closed,” Oxford says.
At the time the bar was known as Rudy’s, named after previous owner Rudy Groshelle.
“Rudy was quite a character. He was from Chicago. He was 1936 Golden Gloves boxing champion, so he and Sonny O’ Day always had this feud about who could beat who and all that stuff, you know,” says bar manager Jimmy Howard, who also owned the bar at one time.
O’Day was a renowned boxer who operated a bar in Laurel for many years.
Another interesting feature inside is the back bar. It was originally in the Carbon County town of Bearcreek.
“It came up the river in 1906 to Fort Benton and then it was taken by mule train to Beercreek where it was a in a bar called Ted’s Place and then when the mine disaster happened, Bearcreek went down and it was moved here,” Howard says.
That’s part of what makes this old bar unique.
But it’s the people that make it special.
“I like this place, and everybody knows me. They come and give me hugs,” says Joyce Kober, a long-time patron.
And while Oxford is known as the guy who saved the bar, he has also now decided it’s time to put it up for sale.
He’s done a lot of refurbishing and is hoping the next owners will keep it alive for many future chapters.
“Hopefully someone will come in and make it better. That’s what we are hoping for. That’s what we are looking for.”
If you are wondering, the asking price for the bar, restaurant and casino, which also includes living space, is $1.1 million.
