The hotel built on a livery stable

The Wort Hotel didn't start with white linens and room service. It started with horse manure. From 1915 to 1932, the property served as a livery stable and corral operated by Charles Wort. It was the kind of place where you'd drop off a beast of burden before heading into town, not where you'd go to sip a martini.

Charles Wort arrived in Jackson Hole in 1893 at the age of 19. He eventually spent his life pivoting the local economy from ranching to tourism. After he passed away in 1933, his sons John and Jess took the reins. They sold off the family's interests in Grand Teton National Park to bankroll a new project: a luxury hotel designed by a self-taught architect with a penchant for Tudor styling.

The building opened in 1941, featuring brick facing and half-timbering. It became a favorite for servicemen on furlough during World War II, and the basement became a local staple known as the Snake Pit. That's where illegal gambling happened until the governor started cracking down in the 1950s.

Today, the hotel still stands as a piece of the town's transition from the Old West to the modern era. If you visit the Silver Dollar Bar, you can see 2032 uncirculated silver dollars embedded directly into the surface. It's a lot of metal for one bar to carry, but it works.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons