Our History

Monaghan’s Bar and Grill was established in 1892 by Roy Monaghan and his wife Ivy.

At the time, Roy Monaghan was working at Philip Zang Brewing Company near downtown Denver. The Zang Brewing Co was established in the 1870’s and it went out of business in the 1920s, it didn’t survive the Prohibition Era. (It was located where the Denver Aquarium now resides).

Roy Monaghan told his wife Ivy that “I am going to serve the soldiers at the fort outside of town.” The fort that Roy was referring to was Ft. Logan.

When it was established in 1892, it was known as Monaghan’s Saloon. Over a period of time, it became known as Monaghan’s Tavern, and then Monaghan’s Bar and Grill. The original building was a wooden structure, which was torn down and the building Monaghan’s Bar and Grill currently resides in was built and opened in 1901.

Notable people who have been inside of Monaghan’s include Dwight D. Eisenhower and Alfred Packer. The writer Ralph Moody mentions the then Monaghan's Saloon in his children’s book Little Britches, Father and I were Ranchers.

Establishments that have come and gone around Monaghan’s over the years include D.B. Wilson’s Service Station, A.C. Grenner Grocery Market, and the Mountain View Hotel and Restaurant, which was on the corner of S. Lowell Blvd and W. Mansfield Ave. It burned down in a fire back in 1952.

A train service which was part of Denver and Rio Grande Railroad went by Monaghan’s, from around the late 1880s running through the 1920s, it was called The Uncle Sam.

The Shirley Dairy Farm existed where Mullen High School and the Westbridge neighborhood now resides. The Duke Family Farm, which was a turkey farm where the Bear Valley Shopping Center now resides, was there from 1916 through the early 1950s.

The ownership of Monaghans has changed hands several times over the years, but it has always had a great atmosphere, great drinks, and great foods. Dean Reinfort (Southwest Denver Historian).