One man’s collection brings the Wild West East.

Al Singer rests in one of the many rooms of his Wild West Museum in Litchfield, CT on May 5, 2022.

Who could imagine a Wild West museum in Connecticut? Cowboy Al Singer, that’s who. A lifelong collector, he has developed Cowboy Al’s Wild West Museum in Litchfield, that has so many posters, pictures and other memorabilia about the Old West the items are literally attached to the ceiling.

Located on his 42-acre Top-O-World Farm at 61 Chestnut Hill Road in the hills of Litchfield, the museum is in two buildings and each one is bulging at the seams. Cowboy Al was just a youngster when he started collecting posters and photos and pasting them into scrapbooks. The subjects are stills from Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, Hopalong Cassidy and Red Ryder comic books.

But Al expanded his interests: bookshelves filled with Wyatt Earp, outlaws, cowboys, Custer and lawmen. Plus “little fat books”—on such favorites as Red Ryder, Tom Mix, Buck Jones, Tex Thorn, Kit Carson and Ken Maynard—scratch a reader’s itch.

Action figures, ceramic plates, brass and ceramic cowboy boots, Lone Ranger snow globes and even a Western figure and Indian chess set are among the eclectic collection.

And everywhere there is an inch of space is plastered with posters, photos and comics. Walking through Al’s Cowboy Museum is a blast to the senses and a complete immersion into all things Western. Best of all, it’s free.

Al Singer stands in one of the buildings that houses his Wild West Museum in Litchfield, CT on May 5, 2022.

Al just opened his 19th room of memorabilia, filling it with a new knife collection, some bronzes and other materials all related to cowboy and Old West heroes, chief among them The Lone Ranger. He is passionate about these Old West characters. “The heroes of the West protected each and everyone,” he said. “They gave no consideration to race and color. Instead, they cared about people who were down on their luck, being bullied, or otherwise having a tough time.

“That is what made the heroes of the West so popular,” Al says, and adds that they tried to live by the Code of the West—to help people in need.

As people come to visit his museum, Al recognizes that there is great interest in the stories and characters he has collected for more than 80 years. “The West is being reborn,” he said. “It adds to all my dreams of growing up and doing what is right.”

Singer wants to bring back more and more of the cowboy heroes, to rekindle memories and to inspire youthful visitors.

Even with the 19th room at his museum completed, Al is not ready to stop—or even slow down—on his passion for collecting. He’s already preparing a 20th room and says his barn has plenty of space for expansion.

Top-O-World Farm 61 Chestnut Hill Road Litchfield, CT 06759

201-888-9353

Candy Moulton was named True Westerner in 2023. She makes her home near Encampment, Wyoming.