Top 10 True Western Towns of 2010

Towns You Should Know

Tombstone, AZ

The 1881 Gunfight Behind the O.K. Corral, featuring the Earp brothers and Doc Holliday versus the Clantons and McLaurys, put this mining town on the map.

 

Deadwood, SD

The Black Hills gold rush gave rise to this mining town, while the 1876 murder of Wild Bill Hickok as he was gambling underscored the town’s lawlessness.

 

El Paso, TX

This Rio Grande border town has a 400-year history that includes the 1680 Pueblo Revolt and the launch of the Mexican Revolution in 1910. John Wesley Hardin and other notables rest in Concordia, the largest cemetery in the Southwest.

 

Virginia City, MT

This historical gold mining town was the Territorial capital of Montana, and its lawlessness inspired vigilante rule; the vigilance committee’s secret motto “3-7-77” is still an insignia for the Montana Highway Patrol.

 

Sacramento, CA

This western terminus of the Pony Express is California’s capital city; the town grew faster during the 1849 Gold Rush thanks to the protection of the nearby Sutter’s Fort.

 

Pendleton, OR

Dr. William C. McKay established his trading post here in 1851, with trade remaining the heart of the town, especially after the still-operating Pendleton Woolen Mills was founded in 1893.

 

Coffeyville, KS

Coffeyville’s most famous moment came when its local citizens brought about the end of the Dalton Gang – four of the gang were killed during a foiled double bank robbery in 1892.

 

San Antonio, TX

At the start of the Chisholm Trail, this river walk town offers 18h century Catholic missions, including the Alamo, plus centuries-old landmark buildings and 16 historic districts.

 

Silver City, NM

Founded in 1870 after the discovery of silver ore deposits, Silver City gained notoriety for its sheriff who was the first lawman to arrest Billy the Kid and for its deadly and dangerous first town marshal Dan Tucker.

 

St. Joseph, MO

In this sesquicentennial year of the Pony Express, St. Joseph includes among its 50 historic registered sites the Pony Express National Museum and the pony’s headquarters, the Patee House. Plus, Jesse James met his demise here in 1882.

 

Guthrie, OK

Within six hours in 1889, this prairie rail stop became home to more than 10,000 people. The original territorial capital offers nationally-significant, late 19th-and early 20th-century architecture.

 

Northfield, MN

This 1855 saw and flour mill town offers numerous examples of 1800s architecture, some of which were seen by the James-Younger Gang when the local citizens thwarted the gang’s bank robbery in 1876.