Est. 1883 · First electrically lit saloon in El Paso (1883) · Brief co-ownership by John Wesley Hardin (May 1895) · Redesigned by architect Henry C. Trost (1912) · Current headquarters of Paso del Norte Paranormal Society / Ghost915
The building at the corner of San Antonio Avenue in downtown El Paso was erected in 1883 as the Fashion Saloon — and earned a distinction that its operators would promote for decades: it was the first saloon in El Paso to have electric lighting. The ground floor held the bar and gambling operation; the second floor housed a brothel. A fire gutted both stories in the mid-1880s, but the building was rehabilitated and by 1889 was operating under the name the Wigwam Saloon.
In May 1895, John Wesley Hardin — the Texas-born gunfighter who had served 15 years in prison for murder and reinvented himself as a lawyer — signed an agreement purchasing a half-interest in the Wigwam from co-owner M.W. Collins. A document from that sale, later auctioned by Bonhams, represents one of the few surviving business records associated with Hardin. He sold the interest back within weeks but continued drinking and gambling at the Wigwam and nearby saloons through the summer. On August 19, 1895, El Paso constable John Henry Selman shot Hardin in the back of the head inside the Acme Saloon, approximately one block from the Wigwam. Hardin's final bar bill from the Wigwam — signed John W. Hardin on the day of his death — also later appeared at Bonhams auction.
The building's use shifted in subsequent decades: by 1907 it had become a motion picture house, and in 1912, El Paso architect Henry C. Trost — whose firm designed many of the city's landmark buildings — redesigned the structure as the Wigwam Theatre. The Paso del Norte Paranormal Society, operating as Ghost915 and affiliated with TAPS and the Ghost Adventures crew, later took over the space as a museum and tour headquarters.
Sources
- https://kvia.com/entertainment/2023/01/13/learn-about-the-history-of-the-wigwam-museum-in-downtown-el-paso-while-partaking-in-a-paranormal-investigation/
- https://www.bonhams.com/auction/27262/lot/229/hardin-buys-a-half-interest-in-the-wigwam-saloon-hardin-john-wesley-1853-1895-typed-document-signed-jw-hardin-an-agreement-between-hardin-and-mw-collins-selling-a-half-interest-in-the-wigwam-saloon-1-p/
- https://www.theprospectordaily.com/2015/10/27/ghosts915-tour-explores-the-haunted-side-of-downtown/
Unexplained footsteps in rear area and basementK2 meter and Ovilus III responses in basementRem Pod activations during investigationsCold spots in basement
The Wigwam's most-documented resident presence is Lilly, a woman identified in Ghost915 investigation reports as a former employee of the brothel that occupied the building's second floor during its saloon era. Lead investigator Alberto Telles described hearing boot steps cross the back area of the building while his colleague remained seated and no other person was present; the footsteps returned, still sourceless. K2 meters, dowsing rods, Ovilus III devices, and Rem Pods have all recorded responses during investigations, concentrated in the basement.
The building's proximity to John Wesley Hardin's death adds a layer of dark history that investigators and tour guides incorporate into the experience. Hardin signed a bar tab at the Wigwam on the afternoon of August 19, 1895 — his last documented signature — before moving to the Acme Saloon next door, where John Selman shot him in the back of the head that evening. Whether investigators attribute any activity to Hardin specifically is not established in available sources; the Lilly account is the primary named phenomenon.
The KVIA and Prospector coverage both document the Ghost915 team's consistent patterns of activity in the basement, making the Wigwam one of the more formally documented paranormal investigation sites in El Paso's historic core.
Notable Entities
Lilly (former brothel worker, basement)John Wesley Hardin (historical connection — died one block away)
Media Appearances
- Wigwam Museum feature (KVIA TV, 2023)
- Ghosts915 tour feature (The Prospector, 2015)
