Cowboy Inn: 44 Years & Still Going Strong

Up and at ’em… Sandy Carter was up and moving Monday morning in preparation for another day at the Cowboy Inn. Often working 12 hours a day, Sandy’s energy seemingly hasn’t waned in her 44 years with the business. Photo • John Roberts

Owning and operating a business for 44 continuous years is a feat in and of itself. Changes in the economic landscapes, evolving tastes, and coping with the everyday grind, more often than not take their toll sooner than later.

Yet, after four-and-one- half decades, Sandy Carter and the Cowboy Inn are still standing tall, serving customers with their signature great food and drinks, in a cozy, friendly atmosphere at 119 E. 2nd Street in Holden.

The story of the Cowboy Inn began in 1980. At the time Sandy (then Phelps), was approached by her later-to-be husband, Wayne Carter, about doing something different. Wayne, a builder/carpenter was in the process of converting what formerly was the old Chevrolet showroom into a bar for a friend named Frank Carrollo, who lived in Independence.

Carrollo knew someone who had owned and operated a bar called, ironically, the Cowboy Inn in the West Bottoms/stockyard some 30 years earlier. But, with the floods of the 1950s, the establishment had been washed away. Everything in the business, including a bar, went into storage. Those remnants…

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