King's Saddlery in Sheridan, Wyoming: The Don King Legacy
July 21, 2026 · 6 min read read · Wyo Stays Journal
King's Saddlery is a working saddle and rope shop on North Main Street in Sheridan, Wyoming — founded by master saddle maker Don King in the early 1960s, still run by the King family, and home to the free Don King Museum tucked behind the storefront. It is equal parts store, workshop, and museum, and it's the single most Sheridan thing you can walk into.
Every town has a business it points visitors toward first. In Sheridan, that's the saddlery. Ranch hands come in for rope, collectors come in for carved leather, and travelers come in because someone at a gas station in Buffalo told them to. We send our own guests there constantly — Wyo Stays is a licensed, insured Wyoming vacation rental brokerage based at 151 W Brundage St, hosting guests since 2017, and our office sits a short walk from that red King Ropes awning. This is the story behind it, and how to make the most of a visit.
How King's Saddlery Became a Sheridan Institution
Don King was born in 1923 and grew up cowboying — by most accounts he was horseback and working young, and he learned leather tooling as a teenager to make a living between ranch jobs. He spent years refining a style of deeply carved wild-rose scrollwork that became known as Sheridan-style carving, a look so distinctive that leather workers around the world now name it after this town. He opened his own shop in Sheridan in the early 1960s — sources put the start at 1961 in the back of a sporting goods store, with the King's Saddlery name established by 1963 — and moved to the family's longtime North Main Street home in the early 1970s.
The client list grew improbable for a small Wyoming storefront: working ranchers, rodeo champions, politicians, and heads of state have owned King-made saddles and tooled leather. But the shop never became precious about it. The front room still sells tack, and the rope inventory in the back — thousands of ropes, floor to ceiling — supplies actual ropers, not just decorators.
| Era | What happened | Why it matters today |
|---|---|---|
| 1923 | Don King born; learns leather tooling young while cowboying | The trade was learned horseback, not in a studio — you can see it in the work |
| Early 1960s | Opens his own Sheridan shop; the saddlery's name takes hold | Anchors Main Street's reputation as a leather-working capital |
| Early 1970s | Moves to the current North Main Street location | The storefront you visit today, still family-run |
| Ongoing | Sheridan-style carving spreads worldwide; the Don King Museum grows behind the store | Free museum, working rope room, and a living apprenticeship tradition |
What's Inside the Don King Museum?
Walk through the store, past the rope room, and the building opens into the Don King Museum — a dense, unhurried collection of saddles, wagons, carriages, historic photographs, Native American artifacts, and the leather-working tools of several generations. Admission is free, which still surprises people; check the shop's own site or call ahead for current hours, since it keeps store hours rather than museum hours.
Give it more time than you think it needs. The saddles reward close looking — you can trace how carving styles shifted decade by decade — and the tool displays make plain how much hand labor sits in a single seat. Kids tend to gravitate to the wagons; leather workers have been known to lose an entire afternoon in there.
I've walked visitors down Main Street a hundred times, and the saddlery is where they stop being polite tourists and start asking real questions. The smell of leather does it. — Dalton Goodyear, founder, Wyo Stays
Why You See King Ropes Caps Everywhere
The shop's other export is stranger: a baseball cap. King Ropes caps — the rope-logo trucker hats sold at the front counter — have turned up on celebrities and in fashion spreads, and the shop periodically gets waves of mail-order fame it never asked for. Locals wore them first because they were durable and cheap; the rest of the world caught on later. Buying one at the counter, in the building, from the family, is the only version that counts.
It's worth saying what the cap phenomenon obscures: this is one of the last places in America where you can watch working saddle makers at their benches, ask questions, and walk out with rope that will actually get thrown at cattle. Pair your visit with the rest of the street — our Main Street architecture walk covers the historic blocks around the shop, and our store-by-store downtown shopping guide maps the neighbors worth ducking into on the same walk.
Stay Nearby: Downtown Sheridan Homes a Short Walk from Main Street
The saddlery sits in the heart of walkable Sheridan, and our downtown collection puts you within strolling distance — historic homes and lofts with full kitchens, real beds, and off-street parking, close enough that you can browse ropes before breakfast and hear the courthouse clock from the porch. Evenings, you're steps from restaurants and the theater district instead of a highway-side hotel corridor. Browse current downtown availability at book.wyostays.com — Book Direct — No Channel Fees.
Practical Tips
- Check current hours on the shop's own site (kingropes.com) before you go — the museum keeps store hours, and Sundays differ.
- The museum is free, but the store deserves your business — caps, tack, and tooled leather goods make honest souvenirs.
- Ask at the counter whether saddle makers are at their benches; watching the work is half the visit.
- Photographers: morning light hits the storefront's east-facing face; the museum interior is dim, so bring a fast lens.
- Booking a downtown stay first makes this a five-minute walk — check book.wyostays.com for homes near Main Street.
FAQ: The Saddlery and the Don King Museum
Q: What is King's Saddlery in Sheridan?
A: It's a family-run saddle, tack, and rope shop on North Main Street in downtown Sheridan, founded by renowned saddle maker Don King in the early 1960s. Behind the retail store sits the Don King Museum, a free collection of saddles, wagons, tools, and Western artifacts, and the shop remains a working supplier for area ranches.
Q: Is the Don King Museum really free?
A: Yes — admission to the museum behind the store is free, though donations and store purchases are the practical way to support it. It keeps the same hours as the shop, so check the store's website or call before making a special trip, especially on weekends or around holidays. Give yourself at least forty-five minutes inside.
Q: What is Sheridan-style leather carving?
A: It's a school of leather tooling associated with Don King and the craftsmen who trained here: deep, precise floral carving built around small wild-rose patterns and flowing scrollwork that covers the leather nearly edge to edge. The style is now taught and copied worldwide, but Sheridan remains its namesake home and its benchmark.
Q: Why are King Ropes hats so popular?
A: The rope-logo caps started as workwear for local ropers and ranch hands, then caught on far beyond Wyoming after celebrities and stylists discovered them. The shop still sells them at the front counter. They're inexpensive, sturdy, and — if you buy one in the building rather than online — come with a story you were actually part of.
Some towns build attractions; Sheridan just kept its saddle shop. Come see the workbenches, the rope room, and the museum for yourself — and if you want the whole trip to feel that authentic, stay in a real neighborhood while you're at it. Find downtown homes, cabins, and everything between at wyostays.com, and book direct with the folks who live here.