The earliest mention of Samuel J. McCauley that we’ve found is in 1884, when he was already operating a saloon in Greensboro. In 1885, there was an announcement in the Greensboro Patriot of his being granted a renewal of his liquor license, and by 1891 he was running a saloon out of a wooden building at 408/410 S. Elm Street. On June 10 of that year, a large fire downtown possibly started in a boxcar filled with 30+ barrels of kerosene. The car exploded 20 ft. from McCauley’s saloon, "Which is of wood and... was with great difficulty saved"
(Greensboro Patriot, 6/11/1891)".
In 1895 McCauley began construction of the current brick exterior of the Cascade Saloon, hugging the original wooden structure. It seems to have been completed in 1896.
In 1901 McCauley relocated to the Hotel Clegg, 366 S. Elm Street. Noted later occupants of the building include Wiley and Ida Weaver, an african american couple who owned and operated an eatery in the building beginning around 1909 even as Jim Crow laws (1896-1965) were taking root across the South.
The occupants of the building through the years include:
The Cascade Saloon was recognized in in 1982 as a contributing building within the Downtown Greensboro Historic District.
Historical images taken from UNCG Digital Collections. Items held by the Greensboro History Museum and the UNCG University Libraries.