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25+
Years Serving Stillwater
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100,000+
Alumni Served
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The History
In 1996, a woman named Rita opened a little place called Copper Horse Saloon in Stillwater, Oklahoma. She knew her way around the bar business—her mother, Gladys, owned a spot south of Liberal, Kansas, called Gladys’, where Rita had learned the ropes.
Rita wanted her own bar, and Stillwater seemed like the perfect fit. At the time, Oklahoma still had dry counties, and she figured people from Oklahoma, Texas, and Kansas would all travel to OSU to buy beer and liquor. She found a small building that had once been a dentist’s office and went to work transforming it. The cooler and bathrooms were new additions.
The Copper Horse Saloon served the Stillwater crowd, and after Rita married, she decided to lease the bar to a mother-and-son team who kept it open until May of 1998. That’s when the doors closed — but the story was far from over.
In Spring of 1996, Crystalline Gray moved to Stillwater. A few months later, her mother - Penny came to visit, and the two met up for a drink at The Copper Horse. Crystalline looked around and told her mom she wanted to own the place — she saw potential where others didn’t. The bar closed shortly after, sitting empty for two years.
In May of 2000, Penny called her daughter with unexpected news: she had bought the building — and Crystalline was going to run it. Around that same time, Crystalline’s employer had given her a pair of diamond earrings. She turned out to be allergic to them, and in true “Copper Penny” fashion, she asked to take them back and put the money into the bar instead.
That summer, after plenty of work and preparation, Copper Penny officially opened its doors — just in time for the first Oklahoma State home football game of the season.
When The Copper Penny opened in August of 2000, they started small. The first night, the bar was stocked with just Coors Light, Coors Original, Bud Light, Budweiser, and Miller Lite due to Oklahoma Liquor laws.
A month later the bar stocked just six bottles of liquor after their liquor license approval: Jose Cuervo tequila, McCormick vodka, Famous Grouse scotch, Bacardi rum, Crown Royal, and Tangaray Gin. From there, Crystalline and Penny doubled their inventory a little at a time, six bottles here, six bottles there — until the shelves started to fill.
The Copper Penny grew alongside its community. The outside bathrooms were built in 2001, and the first patio followed in 2002, fenced in with good old-fashioned W/W cattle panels. The open-air space became a favorite hangout, especially when Oklahoma evenings cooled down.
\In 2003, Crystalline continued working at the bar while chasing other adventures, including work as a secretary for the PBR and the PRCA. But the bar kept calling her home. She returned to Stillwater in 2005, taking over ordering, cleaning, and keeping things running while her mom started the family’s horse herd.
As the years passed, The Copper Penny evolved. In 2010, a major patio expansion, which was completed by 2012. That same year, she tore out the old Formica bar top and replaced it with orange quartz imported from South America — the only place she could find that color.
In 2020 Crystalline and contractor Dennis Harrison gutted the bar completely, down to the floors. They rebuilt everything: the plumbing, the electrical, the layout.
This time, Crystalline envisioned a black-and-white theme. With the help of several people who had nothing better to do, they painted every picture frame black and filled them with black-and-white photos. The decor became part of the tradition:
- Black frames hold photos 20 years or older.
- White frames showcase the new memories.
The patio got a facelift too, the reclaimed tin and old wood from a nearby farmhouse was replaced with a more craftsman style exterior.
In 2023, the mini bar was removed, and the main bar was expanded, giving the space a more open, inviting feel — the perfect blend of old charm and new life.
Today, The Copper Penny still stands as a Stillwater favorite: a place built by grit, family, and a whole lot of stories. From cattle panels to that mysterious Montana rock, every piece of this bar has a history — and together, they tell the story of a place that’s as tough, warm, and unforgettable as the people who built it.
