Buildings in a small to mid-sized town?

[NickNascati]

All,
      Looking for general opinions here.  I envision my Purgatory as a town that has been in existence for 5 - 10 years, and is near Tombstone.  Right now, it has one Hotel and one Saloon.  Should I add a separate Dance Hall, a second smaller Saloon, another Hotel?  Also, I know that several towns I've seen feature a gallows.  Would that really be a normal feature?

                                                            Nick

[Heisler]

Dance Halls were really just another version of a Saloon so go ahead and add one. You almost can't have enough saloons in a western town. It wouldn't be unusual to see three or four side by side on the street. I might go with a boarding house rather than a hotel. Physically not a lot of difference between the two, but it provides variety in the signs. I would not consider a gallows to be a normal feature. I know everyone seems to make one but most towns didn't have one. Calamity won't have a gallows the railroad bridge will serve when needed. If your town is the county seat then a gallows might be appropriate.

[AzSteven]

Multiple bars/saloon/dance halls are just fine, especially in a town designed to service miners or railroaders.  And that is also the sort of town with all the action!

Since you bring up Tombstone, the town of Charleston AZ was only about a dozen miles from Tombstone, and had a small permanent population - perhaps 200-300 at most.  Yet somehow it managed to support forty buildings, including a post office, two mercantile shops, two livery stables, a hotel and three bars - nearly all were single-story adobe and/or wood construction and probably none were very fancy looking.  It was really there to provide a place to live for some workers at nearly silver mills, and to support to all the miners and prospectors around Southern Arizona (and I imagine Friday and Saturday nights were quite a scene there).  Of course when the local mines began to shut down the town also began to die, and an earthquake pretty much killed it all off, and it is now mostly a pile of ruins.  Tombstone was better able to survive because there was a large almost permanent mine there, a larger population, and some actual minor support industries and agriculture to keep things flowing.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charleston,_Arizona

[NickNascati]

Thanks for that Link AZ, I just might use Charleston as a model for Purgatory.

[Johnno]

A general store, assay office, laundry, bath house, doctor/dentist combo

[Brian Smaller]

Some towns went from nothing to a hundred buildings in a few weeks so I think that for your town - anything goes.

[maxxon]

I think gallows were usually built for purpose and not a permanent fixture.

[AzSteven]

It depends on the location - most state penetentiaries had permanent gallows, and a good number of County Seats (the town that was the center of government for a county) would have a permanent gallows near the county courthouse.  Towns served by circuit judges would usually not have a permanent gallows - in fact, they probably would not even build a real gallows, but would instead use a signpost or other tall construct along with a flatbed wagon to serve the sentence.

You do see them building gallows for a specific sentence in movies fairly often, but from what I have read over the years, that would usually only happen if there was a mass execution planned, or an execution of a particularly notorious individual (public executions culd and would draw people, particularly if a famous person was being executed).  And since those would most often happen at the main county court, temporary formal gallows were fairly rare.

I think gallows were usually built for purpose and not a permanent fixture.

[mysteriousbill]

Don't forget houses for regular residents, sheds, barns and other such buildings, and of course the ever present outhouse(s).

One outhouse in a town of any size is going to make for a long line. 

[NickNascati]

I've got six outhouses, so Purgatory is very civilized.   As to the townsfolk, I always figure that they live on the outskirts and ride or walk into the town center.

[Black Burt]

I am in the early stages of building my town but I am planning to have a bank, saloon, gunsmiths, telegraph office, barbers, undertakers, church, jail, store and a few thunder boxes finished in the next few weeks.
Later I may add a railway station, livery stable, hotel, dance hall, a building under construction and a few tents though I might run out of storage space.
I don't think I will bother with some gallows, as its just a small town I will just use a handy tree or telegraph post if needs be.
BB

[Hummster]

Surely for a society that relies on horse drawn transport a Blacksmith would be pretty likely as shoeing horses would be a regular job?

I'm thinking about doing one with a couple of saloons, a couple of private houses, church, general store, bank, blacksmith, undertakers and maybe a livery stable.

[NickNascati]

Purgatory presently consists of - A "Nice" Hotel, a Bank, a Wells Fargo Office, a Boarding House, a Saloon, a Barber, a Sheriff, a Newspaper, a Chinese Laundry, a Livery Stable/Blacksmith, a Photography Studio, a pair of Dry Goods/Grocery Stores, a Gunshop and a Mining Supply Store, a Church and a Train Station.
I figure the townsfolk live somewhere outside the town proper and walk or ride in to work and shop.  I do still need a corner building or two, but haven't quite figured out how to construct them. Everything is scratchbuilt.

[Heisler]

... I do still need a corner building or two, but haven't quite figured out how to construct them. Everything is scratchbuilt.

Don't over think it. Unless you are going to get fancy its just a square building with a corner cut off at a 45 degree angle. You don't even have to do that on the top floor if you don't want to.

[Mason]

Don't over think it. Unless you are going to get fancy its just a square building with a corner cut off at a 45 degree angle. You don't even have to do that on the top floor if you don't want to.

I was considering the same issue and that is a very practical way of looking at the problem.

Thank you!