America Celebrates 250 Years Of Bars Outlasting Democracy
KEY POINTS
- •The White Horse Tavern in Newport, Rhode Island, opened in 1673 and is considered the oldest bar in the US.
- •Several historic bars have storied pasts including imprisoning British spies during the Revolutionary War and surviving Prohibition as speakeasies.
- •States like Alabama, Alaska, and Arkansas each have unique oldest bars dating from 1946, 1891, and 1905 respectively, with colorful histories involving gangsters, fires, and oversized organs.
As America rounds the big 2-5-0, it's proving that the true founder wasn't George Washington—it was the White Horse Tavern in Newport, Rhode Island, sloshing drinks since 1673, way before birth certificates were a thing. While presidents and spies were chilling in colonial saloons like New York's Old '76 House (which literally detained a British spy during the Revolution), bars nationwide boast their own battle scars: Prohibition speakeasy hideouts, fires that briefly turned patrons into 'tent drinkers,' and notorious gangster sightings at Arkansas' Ohio Club, formerly moonlighting as a cigar store. From Alabama's post-WWII Callaghan's Irish Social Club, embracing working-class inklings since 1946, to Colorado's Buffalo Rose literally losing its second floor in the 1880s to fit a giant organ, these boozy landmarks are America's original not-quite-legal startups.
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(1 of 3)Turns out, bars have been America’s true OG institutions—proving that survival of the fittest means serving drinks through wars, fires, poker-faced gangsters, and even Prohibition’s awkward dry spell.
America's bars: open since before Google was a twinkle in Larry and Sergey's eyes, surviving everything from British spies to whiskey-fueled fires.
The oldest bars outlasted politicians, wars, and decor trends. Maybe democracy’s just the drunk midnight phase in America’s 250-year party.
Source: Businessinsider | Published: 7/16/2026 | Author: Talia Lakritz,Erin McDowell,James LaForge
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