The claim
McGillin's calls itself Philadelphia's oldest continuously operating tavern; it opened in 1860, the year Lincoln was elected, down narrow Drury Street near City Hall. Founded as the Bell in Hand, it took the name of owner 'Pa' McGillin. Old department-store signs and every liquor licence since 1871 cover the walls, and it bustles with sports fans and karaoke.
What the records show
Opened in 1860 by William 'Pa' McGillin as the Bell in Hand, per Wikipedia and the bar; its framed liquor licences on the wall run from 1871, and no 1860 primary record has been read. Both registers have now been searched, and neither holds the house. Within two hundred metres of 1310 Drury Street the National Register of Historic Places lists seven buildings — the Land Title Building on Chestnut Street, the Witherspoon Building on Walnut, the St James Hotel, the Philadelphia Stock Exchange, the Bellevue Stratford, the Union League and the Fidelity-Philadelphia Trust — and the alley itself carries nothing; Philadelphia's own register holds six designations within sixty metres, on Chestnut Street, Market Street and South Broad Street, none of them on Drury Street, and the property lies in no local historic district. So the oldest-looking bar on the block is the one building near City Hall with no designation of any kind, no register dates its walls, and the 1860 rests on the bar's own account with the licences from 1871 behind it. The next thing to look for is a city directory or a licence return, not a designation.
| Year | What | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 1860 | Claimed founding | The pub |
| 1871 | First record of a drinking house here | National Register of Historic Places |
What to look for inside
- Liquor licences since 1871 displayed
- Founded as the Bell in Hand by William McGillin
- Survived Prohibition
Visiting
McGillin's Olde Ale House is in Philadelphia, United States, at 1310 Drury Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107. We do not list opening times, because they change; the pub’s own site is the place to check before you set out.
Sources
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McGillin%27s_Olde_Ale_House
- www.mcgillins.com/
- mapservices.nps.gov/arcgis/rest/services/cultural_resources/nrhp_locations/MapServer/0/query?where=1%3D1&geometry=-75.16491%2C39.94840%2C-75.16025%2C39.95200&geometryType=esriGeometryEnvelope&inSR=4326&spatialRel=esriSpatialRelIntersects&outFields=NRIS_Refnum%2CRESNAME%2CAddress&returnGeometry=false&f=html
- services.arcgis.com/fLeGjb7u4uXqeF9q/ArcGIS/rest/services/Historic_sites_PhilReg/FeatureServer/0/query?where=1%3D1&geometry=-75.16328%2C39.94966%2C-75.16188%2C39.95074&geometryType=esriGeometryEnvelope&inSR=4326&spatialRel=esriSpatialRelIntersects&outFields=loc%2Cidesigdate1%2Cdistrict&returnGeometry=false&f=html
- atlas.phila.gov/1310-14%20DRURY%20ST/licenses
Know something we don’t?Suggest a correctionLast checked Sept 2026
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