The claim
A timber-beamed tavern in the historic village of Long Grove, which dates its trade to 1847 and claims to be the oldest in continuous operation in Illinois. A brick fireplace warms the room and the long mahogany 'Presidents Bar' was salvaged from Chicago's McCormick Place. It serves tavern food, craft beer and a full bar most days.
What the records show
The tavern calls itself, on its own front page, the oldest restaurant in continuous operation in Illinois, established in 1847; no founding document and no building date have been traced. Note the wording it chooses: restaurant in continuous operation, rather than a licence or a bar. The federal register has now been searched rather than left open, and it is empty here: within eight hundred metres of 135 Old McHenry Road the National Register of Historic Places holds no listed property and no historic district, so Long Grove's much-photographed village centre carries no federal designation and there is no register description to date these walls. What can be seen is a working village house — open-mic Mondays, named musicians on Wednesdays and Fridays, a billiard room downstairs open every day, and the Long Grove Apple Fest and a Hallowe'en night on its calendar for autumn 2026.
What to look for inside
- 35-foot mahogany 'Presidents Bar' from McCormick Place
- Claims Illinois' oldest continuously operating tavern
Visiting
The Village Tavern is in Long Grove, United States, at 135 Old McHenry Road, Long Grove, IL 60047. We do not list opening times, because they change; the pub’s own site is the place to check before you set out.
Sources
- www.villagetavernoflonggrove.org/
- www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-village-tavern
- www.wttw.com/playlist/2024/02/06/history-of-the-village-tavern
- mapservices.nps.gov/arcgis/rest/services/cultural_resources/nrhp_locations/MapServer/0/query?where=1%3D1&geometry=-88.00885%2C42.17133%2C-87.98945%2C42.18573&geometryType=esriGeometryEnvelope&inSR=4326&spatialRel=esriSpatialRelIntersects&outFields=NRIS_Refnum%2CRESNAME&returnGeometry=false&f=html
- mapservices.nps.gov/arcgis/rest/services/cultural_resources/nrhp_locations/MapServer/1/query?where=1%3D1&geometry=-88.00885%2C42.17133%2C-87.98945%2C42.18573&geometryType=esriGeometryEnvelope&inSR=4326&spatialRel=esriSpatialRelIntersects&outFields=NRIS_Refnum%2CRESNAME&returnGeometry=false&f=html
Know something we don’t?Suggest a correctionLast checked Sept 2026
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Free to put on your own site, no permission needed. It shows what the pub claims and what the records support, and it changes when the data does.
How to use it, and how to change what it says — if you have a document we have not seen, we would like to read it.
