Nearly 140 years of history celebrating St. Patrick’s Day in Wilmington at the oldest, continuously operated Irish family-run bar in America

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When it comes to the best place to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, you’d be hard-pressed to find a location with deeper history than Kelly’s Logan House in Wilmington. The oldest, continuously operated Irish family bar in America is now owned by the family’s fifth generation.

John D. Kelly bought the tavern with his wife, Hannah, in 1889 after the pair met in America and discovered they had lived 5 miles apart in Ireland. It quickly became a popular gathering spot for Irish immigrants, who were guided into their new lives by the tavern’s owners. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Irish immigrants to America had to list their destination on their passports. Many indicated they were relocating to the Kelly’s Logan House. A passport can be seen even today on the walls along with other family pictures.

The structure was named after Union General John A. Logan, who ran for vice president with William Blaine in the 1884 election. The tavern in the center of Wilmington’s Trolley Square was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.

Their great-granddaughter, Mary Ann Kelly MacDonald, said Hannah was the brains behind the business.

“She owned several properties around there and became like the landlady for [the immigrants], and [the tavern] was like the basis of the whole Irish Catholic community to come to that area, predominantly from County Cork,” said MacDonald, a former trustee of the Delaware Historical Society. She and her husband had five children, MacDonald said. All were college-educated, and one became an Ursuline nun.

MacDonald grew up in a Wilmington rowhouse owned by her great-grandmother. It was a block away from the tavern. She asked her father if they could move, and he told her they lived in the perfect location: one block from the Logan House and one block from the church.

“So we all grew up in a rowhouse and I’m proud of that,” added MacDonald, who managed the business from 1985-91.

For many years, the tavern had hotel rooms. It was close to a B&O Railroad station, the gateway to the West. Al Capone, John L. Sullivan, Buffalo Bill and Wild Bill Hickok were among its guests.

Today, it’s owned by brother and sister Joanna and Patrick Kelly, great-great-grandchildren of John and Hannah Kelly. They inherited the tavern from their father, Michael Kelly, who passed away in 2022.

“I mean, it is very weighty to have that many generations of ancestors, who kept the Logan House running and made it such a staple of the neighborhood, and so there’s a fair amount of pressure, but I feel very grateful to be able to do it, and really excited to kind of carry on that legacy,” Joanna Kelly said.

“I think that my brother and I feel there’s so much intergenerational effort and love that’s gone into this business and this building,” she said. “I mean, my great-grandfather was born in the building that the Logan House is in. It carries so much significance for our family. There have been weddings there, engagement parties, birthday parties. Everything you can think of has happened there and so it holds so much importance to the Kelly family. My brother and I feel a lot of pressure to continue, leading it in a successful way, a way that continues to incorporate the values of our family and our community.”

The pressure of that legacy is magnified as both Joanna and Patrick Kelly have full-time jobs outside of the tavern. She’s an attorney, and he’s a high school teacher.

Of course, as an Irish establishment, the tavern’s celebration of St. Patrick’s Day is historic on many levels.

“Oh, it is wild. It’s completely wild,” Joanna Kelly said. “Back in the day, we used to serve green beer and green hot dogs. Luckily, we don’t do that anymore, but it is still a very, very exciting place to be, shoulder to shoulder. We often have bagpipers in there. It is so much fun, and I would say if you’re gonna go there on any day of the year, that would be the day to go.”

Before he became general manager of the tavern 18 months ago, Dan Dougherty had visited as a patron on St. Patrick’s Day. “I kind of knew what to expect, having worked at other bars on St. Patrick’s Day. They were busy, but not like this one,” said Dougherty, who has worked in restaurants for 20 years.

Since February, he’s been prepping for the holiday, averaging about four hours of sleep a night.

He’s ordered five times as many of their main sellers compared to a regular week. Other preparations include ordering porta-potties and hiring extra security, i.e., bouncers. Last year he said one patron had to be removed from the premises.

There’s also an Irish menu with the usual holiday fare such as ham, cabbage, potatoes and the traditional bangers and mash, Dougherty said.

Before the holiday, the Irish Culture Club of Delaware sponsors a parade in downtown Wilmington. Throngs of people head to the tavern afterwards. Last year, Dougherty said people crowded the tavern inside and out and stayed until 1 a.m. One year, a patron even brought a camel. Then on St. Patrick’s Day, the faithful return to continue celebrating.

Ober Kline said he’s been visiting the tavern since he was 21. “I’m 81,” he said.

For the past 52 years, Kline has operated a framing shop on the same block as the Kelly’s Logan House. What does he remember from his first St. Patrick’s Day there?

“It was a real zoo,” he said.

He’s become close friends with the Kelly family, and his favorite memory of the St. Patrick’s Day celebrations was seeing John D. Kelly III riding a white horse wearing a cowboy hat and pistols during the parade.

One thing that keeps him coming back, he said, is the camaraderie with the patrons.

“There’s an interesting facet of the Logan House because there’s still a number of regular patrons that go there on a regular basis, almost daily. Most are in mid to late 70s at least,” he said. “I’ve been around for so damn long, most of the time, I run into somebody I know.” Kline said when that happens, it’s usually followed by a familiar phrase: “‘I got two shots of whiskey for you.’”

Five generations after John D. and Hannah Kelly started their business, the family’s fifth generation is keeping the holiday tradition alive.