WDET’s CuriosiD series answers your questions about everything Detroit. Subscribe to CuriosiD on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

In this episode of CuriosiD, listener Collette Nutton asked the question:

“What’s the oldest bar in Detroit?”

The short answer

It’s the Two Way Inn at 17897 Mt. Elliott St. Located on the city’s northeast side amongst industrial buildings, the Two Way has been operating in the same building since 1876.

That’s according to Hamtramck-based writer Mickey Lyons, who’s carved out a name for herself as a bar and Prohibition historian focused on Detroit’s historic bars.

“When you go into Two Way, you really do get this feel of a Wild West saloon,” said Lyons, who says her research methods included newspaper archives, talking with regulars, doing tours of other historic bars and “some beers at 4 o’clock on a Tuesday.”

“It’s a tough job, but somebody’s gotta do it,” Lyons added.

Today, you have to be buzzed in to enter the Two Way Inn (“RING THE BELL!” has become an unofficial slogan on their social media channels).

It’s family-owned, open Tuesday through Saturday and is popular with regulars and tour groups arriving by the busload to drink in all that history.

How it all began

As any good bar buddy would, I invited our CuriosiD question-asker Collette Nutton to join me on this mission — who wants to drink alone? — but she had a valid excuse to skip the dive-bar crawl:

“I’m sitting on a beach in Hawaii.”

So while I toughed it out in the heart of Detroit’s winter, Nutton gave me some ideas of where to start looking for the answer, including a handful of old-school haunts like:

• Abick’s Bar (Southwest Detroit), dating back to 1907
• Nancy Whiskey (North Corktown), dating back to 1902
• The Stonehouse, an old biker bar on the city’s north side that appears to be closed now
• The Two Way Inn (on the city’s northeast side), dating back to 1876

Nutton made it clear she had been to all of these bars at one point: “Pfft. Of course I have. Who are you, Ryan Patrick Hooper? I’m a Detroiter — that’s what people do.”

And our expert bar historian Mickey Lyons agreed.

“Bars are, and still can be, the center of neighborhoods,” Lyons said. “They’re community centers, places where people congregate to get the news, meet their neighbors, and settle in with their fellow countrymen. Especially in historic bars, you’ll find people from all sorts of backgrounds — especially if you’re at a bar at four o’clock on a Tuesday afternoon.”

And when you start to dive into the history of these bars, the way we talk about them — and their claim to being the oldest — gets a little tricky.

Defining “oldest”

According to Lyons, the answer depends on how you define “oldest.” During Prohibition (1918–1933), bars weren’t legally operating, so the timeline gets murky.

“One of the problems with being a bar historian, you always run into the problem that if somebody was doing their job right as speakeasy operator [during Prohibition], they did not get into the historical record,” said Lyons.

“In one way, we could say the oldest bars are the ones that got their license in 1933. In other ways, we could say it’s a private club that’s been around for a long time.”

By most definitions, however, the title belongs to the Two Way Inn, which has been operating — legally or otherwise — since 1876.

“When it was first built, it was a stagecoach stop. It was far enough from downtown Detroit to be about a day’s carriage ride away. It served as a saloon, general store, hotel, and even had a jail cell for rowdy patrons,” she said.

And while Two Way Inn wears that badge proudly, it’s clearly not a competition between the other historic bars around town, like you might see in larger cities with a more robust tourist base.

And each of those historic bars have their own way of describing their history:

What About the Other Bars?

• Abick’s Bar (1907) is known as Detroit’s oldest continuously operated, family-owned bar
• Nancy Whiskey (1902) claims to be “Detroit’s oldest party”
• Jacoby’s (1904) is recognized as Detroit’s oldest downtown bar or oldest biergarten

Each bar has carved out its own way of presenting its history. As Lyons puts it:

“There’s no need for competition here. These families have seen decades —even over a century — of Detroit history pass through their doors. They all have their own unique place in the city’s story.”

A legacy worth toasting

Larger cities like Boston may have more contentious claims to the “oldest bar” title, driven by a robust tourism industry. Detroit, however, keeps its history humble and communal.

At Two Way Inn, the legacy lives on. From its Wild West saloon roots to its modern-day status as a neighborhood watering hole, it remains a symbol of Detroit’s resilience and history — complete with its original jail cell in the basement.

So, next time you’re in the mood for a drink and a piece of history, stop by Two Way Inn. You might just feel like you’ve stepped back into 1876.

We want to hear from you! 

If you’ve ever wondered about Detroit’s history, culture, or community, send us your question at wdet.org/curious or fill out the form below.

More from CuriosiD:

• What is the history behind the Belle Isle Boathouse?
• What happened to Detroit jazz venue Strata Concert Gallery?
• What is on Boblo Island today? And what happened to the Boblo boats?