Founding and later proprietors When it opened, the saloon was originally called "The Old House at Home". According to a 1995
New York Times "Streetscapes" article by
Christopher Gray, accompanied by Mary McSorley, who was 16. When confronted with the fact that the 1880 census did not contain this entry, Gray corrected it to 1900 in his book published in 2003. John McSorley first appeared in city directories in 1862, and the building his bar occupies was built no earlier than 1858, according to city records. Founding owner John McSorley passed daily management to his son, William, around 1890, and died in 1910 at the age of 87. In 1936 William sold the property to Daniel O’Connell, a retired policeman and longtime customer. After O'Connell's death three years later, his daughter Dorothy O’Connell Kirwan assumed ownership. Upon her death in 1974 and that of her husband the following year, ownership passed briefly to their son Danny before the most recent proprietor, Matthew "Matty" Maher, who purchased the bar in 1977 and owned it until his death in January 2020. Maher's daughter Ann Pullman plans to keep it in the family. A 1954 New York City tourist guide describes McSorley's as, "An unusual and historic old tavern, little changed since established before Civil War. Interesting old dining room, seats 150 (men only at any time, though owned by a woman); different house specialty every day; old-time songs; bar room quartet variety nightly; famous, well stocked bar. Inexpensive."
Opened to women Women were not allowed in McSorley's until August 10, 1970, after
National Organization for Women attorneys
Faith Seidenberg and
Karen DeCrow filed a discrimination case against the bar in District Court and won. The two entered McSorley's in 1969, and were refused service, which was the basis for their lawsuit for discrimination. The case decision made the front page of
The New York Times on June 26, 1970. The suit, ''Seidenberg v. McSorleys' Old Ale House'' (S.D.N.Y. 1970) established that the licensing of the bar, under the New York State Alcoholic Beverage Control Law, rose to the level of state action, thereby requiring the bar to comply with the proscriptions of the
Equal Protection Clause of the
United States Constitution. The bar was then forced to admit women, but it did so "kicking and screaming". In 1970 Barbara Shaum became the bar's first female patron.
2016 closure and reopening McSorley's maintained a
mouser cat within its premises until a law was passed ending the practice in 2011. In November 2016, the establishment was briefly closed by the
New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene due to violations of health code. It reopened the next week. In January 2020, the then owner Matty Maher died. ==Notable patrons==