Family owned. Neighborhood built. Est. 1961.
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When my dad opened this bar in 1961, he had one rule that wasn't really a rule — it was just how he operated. Take care of people. Make them feel like they already belong. Everything else follows from that. Sixty-five years later, I look around this room and I see the same thing he saw: people who came as strangers and stayed as family. Some of you have been coming since before I was born. Some of you met right here and brought your kids back to show them where it happened.
Some of you have been here through things I won't pretend to know about, and Butch's was the place you came anyway. That's not something you build. That's something people give you. You gave it to us. We don't take that lightly. In 2025 we opened Mary Jo McGuire's — named for the woman who really did run the place, whatever my father claimed. We hope to see you there too.
Thank you. Genuinely.
— Bobby McGuire
Butch McGuire opened the doors in 1961 with money borrowed from his mother, and it didn't take long for word to spread. The corner of Rush and Division became the place Gold Coast and Old Town singles went to meet — through the years, encounters here are believed to have led to over 20,000 marriages.
Butch became known around the neighborhood as the unofficial mayor of Division Street, and he ran the place that way — deeply involved in his community and fiercely loyal to his staff. He was also ahead of his time, becoming one of the first bar owners in Chicago to hire female bartenders and managers.
Butch McGuire's wouldn't be Butch McGuire's without the crew behind the bar — pouring pints, running the kitchen, and keeping Division Street's original singles bar humming, night after night.
