65 Years on Division Street: Inside Butch McGuire's Anniversary Week

I opened this bar on June 16, 1961. Sixty-five years later, we're throwing the biggest party this building has ever seen, and I couldn't be prouder of what Division Street has become because of it.

Anniversary Week runs October 12 through 18, 2026 — a full week celebrating 65 years as Chicago's original singles bar. We've dug up the old newspaper clippings, pulled together the stories from the people who built this place alongside me, and put together a raffle and a full schedule of events for the week. It's part celebration, part history lesson, and it's all Butch's.

Sixty-five years is a long time to stay a family business on one of the busiest streets in the Gold Coast. We've watched Division Street grow up around us, and we've stayed exactly what we set out to be: a saloon, not a restaurant, where more good nights — and more than 20,000 marriages — have started than we ever expected when we opened the doors.

Come celebrate with us. Check the full Anniversary Week schedule on our site and be part of the next chapter of a Chicago institution.