2. Abraham Lincoln Celebrated His Cooper Union Address at McSorley’s

Add to the list of famous patrons: Abraham Lincoln. Before becoming the president of the United States, Lincoln gave his famous Cooper Union address at the university and reportedly stopped by McSorley’s while in town. Another tie to Lincoln is the bar’s original 1865 “Wanted” poster, offering a $100,000 reward for the capture of his assassin, John Wilkes Booth!

Of course, Lincoln wasn’t the only president to have ale at McSorley’s. Theodore Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy enjoyed a few drinks at the bar as well.  American industrialist and inventor, Peter Cooper, who founded Cooper Union, was also a regular — so much so that his portrait still hangs in the pub, along with the chair he regularly sat at.