A Building With Many Lives
Older than paved streets and electric light
The building went up in 1839, and it has served drinks without a break since 1888 — which is what makes it the oldest continuously operating tavern in the city. Over the years the same address held a residence, a meat and provisions store, a tavern, a shoe-shine shop, a barbershop and several rooms for rent.
It's worn a lot of names
Through the decades it answered to "The Old Tavern," "The Liquor Room," and "The Ace Restaurant" during Prohibition. In the rowdier years it was "The Pickle Barrel," and finally became The Trolley Stop around 1975, as the Oregon District began its revival.
The house out back was a tuberculosis sanitorium
The building behind the bar was built in 1856 and once served as Dr. Bailey's eyes, throat and lungs office — later a TB sanitorium with patients living upstairs at the turn of the century.
Both buildings are said to be haunted
Staff have reported unexplained doors and furniture moving, plus glasses and shakers tossed around by no one in particular. Decades of regulars, and apparently a few who never left.
Only-at-the-Trolley Stories
A bartender once took dentures as collateral
When a patron couldn't cover his tab, bartender Katy accepted his dentures as a deposit. He came back for them about a week later.
Home of the first Oregon District Wiener Dog Race
The Trolley Stop hosted the neighborhood's very first dachshund race — a tradition befitting a bar that takes its fun seriously and itself not too much.
Weddings on the patio — cocktails included
Several couples have married on the leafy back patio. One officiant noted it was the only ceremony he'd performed where the guests were drinking throughout. Fittingly, a few divorce settlements have listed Trolley Stop visitation as a condition.
Good Beer, Good Music, Good Neighbors
Dayton's first craft beer on tap
The Trolley Stop was the first tavern in the city to pour craft beer from the tap — long before it became the standard everywhere else.
A stage with serious credits
Performers who've played the room include Ry Cooder, Jimmy Rogers, Trombone Shorty, and Grammy winner Terrance Simien and the Zydeco Experience — alongside the local musicians who built the bar's reputation as a great place to play.
Scratch-made food from the world's smallest kitchen
The kitchen leans hard on local vendors and farm-fresh ingredients — Keener Farms burgers, a house black bean burger, and the dill-bright "Dill-icious" potato soup.