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When it comes to the best place to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, you’d be hard-pressed to find a location with deeper history than Kelly’s Logan House in Wilmington. The oldest, continuously operated Irish family bar in America is now owned by the family’s fifth generation.

John D. Kelly bought the tavern with his wife, Hannah, in 1889 after the pair met in America and discovered they had lived 5 miles apart in Ireland. It quickly became a popular gathering spot for Irish immigrants, who were guided into their new lives by the tavern’s owners. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Irish immigrants to America had to list their destination on their passports. Many indicated they were relocating to the Kelly’s Logan House. A passport can be seen even today on the walls along with other family pictures.

The structure was named after Union General John A. Logan, who ran for vice president with William Blaine in the 1884 election. The tavern in the center of Wilmington’s Trolley Square was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.

Their great-granddaughter, Mary Ann Kelly MacDonald, said Hannah was the brains behind the business.

“She owned several properties around there and became like the landlady for [the immigrants], and [the tavern] was like the basis of the whole Irish Catholic community to come to that area, predominantly from County Cork,” said MacDonald, a former trustee of the Delaware Historical Society. She and her husband had five children, MacDonald said. All were college-educated, and one became an Ursuline nun.

MacDonald grew up in a Wilmington rowhouse owned by her great-grandmother. It was a block away from the tavern. She asked her father if they could move, and he told her they lived in the perfect location: one block from the Logan House and one block from the church.

“So we all grew up in a rowhouse and I’m proud of that,” added MacDonald, who managed the business from 1985-91.

For many years, the tavern had hotel rooms. It was close to a B&O Railroad station, the gateway to the West. Al Capone, John L. Sullivan, Buffalo Bill and Wild Bill Hickok were among its guests.

Today, it’s owned by brother and sister Joanna and Patrick Kelly, great-great-grandchildren of John and Hannah Kelly. They inherited the tavern from their father, Michael Kelly, who passed away in 2022.

“I mean, it is very weighty to have that many generations of ancestors, who kept the Logan House running and made it such a staple of the neighborhood, and so there’s a fair amount of pressure, but I feel very grateful to be able to do it, and really excited to kind of carry on that legacy,” Joanna Kelly said.

“I think that my brother and I feel there’s so much intergenerational effort and love that’s gone into this business and this building,” she said. “I mean, my great-grandfather was born in the building that the Logan House is in. It carries so much significance for our family. There have been weddings there, engagement parties, birthday parties. Everything you can think of has happened there and so it holds so much importance to the Kelly family. My brother and I feel a lot of pressure to continue, leading it in a successful way, a way that continues to incorporate the values of our family and our community.”

The pressure of that legacy is magnified as both Joanna and Patrick Kelly have full-time jobs outside of the tavern. She’s an attorney, and he’s a high school teacher.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WSYX) — An overturned semi is causing traffic delays in Delaware County.

The semi overturned on I-71 southbound near US 36/SR 37. The roadway is closed as of 4:45 p.m.

ODOT said high winds are causing several trucks to be blown over across central Ohio.

An emergency management agency director in Union County told WSYX the county saw five semis blown over on Friday afternoon.

MEDIA, Pa. – Jonathan Gerlach, a Pennsylvania man accused of robbing several graves at a Delaware County cemetery, will appear in court for a preliminary hearing on Friday.

What we know:

Gerlach, 34, will appear in-person for his 10 a.m. hearing at the Delaware County Courthouse in Media.

He was charged in January with several crimes related to grave robberies, including burglary and abuse of a corpse.

Gerlach will be represented by a public defender, according to courthouse officials.

The backstory:

Gerlach was arrested at Mount Moriah Cemetery in January after investigators say he was found with a burlap bag containing 30 human remains, many of them children and those who have been dead for decades.

The investigation turned more sinister when detectives searched Gerlach’s home in Ephrata and found even more remains, including skulls, large bones, and jewelry taken from graves. Chester County District Attorney Tanner Rouse described the home as “a horror movie come to life.”

It’s alleged that Gerlach may have been selling remains on Facebook, and traveled to Chicago last year to sell a human skull. A tipster who first alerted police about Gerlach mentioned a partially decomposed corpse hanging in his basement.

Investigators later found eight more bodies in a storage locker located near Gerlach’s home. Neighbors previously told FOX 29 News that they were suspicious of Gerlach’s home after noticing flies swarming near the basement windows.

What we don’t know:

Authorities are still trying to determine if other cemeteries were affected and how long Gerlach’s activities have been ongoing. 

Investigators are seeking to understand the full extent of the operation and any potential connections to other individuals or groups.