So he was disappointed when he drove by Schaller's Pump in Bridgeport, one of the oldest bars in the city, and saw it had closed. Patrick McBriarty likes to try different bars in Chicago. Photo courtesy Chicago History Museum / photo illustration by Katherine Nagasawa/WBEZ In the early 1900s, Chicago had more than 8,000 saloons (an old-fashioned version of the modern tavern) - more than nine times the number today.
