Detroit's oldest bar — a 150-year-old Mt Elliott corner saloon founded in 1876 by Colonel Philetus W. Norris (Civil War officer and second superintendent of Yellowstone), now a Nortown dive haunted by 'The Cowboy' and a Lady in White.
17897 Mt Elliott St, Detroit, MI 48212
Age
21+
Cost
$
Working neighborhood dive bar — beer typically $4-$7. Cash-friendly.
Access
Limited Access
Historic 1870s wood-frame building; steps at entrance and uneven floors typical of buildings of this era.
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1876 · Detroit's Oldest Continuously Operating Bar · Colonel Philetus W. Norris Heritage · Yellowstone National Park 2nd Superintendent Residence · Village of Norris Origin (1873) · Prohibition Speakeasy
Philetus Walter Norris was born August 17, 1821 and rose to colonel in the Union Army during the Civil War before returning to Michigan and founding the village of Norris on Detroit's then-rural northeast edge in 1873. In 1876 he established the structure that became the Two Way Inn at the corner of what is now Mt Elliott and Nevada — initially as a multipurpose building serving as general store, post office, hotel, dance hall, and (briefly) the village jail. Norris lived in the building until he built his adjacent house, the Philetus W. Norris House, which still stands and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
In 1877 Norris was appointed by Secretary of the Interior Carl Schurz as the second superintendent of Yellowstone National Park, where he served until 1882. He directed substantial exploration and mapping of the park; the Norris Geyser Basin in Yellowstone is named for him. Norris died January 14, 1885, and is buried in Detroit's Woodmere Cemetery.
The Two Way Inn continued through multiple ownerships and uses across the late 19th and 20th centuries. During Prohibition it operated as a speakeasy and a dentist's office (a common cover use); era-appropriate bottles have reportedly been discovered behind walls during renovations. The original wood-frame structure remains substantially intact, and the bar has been operated as a working neighborhood saloon throughout the modern era.
The Two Way Inn occupies a corner of the historic Nortown neighborhood. The name 'Two Way Inn' refers to the building's two-front-door layout, originally meant to accommodate both stagecoach traffic on one street and pedestrian/local traffic on the other.
Sources
Per WWJ Newsradio's coverage, WDET's 2025 CuriosiD feature, and the bar's own marketing, the Two Way Inn's haunted reputation is built on two named entities and a layered atmospheric feel that staff attribute to the building's many previous uses.
The most-cited apparition is 'The Cowboy' — identified as Colonel Philetus W. Norris, the founder, by his distinctive wide-brimmed hat. Patrons, staff, and owners across multiple generations have described seeing a man in a Victorian-era coat and wide hat moving through the barroom or upstairs corridors, sometimes briefly before disappearing through a wall. The attribution to Norris is historically grounded — Norris built and lived in the structure, was photographically documented in the wide hat, and died in 1885.
The second figure is a 'Lady in White,' described in flowing pale 19th-century dress, traditionally identified as one of Norris's daughters. The specific daughter is not consistently named across sources. The figure has been reported on the staircase and along the upstairs hall.
Other reported phenomena include: heavy footsteps and glasses sliding on bartops, attributed informally to lingering Prohibition-era patrons; the impression of a family dog (sometimes nicknamed 'Shadow' in retellings) heard padding across the floors; and cold spots in the upstairs rooms that once served as the jail cells, brothel rooms, or dentist's office. The bar is featured in a chapter of 'Haunted Bars and Pubs of Michigan' and is a regular subject of Detroit haunted-bar journalism.
The staff position — that the building is 'spirited, not haunted,' and that the spirits coexist with the living patrons — is a healthier editorial stance than most haunted-bar lore; readers should treat specific apparition descriptions as long-standing oral tradition rather than as formally documented investigations.
Notable Entities
Media Appearances
Drop in for a beer in the original 1870s barroom at the corner of Mt Elliott and Nevada in the Nortown neighborhood. The bar leans into its haunted reputation — staff casually share stories of 'The Cowboy' (Colonel Philetus Norris) and the Lady in White.
Owners and longtime regulars are happy to walk visitors through the building's stagecoach-stop, village-jail, post-office, dance-hall, and Prohibition-era dentist-office layers. The bar prefers the term 'spirited' over 'haunted.'
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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