Cato Alexander

1780–1858

Owned and operated the definitive “sporty” American bar during the formative period.

Born into slavery, but freed in 1799, Cato Alexander was the proprietor of Cato’s Tavern, the sportiest bar in America, just outside NYC, from around 1810 until the 1840s. (In today’s Manhattan, his saloon would have been located around 54th St, just east of 2nd Ave.)