In Chicago, the Uptown tunnels connect the Green Mill Cocktail Lounge with several theaters and other businesses underground. Why would tunnels be built connecting unrelated businesses? Stories abound of the 1920s, when Prohibition made the liquor trade illegal, and Al Capone made a fortune supplying the city with booze.
Numerous theories about the tunnels’ purpose abound, largely surrounding the Green Mill, a 1920s speakeasy and now classic jazz club. It was founded as Pop Morse's Roadhouse in 1907, a place for mourners to gather after funerals at the two nearby cemeteries. In 1910, it was sold and renamed the Green Mill Gardens, complete with bathrooms in the basement.
During Prohibition, the bar became a speakeasy with Capone connections, so people theorize the tunnels were used to run alcohol up to the bar, fueled by the fact the trap door is still in use behind the bar and alcohol kept in the basement. Others claim the tunnels were used as escape routes during police raids; folks could scamper underground and emerge elsewhere in Uptown as if nothing happened. Other ideas suggest illicit card games and liquor storage.
But the tunnels were not built with booze running in mind.
Still, it's not a great leap to think that these shenanigans may have happened. Read the real story behind the tunnels under Chicago, particularly the Uptown tunnels, at Mental Floss.
(Image credit: Flickr user Keith Cooper)