Kelly’s Westport Inn is literally a piece of Kansas City history.

The brick building has stood at the corner of Westport and Pennsylvania since 1850, making it one of the city’s oldest. It didn’t become a bar until the 1930s. And it didn’t become Kelly’s until after Randal Kelly, an Irish immigrant, walked through the doors in 1947. Hired as a bartender, Kelly quickly charmed customers and was soon made a partner.

Today, two of his sons, Kyle and Pat, run the bar with Kyle’s children, Colleen and Mitch, who are being positioned to take over one day.

“Honestly, I kind of pinch myself because it’s such a well-known bar, and I’m right in the throes of it,” said Kyle Kelly, who started working there 44 years ago, when he was in high school. “It’s more than a job. I would definitely say that. It’s an institution. I hope that doesn’t sound pompous, but so many people know about it.”

Randal Kelly died in 1988, but the lessons he gave his sons still help guide the business. Chief among them: You’ve got to have fun at your job.

“You have to go in there and kind of keep your chin up and not make it a job, but a fun experience,” Kyle Kelly said. “It’s absolutely a ball to go into work some nights.”