McKinney’s Irish Pub, which opened in 2013, proudly featured a wall that had been plastered with thousands of dollar notes decorated by punters over the years
McKinney’s Irish Pub, which opened in 2013, proudly featured a wall that had been plastered with thousands of dollar bills decorated by punters over the years.
However, on December 30, 2020, Lincoln Police were called to the popular Haymarket bar after a man smashed a front window to the building.
He reportedly made off with an entire wall’s worth of notes that had been stuck on with tape.
According to the local KLIN radio station, each note had been personalised with signatures, tributes and sketches.
“Each bill was a memory for someone,” the report adds. “The lasting mark of a bar visit, for the low price of $1.00.”
After Lincoln Police began an investigation, officers would occasionally return bundles of the stolen bills to the pub over the next few years.
This month Lincoln Police told McKinney’s staff there were “some items” they had to pick up.
Posting their delight on social media, the pub showed a plastic forensic bag containing over 1,500 bills — the largest bundle ever recovered from the 2020 burglary.
“Amazing news,” they posted on Facebook. “Over the last few years, on occasion, a cluster of dollar bills that were stolen in 2020 have been slowly returned to us.
“Earlier this week, we were notified that we had some items to pick up from LPD. We had NO IDEA it would be so many!
“They are in good condition, and we are so excited that so many have been returned.”
The pub is now setting aside time in the coming days, “to go through them and do something special with the returned dollars”.
“We’ll be posting as we go, so keep an eye out for your memory if you had a dollar here on the main floor in 2020. Cheers to the weekend and LPD!”
McKinney’s Manager Delaney Walsh told KLIN News that previous bundles of returned notes were often torn up, soiled, burnt, or otherwise unsalvageable.
“All the $5, $20, and $100 bills didn’t come back, unfortunately,” he said, although most of the one dollars were salvageable and will be reposted to on McKinney’s walls.
“Hopefully we can find room somewhere on our wall to put them back up,” Walsh added. “We kind of lost hope, and thought all of them were gone.”
Following the burglary, other bars donated hundreds of one dollar bills to McKinney’s. One local held a ‘Dollar Drive,’ inviting people to scribble a note onto a dollar bill and drop it off at the Irish pub.
“The amount of times we’ve had people come in looking for a dollar bill, especially out of towners, that met their husband or wife here, Walsh added. “And they made a dollar bill the night they met, or people that made a dollar with someone who has now passed away.
“It’s really nice that we’ll be able to go through all these bills and restore some of the memories that were made here.”
Some McKinney’s staff members are among those with posted dollars dedicated to loved ones who have since passed onto the wall.
“We personally always wanted the bills to return to for our own memories, so we’re really excited to sort through them to find, not only memories of our own, but everyone else’s,” said Walsh.
McKinney’s plans to sort through the newly returned bills and post them on social media in bid to find the original owner. They will be given the option to claim their dollar back, or repost it in the bar.
“It’s going to be hard to find room for all the dollar bills that were returned. But we’re determined to do it,” Walsh added.
