USA > Pennsylvania > Philadelphia County > Philadelphia > Annals of Philadelphia, and Pennsylvania in the olden time; being a collection of the memoirs, anecdotes, and incidents of the earliest settlements of the inland part of Pennsylvania, Vol. I > Part 54
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In the mean time, the Presbyterians, as if less reverent to bishops as a class of eminence, have latterly grown into the occasional prac- tice, in a semi-official way, of calling any of their ministry bish- ops. They had always regarded "presbyter" and " bishop" as con- vertible terms, but until lately, we had never noticed the use of the single title of bishop to those who were only ordained as presby- ters. We believe the first departure from former practice occurred in some of the controversial writings of Dr. Ely of Philadelphia.
We give the foregoing notitia of passing events, as "notes by the way," and as marking such changes and characteristics in matters and things as it is our proper business to express.
HOSPITALS.
THE earliest Hospital, separate from the Poor-house, to which in early times it was united, was opened and continued for several years in the house known as " Judge Kinsey's dwelling and orchard" -the same two-story double-front brick house now on the south side of High street, third door west from Fifth street. The Hospital there, nearly eighty years ago, was under the general government of Mrs. Elizabeth Gardiner, as matron.
In the year 1750 several public spirited gentlemen set on foot a proposition for another and more convenient building than was before possessed for the sick at the Poor-house-then on the lot occupying the square from Spruce to Pine street, and from Third to Fourth street.
By the MS. Diary of John Smith, Esq., I see noted that on the 5th of 5 mo., 1751, he, with other managers of the Hospital Fund, went out to inspect several lots for a place for a Hospital, and he states that none of them pleased them so much as one on the south side of Arch street between Ninth and Tenth streets. But after
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wards, on the 11th of Sth mo., 1751, he notes, that he, with Dr Bond and Israel Pemberton, inspected the late dwelling-house of E. Kinsey, Esq., and were of opinion it would be a suitable place to begin the hospital in. The year 1751, therefore, marks the period at which the Hospital in High street began. It there continued four or five years
The Pennsylvania Hospital was founded in the year 1755. At the occasion of laying the corner stone, the celebrated John Key, " the first born," was present from Chester county. The inscription of the corner stone, composed by Dr. Franklin, reads thus :
" In the year of Christ MDCCLV, George the Second happily reigning, (For he sought the happiness of his people,) Philadelphia flourishing, (For its inhabitants were public spirited,) This Building, By the bounty of Government, And of many private Persons, Was piously founded For the relief of the sick and miserable. May the God of Mercies Bless the Undertaking."
When the Hospital was first placed there it was deemed very far out of town, and was approached not by present rectilineal streets but across commons the length of several squares. The only build ing then finished for several years was the present eastern wing, then entered by its front gate on Eighth street.
I have seen in the possession of Mr. B. Otis, portrait painter, a large coloured engraving of the Hospital and Poor-house near by, and all the scenery of the adjacent open commons, as drawn by Nicholas Garrison, about the time of 1768.
At and before the year 1740 it was the practice when sick emi- grants arrived, to place them in empty houses about the city. Sometimes diseases were imparted to the neighbourhood, as once occurred, particularly at Willing's alley. On such occasions phy- sicians were provided for them at the public expense. The Governor was induced, in 1741, to suggest the procuring of a Pest-house or Hospital ; and in 1742 a Pest-house was erected on Fisher's island, called afterwards Province Island, because purchased and owned by the province, for the use of sick persons arriving from sea.
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POOR-HOUSES.
THE original Poor-house for the city was located down town, on a green meadow, extending from Spruce to Pine streets, and from Third to Fourth streets. Its front was to the east, and nearest to Third street. Its great gate was on Spruce street, and its entrance by Third street was by a stile. The house was much such a struc- ture as to height and general appearance as that of the Friends' Alms- house in Walnut street ; it had a piazza all round. It contained the sick and insane as well as the poor. There were also some parts of the necessary buildings formed near the corner of Union and Fourth streets, on the site now occupied as the premises of Doctor Physick, from which cause, I find, in 1758, it was called, " the Alms-house down Fourth street," and " the Alms-house square," &c.
The present Alms-house out Spruce street, begun in 1760, was first occupied in the year 1767. The square of nearly four hundred feet square, on which the buildings stand, cost then but £800. Who can tell its rise of value since! It was then, however, quite a place in the country, and near the woods, and having a fine orchard on the square on its northern front.
LIBRARIES.
WE are indebted to Doctor Franklin for the first project of public library. He started one in 1731, consisting of thirty-eight persons, to pay 40s. each, and to contribute afterwards 10s. an- nually. It was at first located in a chamber of Robert Grace's house in Pewter Platter alley. In 1740 it was placed in the State-house. In 1773 it went to Carpenters' Hall till 1790, when the present li- brary was built and received the books. It was incorporated in the year 1742, as "the Library Company of Philadelphia." Previous to this company the members of the Junto used to each bring their books to their debating room, and leave them there as common stock at Grace's house-the same premises, I believe, now belonging to Benjamin Horner.
In 1759, Governor Denney confirmed the charter of "the Union
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Library of Philadelphia." They built themselves the neat house still standing at the corner of Third and Pear streets. About the same time, in 1757, I notice an advertisement to call the members of "the Association Library" to meet at their literary room in Lætitia court.
In 1769 it is announced in the Gazette that "the Union Library," which had existed many years, resolved to merge itself into "the Library Company of Philadelphia," and thus to make but one institution.
At one time, as I was told by the aged Isaac Parrish, the Union Library kept their books and reading room in Chestnut street, in the second house from Second street, south side. They went up stairs by a flight of steps on the outside.
The Loganian Library of nearly three thousand volumes was the generous gift of James Logan, Esq., to the city of Philadelphia for ever, together with a house and £30 per annum. In 1792, his son James procured an act of the Legislature, vesting the library, &c., in "the Library Company of Philadelphia, "-thus eventually merging "the Library Company of Philadelphia," "the Union Library of Philadelphia," and "the Loganian Library," all three in one-"tria una in juncta. "
TAVERNS.
IN the primitive days the grant of tavern licenses was restricted to widows, and occasionally to decrepit men of good character. I am aware of this fact from inspecting several of the early petitions of about the year 1700 for such licenses.
In the year 1683, William Penn's letter says: "We have seven or- dinaries for the entertainment of strangers and workmen that are not housekeepers, and a good meal is to be had for sixpence sterling. "
There was, however, at an early period much effort made by base people to keep private tippling houses, which were ferreted out by the Grand Juries with much vigilance.
In 1709, the Grand Jury present many tippling and disorderly houses.
In 1714, no less than thirty-five true bills were found against un- licensed taverns in one session !
In 1744, the Grand Jury present the enormous increase of public houses as a great nuisance, and they say it appears by constable re- turns that there are then upwards of a hundred houses licensed, which, with all the retailers, make the houses which sell drink nearly a tenth part of the city!
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In 1752, there were found in the city a hundred and twenty taverns with licenses, and a hundred and eighteen houses that sold rum by the quart.
In 1756, the number of licensed inns in the city was ascertained to be a hundred and seventeen.
In 1759-until this year it had been the occasional practice for Jus- tices of the peace to hear and to decide causes at public inns, which was found to have a demoralizing effect in bringing so many people to drinking places. The Governor therefore in this year publicly forbids its use any longer. The Common Council itself, in the year 1704, dated its minutes at an inn and at the Coffee House.
The late Indian King tavern in High street near Third street was the oldest inn in the city, and was in numerous years among the most respectable; when kept by Mr. Biddle it was indeed a famous house. There the Junto held their club, and assembled such men as Doctor Franklin, Hugh Roberts, Charles Thomson, &c. In the year 1742 it was kept by Peter and Jonathan Robeson.
The Crooked Billet Inn on the wharf above Chestnutstreet (end of the first alley) was the tavern of longest " uninterrupted succession " in the city, being named in earliest times, but it has ceased its opera- tions as an inn some years past. It was the first house entered in Philadelphia, in 1723, by Doctor Franklin, in his first visit to the city. It then was a more considerable building than afterwards, having then its front upon Water street, and extending down to the river.
The Pewter Platter Inn once stood at the corner of Front and Jones' alley; its sign was a large pewter platter. The oddity of the device made it so famous that it gave a lasting name to the alley, to the utter oblivion of Jones' name.
A Mrs. Jones kept a celebrated public house in the old two-story house now adjoining the south end of the City Tavern ; besides its present front on Second street it had a front towards Walnut street, with a fine green court yard all along that street quite down to Dock creek. At that house Richard Penn and other governors, generals and gentry used to be feasted. The tavern was designated by the sign of the Three Crowns.
The present City Tavern adjoining it was erected on the site of two frame buildings* in the year 1770. It was then made a distin- guished eating and boarding house. In later time it took the name of Coffee House, had a portico formed in front, and its former smaller rooms opened into one general front room.
A very noted public house, in the colonial days, was Pegg Mul- len's " beef-steak house," on the east side of Water street, at the corner of Wilcox's alley ; she was known and visited by persons from Boston to Georgia. Now the house, herself, and all who feasted
* Those two-story frames were once " the timber houses" of Edward Shippen, Sen sold to Samuel Powell, to which family the present Coffee House belongs
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there, are gone-for ever gone! The late aged Colonel Morris says it was the fashionable house of his youthful days. Governor Hamilton, and other governors, held their clubs in that house-there the Free Masons met, and most of the public parties and societies. The alley was called "Mullen's alley," and the site was the same where Robert Morris built up his range of stores, on the north side of the Mariners' church. It was also the same premises originally belonging to Carpenter, where he made many primitive buildings on a large scale. The stores were of wood, and stood next south of Pegg Mullen's, which was on the south-east corner of the alley- " Carpenter's wharf" was at the same place.
In the year 1768-9, Mrs. Graydon opened a celebrated boarding house " up Front street," at Drinker's house, at the north corner of Drinker's alley. That house had generally several British and other officers as inmates, and at different times was nearly filled by officers of the 42d Highland and Royal Irish. Baron de Kalb boarded there- Lady Moore and Lady Susan O'Brien. Sir William Draper too (im- mortalized by Junius !) was an inmate, and while in Philadelphia was distinguished as a great racket player. At one time he was a resi- dent at Newbern, North Carolina, living among them without dis- play, as if seeking to hide himself from the lash of Junius.
Dibley's tavern was an ancient house of some note in its day, at the east corner of Bank alley and Chestnut street, where Hide once had his dwelling and book-bindery. At that house an event occurred, about the year 1782, sufficiently remarkable for romance ; indeed it gave rise to some poetry which I have seen. A man came there to be an upper ostler, having with him a wife and two daughters (young women grown) of great gentility and beauty ; and the whole family being in much poverty, made use of the harness room over the stable for their dwelling! The case was this, viz. : The ostler, on an ex- cursion in Maryland as a horse jockey, heard of the widow S. as a lady of wealth ; by dress and pretensions he succeeded to marry her; he lived extravagantly, and brought the family to ruin. They came to Philadelphia to hide themselves from their former intimates. After trying several expedients without success, he began as the ostler to Dibley. The daughters were very pretty and engaging ; one attracted the attentions of a French gentleman who kept his horse at the stable; and he made interest with the father, but the girl saw cause to repel him. To avoid her father's control, she sought a place in Mrs. Dibley's house as a seamstress for a few weeks, and to be con- cealed from her father's knowledge. She had been there but a day or so, when she was seen accidentally by Mr. M. of Mount Holly, a rich iron-master. He was instantly pleased with her charms; in- quired into her history of the landlady, made overtures of marriage- was accepted-presented the young lady 2000 dollars for wedding preparations-soon he married her and took her to his home in Mount Holly, and being a very popular man, had great entertain- ments at his mansion ; among the rest a great ball, in which his VOL. I .- 3 I
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bride danced with great grace ; her exertions to please and entertain her guests led her into unusual perspiration, and in going into the entry where the air was cool, she took a chill, and in five days after her wedding died, being but the seventh week after their acquaint- ance! The generous husband was inconsolable; he fell into fre- quent convulsions the night of her interment, for she was buried by torchlight, after the English manner, in solemn pomp .* After this he took the younger sister under his care, settled a large estate upon her, and she married to advantage. Such singular transitions in one family in so short a time were indeed rare. I have heard all these incidents from a lady who was one of the guests, both at the wedding and at the funeral.
The foregoing notices all preceded my personal recollections. Those remembered by me as most conspicuous, forty-five years ago, were the St. George and Dragon, at the south-west corner of Arch and Second streets ; the Indian Queen, by Francis, in south Fourth street above Chestnutstreet, where Jefferson, in his chamber there, as was mistakingly alleged, first wrote the celebrated Declaration of Independence-an original paper which I am gratified to say I have seen and handled ; the old fashioned inn owned by Sober, south-west corner of Chestnut and Fourth streets, and called the Cross Keys Inn, by Campbell-pulled down to make way for the present Philadel- phia Bank-it was a house so old, with double hipped roof fronting Fourth street, that they knew no Chestnut street to which to conform its gable end, and fairly set it down close by the gutter side, leaving no proper foot pavement to foot passengers in after years ! Another Cross Keys Inn (once Governor Lloyd's dwelling) was kept by Israel Israel, at the north-east corner of Third and Chesnut streets.
Mrs. Jenkins once kept a famous house in Market above Fourth street ; and the Conestoga Inn, by Major Nicolls, in the same neigh- bourhood, was quite a military and western-men hotel.
There used to be a very old two-story frame building used as a public house, called the Black Bear, on the south side of High street, about forty yards eastward of Fifth street-it was a great resort, for many years, of western people and wagons ; it stood on an elevated ground, and had a great wagon yard ; it is now all superseded by large modern houses, and the old concern has backed out upon Fifth street.
The George Inn, at the south-west corner of Arch and Second streets, so called from its sign of St. George and the Dragon, had at one time the greatest reputation and the biggest landlord in the city. " Mine host" was Michael Dennison, an Englishman, who made his house at once popular to Britons as a countryman, and to Ame- rican travelling gentlemen as the great concentration of the northern and southern stages. My friend, Lang Syne, has furnished some reminiscences of the inn, its landlord and guests, preserved in my
* Mr. M. was a bachelor of about fifty, and she but eighteen years of age.
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MS. Annals in the Historical Society, page 525, from which I shall take occasion here to insert some lines of poetry made upon Mr Dennison's quitting the concern and going back to England with his acquired riches, to wit :
Lines on Michael Dennison.
His bulk increased by ale and venison,
Alas! we soon must lose good Dennison. City of Penn! his loss deplore, Although with pain his bulk you bore !
Michael, farewell! Heaven speed thy course
Saint George take with thee and thy horse;
But to our hapless city kind,
The watchful Dragon leave behind.
Michael! your wealth and full-spread frame Shall publish Pennsylvania's fame. Soon as the planks beneath you crack, The market shall be hung with black. Michael ! her stores might sure content ye ; In Britain, none boast greater plenty : The Bank shall with the market join, To weep at once-thee, and thy coin ;
Thy guineas, ranged in many a pile,
Shall swell the pride of Britain's Isle : Whilst England's Bank shall smiling greet, The wealth that came from Chestnut street.
Finally, as a supplement to the whole, the reader is presented with some notices of tavern signs, such as they generally were in times by-gone. Indeed, the character of signs in general was dif- ferent from things now. The storekeepers as well as taverns hung out their signs to the extremity of the foot payment; tailors had the sign of the Hand and Shears-druggists the Pestle and Mortar-to- bacco sellers showed a Pipe-school masters a Hand and Pen- blacksmiths the Hand and Hammer. Among the taverns was Ad- miral Warren, the Turk's Head, the Rattlesnake, the Queen of Hun- gary, the Queen's Head, the Blue Lion, and last not least, " the man loaded with mischief," (carrying a wife on his back,) an inn at the corner uniting Little Dock and Spruce streets, north side. In Front street above the Drawbridge was a fine painted sign, in fine keeping for a " mirth house,"-a fiddler in good style scraping his instrument "as though it wept and moaned its wasted tones." When the sign of Franklin was set up at Homly's inn, in 1774, at the south-west corner of Walnut and Fifth streets, it was supported by this couplet-
"Come view your patriot father ! and your friend, And toast to freedom, and to slavery's end !"
In conclusion, I add the notices of my friend Lang Syne, who manifests some tact in this matter, to wit :
The reminiscence of some gentleman of the "Old School," in the progress of sign painting (not lettering) in this city, for the last fifty years, would be a good subject for a leading article in one of our magazines.
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The first sign I remember to have noticed was one " down town," of a groupe of dogs barking at a full moon, which, smiling down upon them, said
" Ye foolish dogs, why bark ye so, When I'm so high, and ye're so low ?"
Another, in Third street, of Sir Walter Raleigh smoking, his ser vant throwing water over him, thinking his master to be on fire Another, of a man "struggling through the world"-(a globe.) These must have been very inferior articles, but at the time very interesting, to my judgment. "Creeping lazily to school," I have often loitered, sometimes looking through the office windows of Squire Fleeson, (north-west corner of Chestnut and Fourth streets,) . and the shop door of George Rutter, gazing upon the wonders (to me) of his pencil, in a variety of finished and unfinished signs- consequently often "out of time" at the Quaker Academy over the way, for which I was sure to feel " the flesh creep" under " the strap," well laid on by old John Todd. How often have I stood viewing the productions of Rutter's pencil, in different parts of the city-his Fox-chase, Stag hunt, the hounds in full cry. At the north-west corner of Third and Market streets one Brooks had a de- lightful sign of an Indian Chief, drawing his arrow to the head at a bounding deer. These have all gone with Rutter to " the Capulets," or, like Cæsar's clay,
" May stop a hole to keep the wind away."
When they first numbered the houses he painted the finger-boards for the corners; one of which, the "last of the Mohicans," may be seen at the corner of Fifth and Spruce streets, (south-west,) and though nearly defaced by time, forms a contrast to the clumsy hand- boards that succeeded them. The sign of a cock picking up a wheat ear drew the public attention to Pratt, who painted also " the Federal Convention"-a scene within " Independence Hall"-George Wash- ington, President ; William Jackson, Secretary ; the members in full debate, with likenesses of many of those political "giants in those days"-such as Franklin, Mifflin, Madison, " Bob" Morris, Judge Wilson, Hamilton, &c. This invaluable sign, which should have been copied by some eminent artist, and engraved for posterity, was bandied about, like the casa santa of Loretto, from " post to pillar," till it located in South street near the Old Theatre. The figures are now completely obliterated by a heavy coat of brown paint, on which is lettered Fed. Con. 1787.
Another observer says, the subject is so far from exhausted, that old signs, from various quarters, still crowd upon my remembrance ; in particular, I remember a very hideous one of Hudibras, which was placed at a tavern in Second street, near the entrance into the old Barracks, to which was affixed the following couplet :
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" Sir Hudibras once rode in state, Now sentry stands at Barracks' gate."
I am unwilling to leave unnoticed a new edition of one of our ancient subjects for a sign, where it has been continued for a great number of years, at a very old beer house in Chestnut near Front street ; it is now, or lately was, the " Turk's Head," but in the former part of last century was " Kouli Khan," when the fame of that con- queror made his portrait a popular sign. In this respect the King of Prussia was once a great favourite, and still maintains his sway in some places, so that I have known a landlord, upon the decrease of his custom, to again'have recourse to the old subject for a sign, that the house was formerly known by, with good success.
The Bull's Head Inn, No. 18 Strawberry alley, had a finely exe- cuted sign of a bull's head, which was lately sold to an Englishman as the remains of something done by Benjamin West. West once lived in that alley when young. It was well done, but after the said sale, it came out, that it had been painted by one Bernard Wilton, a painter and glazier who came from England in 1760, and kept his shop at the corner of the alley and Chestnut street. One day, while sitting in that tavern, when it had no sign, a farmer's bull chanced to push his head in at the window. The painter, seizing upon the occasion, said it should prove a lucky hit, for he should paint the sub- ject for a sign and so let the fact and the sign attract custom together. But B. West did paint a sign in Swanson street :- the carriers of a cask of beer. I should suppose, too, he painted the sign of the Fid- dler, still preserved by Mr. Williamson, druggist.
An old gentleman says there used to be, in war times and after, a sign painted by Benjamin West. It was in Swanson street below William Cliffton's smith shop; one side represented a man sitting, I think, on a bale and holding up a glass of liquor as if looking through it. This was on the north side, and was somewhat weather-beaten ; on the other side the colours, still fresh and lively, represented two brew- er's porters carrying a cask of beer, slung with can hooks to a pole, which was in olden time the way beer was carried out. Often in going down to a launching I have stopped to admire it. I had very direct information of his being the painter.
The same gentleman says he used to catch sun-fish in the Blue House pond, [this proves its alleged connexion once running down to Dock creek via Union street.] There were leeches in it also; he could not remember its outlet.
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