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. III > Part 37
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The Mercantile Library Company was incorporated in 1820 for the benefit of young men in mercantile business. From 1821 to 1845 it had no settled habitation or abiding-place. It was first opened at 100 Chestnut street, adjoining the Bank of the United States, in the second story ; it afterward removed to the second story of the American Sunday-School Union building, Chestnut above Sixth, and finished the first building of its own in 1845. In July of the year last named possession was taken of the building on Fifth street, corner of Library. Then the library building had a capacity for 50,000 volumes, though the number actually possessed was less than 10,000. The first prac- tical step toward finding new quarters was the creation of a build- ing fund, and that step was taken on the 31st of December, 1863. In 1867 this fund had accumulated to a sufficient extent to justify the board in seeking out a property in such a location and of such dimensions as to provide for the wants both of that time and of the future. The new building on Tenth street, above Chestnut, which had just been completed for the Franklin Market Com- pany by John Rice, who was one of the leading spirits in that company, but which organization subsequently fell through, was purchased in 1868 for the sum of $126,000. Alterations were made to it, costing an additional $100,000. Every effort was made by the board, in all the arrangements connected with the
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building, to please and gratify a judicious taste and to promote the comfort and accommodation of those entitled to partake of the intellectual feasts that were there presented. In fact, the building is one of the most complete of its kind in the coun- try. According to the annual report of the board for 1876, the library numbered 130,814 volumes, with 9327 unbound pam- phlets. The number of persons entitled to the use of the li- brary on January 1, 1877, was 9207. In 1877, owing to the burning of Fox's Theatre, the western end of the building was much burnt and many valuable books were destroyed by water.
The Athencum owes its origin to that taste for literary pur- suits which has characterized this city. In the year 1813 half a dozen young men established rooms for reading and resort. By Feb. 9th, 1814, when the articles of association were adopted, the number of members amounted to two hundred ; a board of directors was then chosen, and the institution was opened on the 7th of March in a room over the bookstore of Matthew Carey, at the south-east corner of Fourth and Chestnut streets. Mr. Carey afterward bequeathed to the Atheneum a large collection of bound pamphlets on the history and statistics of the country. The first officers of the Atheneum were men eminent in their day : president, Chief-Justice William Tilghman ; vice-president, Dr. James Mease ; treasurer, Roberts Vaux; managers, Samuel Ewing, Nicholas Biddle, John Cole Lowber, George Vaux, Wil- liam Lehman, Peter Stephen Duponceau. In 1818 the insti- tution was removed to rooms in the Philosophical Hall, on Fifth street below Chestnut, where they remained for almost thirty years, and then removed to their own new building, in Sixth street, corner of Adelphi, below Walnut. The edifice was de- signed by John Notman, and constructed mainly with funds left by William Lehman;' he left $10,000, which by good management of Quintin Campbell, the treasurer, amounted to nearly $25,000 at the time they opened the new structure in 1847.
The Apprentices' Library, founded in 1820, for the free use of books by apprentices and girls, is located in the old building erected by the "Free Quakers," at Fifth and Arch streets. It was first opened in Carpenters' Hall, then in Jayne (formerly Carpenter) street below Seventh, and then in the old Mint, in Seventh street below Arch. The present building is leased to the Apprentices' Library by the descendants of the Free Quakers for a small sum, and the trustees are doing a great deal of good with the free library for boys and for girls and women, and the reading-room, moulding the characters of future worthy citizens. (For account of the Free or Fighting Quakers see under the head of "Friends," p. 435, and Vol. I. 499.) Upon the gable-end on Arch street is a stone tablet with this inscription :
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"By general Subscription, For the Free Quakers. Erected A. D. 1783, of the Empire, 8.""
The last line means that when the building was erected it was the eighth year of the empire composed of independent American States under the Confederation. An empire is a joint govern- ment, comprising several nations. The word "empire" was a common one applied to the American States after the Revolution, and before the Federal Constitution made the States a nation.
TAVERNS.
By the middle of the eighteenth century the customs of drink- ing had taken fast hold of society ; rum and beer, Jamaica spirits and Madeira wine, were common in the best houses, and some kind of liquor always stood ready on the sideboard, and was at once handed to every guest. Drinking had become so common as to excite remark and the fears of the judicious. In the Penn- sylvania Gazette of 1733 we find the following: "It is now be- come the practice of some otherwise discreet women, instead of a draught of beer and toast, or a chunk of bread and cheese, or a wooden noggin of good porridge and bread, as our good old English custom is, or milk and bread boiled, or tea and bread and butter, or milk, or milk and coffee, etc., they must have their two or three drams in the morning, by which their appetite for wholesome food is taken away."
It was customary at public vendues, funerals, festivities, etc. to provide plenty of liquors. At vendues the drinkers would be excited and bid " fast and furious," thus often paying too much and buying what they should not. In 1729, on the first three nights of October, which was election-time, the Weekly Mercury said there were used 4500 gallons of beer in the city. The Friends were the first to endeavor to stop the practice, and in 1726 the Yearly Meeting adopted a minute against liquor at vendues ; and an additional complaint was made against the same from Chester county in 1743. In 1736 the Yearly Meeting issued caution against the too frequent use of drams, and giving children a taste of them. This advice was repeated by the Meet- ing in 1738, '49, and '50.
P. 463 .- 2d mo. 18, 1704, the governor, attended by several members of Council, met the representatives of the Lower Coun- ties, " where they were met at the Bull's Head in Philadelphia." (Col. Recs., ii. 134.) This was probably in Strawberry street, or the one west of it.
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Jan. 10, 1748-49, auction to be held "at the sign of the Queen of Hungary, in Front street."
The following signs and names of landlords are from a list printed in Penna. Archives, iii. 559, as officers' quarters of Gen. Forbes's Seventeenth Regiment, Nov. 15, 1758 :
John Groves, Front street ; Mrs. Jones, Second and Water streets, Three Crowns ; Paul Isaac Volto, Second street ; Leonard Melcher, do. John Biddle, Market street east of Third, Indian King, for- merly by Owen Owen, and in 1785 by Mrs. Sidney Paul ;
Mr. Lukans, south-west corner of Second and Arch streets, St. George ;
Capt. Brown, Second street ; Mrs. Bridges, Front street ; Mrs. Parrott's, Water street ; Mr. Prim's, Chestnut street ; John Nicholson, Market street, Indian Queen ;
Mrs. Childs, Arch street ;
Samuel Soumina, Market street; John Sutler, Cherry alley, White Oak ;
Mrs. Howell, Second street ; Mr. Bartholomew, Arch street,
Henry, King of Mohawks ; Mr. Seymains, Market street ; Mrs. Giles, Arch street ;
Mr. Kilwaggoner, Front street, Waggon ; Wm. Whitehead, Second street, opposite Christ Church, King's Arms ; Mrs. Grant, Walnut street ; Mary Biddle, Market street, Fountain ; John Pearson, Second street, Barracks.
The following were tavern-signs in Philadelphia in 1785: Battle of the Kegs, Water street, between Race and Vine ; Bird-in-Hand, corner of Penn and Pine streets ; Faithful Irishman (Isabella Barry), in Strawberry alley ; Golden Swan (Paul Britton, afterward by Cameron), Third street above Arch ;
Mason and York Arms, Water street, between Chestnut and Market ;
Sailor's Return, corner of Walnut and Water streets ; Ewe and Lamb, Front street, between Vine and Callowhill; Jolly Sailor, Eighth street, between Chestnut and Walnut ; White Horse, Market street, between Sixth and Seventh ; General Washington (Jacob Mytinger), Vine street above Second; Conestoga Wagon (Samuel Nicholas), Market street above Fourth : King of Poland (Philip Oellers), Vine street, between Fifth and Sixth ;
Lamb (Francis Oskullion), Second street below Lombard ; Seven Stars, Market street, between Front and Second ; Dragon and Horse, Walnut street, between Front and Second ; Green Tree, Water street, between Race and Vine ;
Hen and Chickens (Valentine Pegan), Spruce street, between Front and Second ;
Louis the Sixteenth, South street, between Fifth and Sixth ;
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Annals of Philadelphia.
Ship, Water street, near Chestnut;
Kouli Khan, Chestnut and Front streets ;
Horse and Groom, Sixth street, between Market and Chestnut ; Bunch of Grapes (John Razer), Third street above Market; General Wayne (Tobias Rudolph), Penn and Pine streets ;
Harp and Crook, Water street, near Spruce ;
Rising Sun (Sarah Stimble), Market street above Front ;
Kouli Khan (Robert Stephens), Chestnut street below Second ; Horse and Groom, Strawberry alley ;
Jolly Tar (John Stafford), Water street below Race ;
White Horse, Second street, between Vine and Callowhill ;
Moon and Stars (Mary Switzer), Second street above Vine; Eagle, Fifth street above Race ;
Organ (William Shedecker), Spruce street above Fourth ; White Horse, Strawberry alley ;
Three Jolly Irishmen, Water and Race streets ;
Cross Keys, Race street, between Sixth and Seventh ;
Darby Ram, Church alley ;
United States, Water street, near Spruce ;
Rising Sun (Samuel Titmus) ;
Wilkes and Liberty, Market street wharf ;
Boar's Head, Elbow lane ;
Cumberland, Front street, near Pool's Bridge ;
Turk's Head (Adam Weaver), Chestnut street above Second ;
Fox and Leopard, Pine and Penn streets ;
Cross Keys, Water street, between Market and Arch ;
Buck (George Yoe), Callowhill street, between Second and Third; The Struggler (Edmund Conner), Water street, between Spruce and Pine ;
Cork Arms (John Conner), Water street below Walnut;
Black Horse (Isaac Connelly), Market street, between Fourth and Fifth ;
Plough (Matthew Conrad), Third street above Market ;
Cordwainers' Arms (James Culbertson), Walnut street below Second ;
Harp and Crown (William Carson), Third street above Market ;
Dusty Miller and White Horse (John Clemens), Chestnut street above Second ;
Strap and Block (Cook Lawrence), Arch street wharf ;
Blue Ball, Elbow lane, near Third street ;
Boatswain Hall, Front street, between Walnut and Spruce ; Dr. Franklin (John Fiegele), corner of Race and Second streets ; The Rose (Mrs. Fourrage), Race street, between Fifth and Sixth; Sportsman (Charles Gordon), Water street, between Walnut and Spruce ;
Red Lion (David Gordon), Race street, between Fourth and Fifth; Leopard, Spruce street, between Third and Fourth ;
General Washington, Front street, between Arch and Race ;
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Taverns.
King of Prussia (Michael Hay), Race street, between Third and Fourth ;
Butchers' Arms (Edward Handle), New Market street above Callowhill ;
The Salute (William Hood), Third street, between Chestnut and Walnut ;
American Soldier, South alley, between Fifth and Sixth streets ; Red Cow, Water street, between Race and Vine ;
Blue Ball, corner of Sixth and Market streets ;
Cross Keys (Israel Israel), Third and Chestnut streets ;
Green Tree (Andrew Kesler), Third street, between Arch and Race ;
Plough, Market street, between Seventh and Eighth ;
Seven Stars (Charles Kugler), Fourth and Race streets ;
Buck (Michael Kraft), Second street, between Race and Vine ;
Golden Fleece (Luke Ludwig), corner of Fourth and Lombard streets ;
Harp and Crown, Front street, between Market and Chestnut ; Fountain (James Mccutcheon), Second and Lombard streets ; Seven Stars (John McKinley), Fourth and Chestnut streets ; Jolly Sailor (Robert Moffett), Second and Lombard streets ; Mermaid, Second street, between Pine and Lombard ;
Rose, South street, between Fourth and Fifth ;
Noah's Ark (Ingellert Minzer), Second street, between Vine and Callowhill ;
The Oley Wagon, Third street, between Vine and Callowhill ;
The Black Horse (John Fritz), Second street, corner of Black- horse alley ;
The Samson and Lion (John Eisenbrey), south-west corner of Crown and Vine streets.
The three latter houses were the only ones remaining and that retained their signs in 1859 as they had them in 1785. The last one, the Samson and Lion, at the south-west corner of Crown and Vine streets, was an old yellow frame house, and has always been used as a tavern. It had a very clean and comfortable appear- ance. It had a sign of Samson slaying the lion, which has often been retouched since placed there, and bore upon its top the date 1813. In 1785 it was kept by John Eisenbrey, who in 1791 was at 110 South Fifth street. In 1800 John Smith kept it, and about the time of "the last war" the keeper of the tavern was Speck, to whom his widow succeeded, and kept the house for many years. This tavern is one of the oldest in Philadelphia, and is one of the very few inns that has not changed its sign to suit modern fashions.
The following also were in existence between 1700 and 1750 : Vintners' Arms, Front street ;
Plume of Feathers (George Campion), Front street ;
Prince Eugene (Matthew Garrigues), Front street ;
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Bear (Nicholas Scull), Second, between Race and Vine;
Centre House, Centre or Penn Square ;
Lion (George Shoemaker), Elbow lane ;
Dolphin, Chestnut street ;
Buck (Anthony Nice), Germantown ;
Mariner's Compass and Four Horseshoes (Elizabeth Walton), Strawberry alley ;
Two Sloops, Water street ;
Boatswain and Caul (Philip Herbert), at the Drawbridge ;
White Hart (Richard Warder), Market street ;
Three Mariners, Front street ;
Half Moon (Charles Stow), Market street ;
Red Lion (Sampson Davis), Second street ;
London Coffee House, near Carpenters' wharf, between Chestnut and Walnut streets ;
Rose, Arch street ;
James's Coffee House, Front street ;
London ' Prentice, ;
A Jolly Trooper, Arch street ;
Fleece, Front street ;
Roberts' Coffee House, -;
Bear, Frankford ;
The Blue Bell, Frankford ;
Free Mason (Thomas Jarvis), Front street ;
Rising Sun (A. Nice), Germantown road ;
Swan, Chestnut Hill ;
Black Bull (John Chappel), Market street ;
Hen and Chickens (Widow Brientnall), Chestnut street ;
Plough and Harrow (John Jones), Third street ;
Three Tuns (Christopher Robbins), Whitemarsh ;
West India Coffee House (Margaret Ingram),
Lion (Michael Israel), Wicaco ; Anchor and Hope, Blackhorse alley ;
Swan (John Ord), Spruce street, west of Front .
Brig and Snow, Strawberry alley ;
Queen of Hungary, Front street ;
Bear and Highlandman (1748), Front street ; Star and Garter (Robert Mills),
P. 464 .- The Crooked Billet was on King or Water street, north of Chestnut street, kept early in 1700 by George Farring- ton, and afterward by Barbara Lewis ; the sign was a crooked bil- let of wood. Near here was what was known as the Crooked Bil- let steps, leading down the bank to the wharf. Just here was the cave described on p. 48, Vol. I. Prior to the opening of Del- aware avenue there was a dock or inlet here, which prevented drays from proceeding farther, but they passed through an alley at the head of it into Water street. A block of red frame build- ings stood on the wharf north of the dock, so close as to furnish
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Taverns.
but a footway between them, which led around the front of the building on a narrow wharf. This block was a blockmaker's shop, kept by Richard F. Sparks ; to the north of these the stores ranged with those on the south side of it; the first occupied by William Bell, called "Greasy Billy," from his general want of a cleanly appearance; he was a rich man.
Mrs. Jones, p. 464 .- The whole row, from the Bank of Penn- sylvania (now the Appraisers' store), to Walnut street, was torn down, including the old Coffee House, in 1854-55, and the site occupied with a fine brownstone building, erected by Mr. Lennig. Mrs. Jones kept the Three Crowns in November, 1758.
The "smaller rooms" of the City Tavern, afterward the Coffee House, on the south, were occupied by R. E. Hobart and Jacob Shoemaker, insurance brokers, where a great deal of private un- derwriting was done, there being in those days (1800 to 1806) but two or three public insurance offices-the North America, the State of Pennsylvania, and perhaps the Philadelphia. There is now no private underwriting done, the decline in our commercial shipping affording no more than the insurance companies can do. The largest underwriters were James Paul, L. Clapier, Daniel Mann, etc. There was a bar in the large room then. James Kitchen, a smart actor, a consequential, small man, then kept the Coffee House, where at one o'clock all the principal merchants met on "'Change" and did much of their outdoor business.
In the year 1768, Mrs. Graydon, p. 465 .- She also kept in the Slate-Roof House. (See p. 165; also Graydon's Memoirs.)
The Indian Queen, p. 466 .- This building, after several changes, especially filling up an archway through which carriages formerly entered to the yard and stables in the rear, was pulled down in May, 1851. (See p. 470, Vol. I.)
It appears that in November, 1758, there was a sign of The Indian Queen in Market street, kept by John Nicholson, as well as an Indian King, also in Market street below Third, kept by John Biddle, at the corner of the alley named after him.
The George Inn (p. 466), south-west corner of Arch and Second, kept early in 1700 by Nicholas Scull, and in 1740 by John Steel. This building in my father's time was the great starting-point of the New York and other stages. It was kept by John Inskeep, who was afterward a china-merchant, mayor of the city, and pres- ident of the Insurance Company of North America-a very respect- able man. Saml. F. Bradford married his daughter, and afterward took into partnership his brother-in-law, John Inskeep. They kept then a large bookselling establishment in Third below High, west side, and published Rees's Cyclopedia. It was while with them that Charles Leslie, the great painter, made his admirable sketch of Cooke, the celebrated actor, which was the start of Leslie, he being encouraged and assisted by several gentlemen to go to Europe to develop his peculiar talent, and where he became an R. A.
30
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Annals of Philadelphia.
The George Inn was afterward kept by John (?) Vanarsdalen. The building was still standing in 1856, and used as a grocery, though the neighborhood was much changed. The old stables on Arch street, afterward an iron-store, are now replaced with brick buildings. Old Dr. Redman then lived in Second street, next north of the Baptist church. (See Reg. Penna., ii. 175, etc., and iii. 11, etc.)
The Federal Convention, p. 468 .- About 1796 there was a tavern kept by one Hanna on South street above Fourth, oppo- site the old theatre, which had for its signboard a picture repre- senting the Constitutional Convention of 1787, with portraits of the members of that body. This sign was painted by Matthew Pratt, father of the late Henry Pratt. Underneath the picture were these words: "These thirty-eight great men have signed the powerful deed " (or together have agreed), "that better times to us will very soon succeed." It is said that this sign, which was taken down in 1814, is yet somewhere in existence. (See Vol. I. 468.)
In 1812-13 there stood on the present site of the Arch Street Theatre an old-fashioned tavern, kept by Mr. Brown, with a large swinging sign on which was represented a hunting-scene- that is, hounds chasing a deer, with huntsmen on horseback ; beneath the picture was painted-
" Our Hounds are good, and Horses too, The Buck is near run down; Call off the hounds and let him blow, While we regale with Brown."
"The Cat," or "Spotted Cat," at the south-east corner of Eighth and Zane (now Filbert street), has for many years been a noted place. It was built in 1740, and must have been originally lower than the street. The high rent it brings is probably the reason it has not long since given way to the march of improve- ment on Eighth street. An action was brought in 1877 against the lessee of the old tavern to recover three thousand five hundred dollars, annual rent. The occupant contests the claim on the ground that the building, which is one hundred and thirty-seven years old, is untenantable and insecure, and, in short, so danger- ous to the occupants that the tenant has been compelled to close up and abandon the occupation of a number of the rooms. The sign up at present is that of The Golden Lion. It has very lately been much altered and cut up into rooms, and a store- window opened on Eighth street.
The following is a list of old tavern signs within the last forty years :
The Hornet and Peacock, an old frame building next to St. George's Church, Fourth street ;
Bull's Head, Third street, above Callowhill, east side ;
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Taverns.
Black Bear, Front street, west side, near Callowhill; Commodore Porter, Callowhill street, below Second, east side; First Ward Northern Liberties Hotel, adjoining ;
Sign of the Lamb, Second street, above Callowhill, now occupied by the Farmers' Market ;
Bull's Head, corner of Sixth and Willow, now Montgomery Hotel ;
Robinson Crusoe (Isaac Painter), south-east corner of Garden and Callowhill streets ;
The Volunteer, corner of Willow street and Ridge road ;
Franklin, Third street, above Buttonwood, east side ;
Wagon and Horses, now Military Hall, Third street, near Green ;
Butchers' Coat-of-Arms, Old Drove-yard, Vine street, near Eighth, now a brewery ;
Red Lion (Schrack), north-east corner of Fourth and Wood streets ;
Cross Keys, north-east corner of Fourth and Poplar streets ; Plough, New street, south side, above Third ;
Lemon Tree (Major Graves), famous for Fourth-of-July dinners, ox-roasting by the Democrats after elections, and head-quarters of the victuallers and their stock of cattle, sheep, swine, etc., about 1823, on the west side of Sixth street, from Noble to Buttonwood, and westward nearly to Seventh street ;
Cock and Lion (Grundlock, and Mr. Kerlin, then by his widow), south-west corner of Second and Coates streets, afterward on Fourth street above George ;
Two Bulls, Germantown road, opposite the Globe Mills ;
Hog (John Wellbank), corner of Buttonwood and Fifth streets,
afterward at north-west corner of Callowhill and Rugan streets ;
General Jackson, Brown and Oak streets, Northern Liberties ;
Simon Snyder (George Zeigler, 1827), Callowhill street and York avenue ;
Hay-Market Hotel (John Weaver), north-west corner of Fifth and Green streets ;
Thomas Jefferson, south-east corner of Fifth and Poplar streets ; Green Tree, corner of Girard avenue and Marlborough street, Kensington ;
Robin Hood, Poplar street, below Fourth, famous as a dance- house and for bear- and bull-fights on holidays;
Fox-Chase (now occupied by Alderman Cahill), Third street, be- low Buttonwood ;
Northern Liberties Town-House (Mintzer), Second street, above Coates, east side ;
Cross Keys, south-west corner of Race and Ninth streets ;
Wounded Tar, north side of Vine street, above Eighth ;
Tiger Hunt, north side of Vine street, below Fourth ;
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Annals of Philadelphia.
Lion, west side of Second street, below Noble ;
Girard Bank and Surroundings (McGowan's), west side of Dock street, below Third ;
Napoleon crossing the Alps, west side of Ninth street, below Coates ;
William Tell, south side of Callowhill street, below Second.
The sign of the "State Fencibles, Second Company," was in front of a two-story yellow frame public-house still standing on Third street below Coates, east side. This house was kept by John Christine, a lieutenant in the Second Fencibles, and a din- ner was given by the company at that house on the 4th of July, about the year 1826 or 1827, at which time this sign was in front of the house. In November, 1831, it was standing as a sign at a humble public-house in the town of Port Carbon, Schuylkill county, but it disappeared from there shortly after that date. It was painted by John Woodside in his best style. It had also an iron sign, by which it was known. It was kept in 1812 by Mr. Belsterling.
It must be noticed that there are not near so many pictorial tavern signs as there were formerly. The keepers of such places have lost all taste for originality, or else the art of ornamental sign-painting has deteriorated. The following picture-signs hung out from 1824 to 1836 :
The Enniskillen Castle (Martin Rees, afterward Charles Bard Rees), Fifth street, below Walnut, east side ;
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