USA > Pennsylvania > Philadelphia County > Philadelphia > Early Philadelphia; its people, life and progress > Part 9
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The Chestnut Street Theatre opened on the 17th of February, 1794, although thought to have been started in 1791. It was situated above Sixth Street and held about 2000 people. Thomas Wignell of the old American Com- pany was at the head of the strong company. It was here that Joseph Jefferson, the elder, made his first appearance in Philadelphia in 1803. The company contained many able singers and the operas gave as much satisfaction as the comedies. The first interruption came on Easter Sunday night, April 2, 1820, when fire destroyed the building and
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its contents. The stockholders, however, immediately set to work to rebuild, and William Strickland, an able archi- tect, had the new theatre ready for the opening on the 2d of December, 1822, with " The School for Scandal." The two figures Tragedy and Comedy by Rush were saved from the old building and placed in the niches of the wings in the new structure. Here Booth made his appearance on Feb- ruary 17, 1823, unknown and it appears with little success.
There was a theatre on Prune Street, now Locust, be- tween Fifth and Sixth, in 1820, which ran for two seasons with success. It was called the Winter Tivoli Theatre and was owned by Stanislaus Surin, manager of the Tivoli Garden. Charles S. Porter took it in 1822 and called it the City Theatre, but it only ran one year. The Walnut Street Theatre, oldest in America at the present time, was fitted up in 1811 by Pepin and Breschard, who combined stage and ring performances in what they had built for a circus. This theatre had only a moderate success for a while but its first season is memorable on account of the appearance on the 27th of November of " a young gentleman of this city " as Young Norval. This was no other than Master Edwin Forrest, who was born at Number 51 George Street and was then fourteen years of age. It was here also in 1871 that he made his last appearance in Philadelphia. Two days after Forrest's appearance, Edmund Kean played Richard III at the Walnut Street Theatre.
We cannot recount here all of the plays and players that amused Philadelphia during the early days nor even present a list of all the theatres. From 1799 to 1871, nineteen theatres, circuses and museums were destroyed by fire, being over one-third of the total number of such places opened during that period, and it is a remarkable fact that there was no loss of life among the audiences.
THE OLD TAVERNS
T is a great leap of the imagination to picture the old inns of the City. We are so used to the luxurious appoint- ments and spacious dimensions of our present hotels that we can hardly com- prehend the little Blue Anchor Tavern twelve by twenty-two feet and of two stories, which was equally popular in its day. These early inns accommodated man and beast and the jolly landlord and bright-eyed barmaid were a large part of their attrac- tions. The table was clean and groaned under a weight of wholesome viands. Hot punch or a tankard of foaming ale in a cosy corner of the tap room or before a roaring fire were features which we can perhaps count a loss to-day. The healthy out-door life of our ancestors did not call for a varied menu with French names or wines with high sound- ing titles. The beds were hard but clean in small rooms with bare floors, white-washed walls and small windows with plain curtains. Men frequented the taverns to meet their neighbours and discuss the news and business of the day, while enjoying a quiet glass or pipe. The large influx of immigrants and the continued stream of strangers in the early days caused the setting up of a great number of taverns in Philadelphia. These people had to be provided for as well as a substitute for our present clubs and busi- ness exchanges. It was a paying business and many embarked in it. Complaints were made in the Councils and public prints of the nuisances of intemperance, but not more, indeed not as many, as might have been expected in a time of hard drinking. Many important events and illustrious personages are connected with the old inns and not a little of early history was made in them. Their quaint
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signs and rhymed sentiments awaken many interesting memories.
As Penn came up the river from Chester in a barge he was much attracted by the " low and sandy beach " at the mouth of the once beautiful and rural Dock Creek. The little party came to the shore by the side of Guest's new house, then in a state of building, which appropriately enough was to become an inn, known in the earliest records as " The Blue Anchor Tavern." All the earliest keepers of the inn were Friends; Guest, Reese Price, Peter Howard and Benjamin Humphries. It was in front of this inn that Penn is said to have mingled most intimately with the Indians, at once introducing himself and ingratiat- ing himself into their confidence. He walked with them, sat down on the ground with them and ate their roasted acorns and hominy. Soon they jumped up and leaped about in an expression of joy and satisfaction. Penn had been an athlete of no mean repute while at Oxford and was now only 38, so that he was able to beat them all at their exercises and thus gain another point in their admira- tion. This incident recalls that some Friends thought William was too prone to cheerfulness and gayety for a grave " public Friend."
The Blue Anchor Tavern became, as so many of the later inns also did, of much consequence as a place of busi- ness. It was the key to the City and really at first the only public building. Vessels with building timber from Jersey, where the earlier settlers had set up mills, or with traffic from New England, made a landing at Dock Creek where was the only public wharf. Here was the public ferry where people were put over to Society Hill before the bridge at Front Street was built, and to Windmill Island in the Delaware and Jersey farther on. The Blue
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THE PENNY POT HOUSE, AT VINE STREET
N
CLARK'S INN, OPPOSITE THE STATE HOUSE
=
From SMATEN By JI W
THE CROSS KEYS INN, AT FOURTH AND CHESTNUT STREETS
THE LONDON COFFEE HOUSE, AT SECOND AND HIGH STREETS
THE OLD TAVERNS
Anchor Tavern is supposed to have been the first house built in Philadelphia and the furthest advanced upon Penn's arrival. Some of its timbers were thought to have come over in the first ships as were those of other houses, to expedite the building. The structure was timbered, filled in with small bricks and had the dimensions of twelve by twenty-two feet with a ceiling of about eight and a half feet in height. It was situated at what is now the north- west corner of Front and Dock Streets and was subse- quently called the "Boatman and Call." The present Blue Anchor Tavern near this spot is the third of the name.
The Penny Pot House and Landing at Vine Street was on land ordained by Penn in 1701 to be " left open and common for the use of the City." It was famed for its beer at a penny a pot and was a two-story brick house of good dimensions. Vine Street lay along a vale and was first called Valley Street, where it was not so difficult to land lumber or goods. So as in the case of the Blue Anchor Tavern this became a " port of entry " and an advanta- geous location for an inn. The roads about it, however, presented a different condition than the river and were almost impassable. The Council frequently protested against their dangerous condition in early times. The Penny Pot House stood well into the nineteenth century and went by the name of the " Jolly Tar Inn."
It was in the Old London Coffee House that much of the early business was done. This picturesque old building, which was removed about 1883, was built in 1702. It stood on a part of property patented by Penn to his daughter Letitia in 1701. She sold the corner of Second and High Streets to Charles Reed, who erected the building. At the death of Reed his widow conveyed it to Israel Pem- berton, a wealthy Quaker, who willed it to his son John
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in 1751. In 1754 William Bradford, grandson of the first printer of that name, removed his print shop from Second Street next door to the old house which he opened as a house of entertainment. Under his management it became the busiest place in the City. It was a kind of Merchants' Exchange, and at times, it is said, slaves were sold before its doors. Gifford Dailey had it in 1780, but after a time the owner, John Pemberton, prohibited the dispensing of strong drink there and let the building to John Stokes to be used as a dwelling. During the sessions of the Con- tinental Congress and during the British occupation the London Coffee House was the centre of much gayety and entertainment by prominent men. Colonel Eleazor Oswald, a gallant artillery officer of the Revolution, suc- ceeded Dailey as host and next door published the " Inde- pendent Gazeteer " and the "Chronicle of Freedom." When John Pemberton died the property went to the Pleasant family and in 1796 was sold to Stokes. Bradford's petition to the Governor for a license shows that coffee was ordinarily drunk as a refreshment then as spiritous liquors are now. Indeed the petition mentions briefly and merely casually that there may sometimes be occasion to furnish other liquors besides coffee. The house was long the centre of attraction for genteel strangers and the Gov- ernor as well as other persons of note, ordinarily went at set hours to sip their coffee and some of these had their known stalls. The general parade was in front of the house under a shed of common construction and as it was the most public place adjacent to the market, the people brought all sales of horses, carriages, groceries and other goods there. It was a sort of bourse or clearing house for trade. Pem- berton required the Proprietor to preserve decency, pre- vent profane words, close it on the Sabbath and prevent
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card playing, dicing and backgammon. For such con- ditions to prevail in the principal public house of the City was an indication of the marked moral feelings of the town. " The Pennsylvania Journal " of January 31, 1760, con- tained this :
Notice is hereby given that I, John Cisty, being employed by a number of gentlemen, intend to ride as a Messenger between Baltimore town in Maryland and Philadelphia, once a Fortnight during the Winter and once a Week in Summer. Any Gentleman having letters to send, then by leaving them at the London Coffee House, may depend they shall be called for by their humble servant,
JOHN CISTY.
There was an earlier " London Coffee House " of less success built by Samuel Carpenter upon some of the ground near Walnut and Front Streets and kept by his brother Joseph. Here the ship captains and merchants congre- gated to discuss the commercial and political news.
On Chestnut Street opposite the State House stood Clark's Inn with its sign the "Coach and Horses." It was rough-cast, of two stories and bore the date mark of 1693. In front the little space to the road was filled with bleached oyster shells so that it looked like a sea-beach tavern. It was an " out-town " tavern in Penn's days and the Founder himself frequently refreshed himself on the porch with a pipe for which he paid a penny. The inn- keeper was noted for his cooked meat prepared by dogs! As cooking time approached it was no uncommon thing to see the cooks running about the streets looking for their truant labourers. These little bow-legged dogs were trained to run in a hollow cylinder, like squirrels, and so give the impulse to the turn-jack which kept the meat in motion suspended before the kitchen fire. Here was the last
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vestige of the noble forest of primitive days. A fine grove of walnut trees remained to serve as distant pointers to guide the strangers to the State House, itself beyond the verge of common population. This little inn for a long time gave all the entertainments to the Court-suitors and the hangers-on of the Colonial Assemblies and early Con- gress. After the Revolution it was known as the " Half Moon," kept by Mr. Hassell, whose only daughter Norah, " passing fair," was part of the attraction. The location of the house gave it an unusual distinction through the patronage of Governors, Assemblymen, Judges and patriots.
Enoch Story's Inn at the sign of the Pewter Platter was the scene of many a revel by the young bloods of the town. Here young William Penn, Jr., and his companions got into the fight which led to their being presented by the Grand Jury. It was at Front Street and Jones' Alley, but poor Jones soon lost the distinction on account of the prominence of the inn and oddity of the sign.
The Crooked Billet Inn, on the wharf above Chestnut Street, was the first house entered by Benjamin Franklin in 1723, but he gave more distinction to the Indian King Tavern, in High Street near Third, when he selected it as the meeting place of the Junto. Afterward it met in Robert Grace's house, in Jones' Alley, west from 14 North Front Street.
Mrs. Jones' Three Crowns Tavern in Second Street and Mrs. Mullen's Beefsteak House on the east side of Water Street were famous for their table and entertained many Governors. Governor Hamilton held his Governor's Club at Mrs. Mullen's and the Free Masons and other societies had their meetings there.
The successor to the London Coffee House was the
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THE SPREAD EAGLE INN, ON LANCASTER PIKE NEAR THE NOW STRAFFORD
THE BLACK HORSE INN, SECOND NEAR CALLOWHILL, 1917 Extant 1917
THE OLD TAVERNS
City Tavern, finished in 1773, in Second Street near Wal- nut. Here Monsieur Gerard, the first accredited repre- sentative of France to the United States, gave his grand entertainment in honour of Louis XVI's birthday.
Harry Epple's Inn, in Race Street, was a fashionable resort during the Revolutionary period and an Assembly Ball was given there. Washington and Louis Philippe d'Orléans were guests there.
St. George and the Dragon, better known as the George Inn, at the corner of Second and Mulberry, now Arch Street, was the stopping place of the New York and Baltimore stage coaches. It was appropriately kept by John Inskeep, at one time Mayor of the City.
At frequent intervals on the roads, houses of public entertainment served for the places where elections were held and for neighbourhood merry-making. It was around them that homes were built, the villages being frequently known by the tavern sign until they were large enough to have a name of their own. In early times travellers secured entertainment at private houses and an account of John Galt in 1738 tells us that in the houses of the principal families in the country, unlimited hospitality formed a part of their regular economy. He says, "It was the custom of those who resided near the highways, after supper and the religious exercises of the evening, to make a large fire in the hall, and to set out a table with refreshments for such travellers as might have occasion to pass during the night; and when the families assembled in the morning they seldom found that their tables had been unvisited."
William Hartley of Chester County in 1740 petitioned for a license because his house is " continually infested with travellers who call for and demand necessaries, and that he has been at great charges in supplying them with bedding
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and their horses with proper provender without any pay- ment."
And so we might run on for many pages with a recital of more or less important houses with picturesque names, all of which have now disappeared, except the Black Horse on Second Street, near Callowhill. It is hardly recogniza- ble as an inn on the front, but the arched entrance leads into the old yard which still suggests to us the busy times of its ancient history. The Black Horse goes back to 1785 at least. Even as late as 1845 it was a common thing to see teamsters and farmers take their beds and lodge on the floors. William J. Buck says he has seen frequently as many as one hundred lie down in that way. In 1805 two live porpoises were exhibited at the Black Horse and the following year the learned African Horse " Spotie," which had a tail like an elephant's and a knowledge of arithmetic. The same year two royal tigers from Surat in Asia and a living sea-dog, taken on the Delaware River near Trenton, were shown.
THE LIBRARY COMPANY
LL the world knows that one cannot go far in the history of Philadel- phia without encountering Benjamin Franklin. He seems to be at one's elbow ever afterward or gazing stead- fastly, calmly and half humorously into one's eyes at every turn. So much has been written about every side of his character and endeavour, and indeed much would have to be written to cover them, that this book cannot enlarge upon these most interesting and instructive subjects but only make the suggestions which are necessary.
A club which Franklin formed in 1728 for the mutual improvement of its members marked the birth of learning in the Province, for out of it, directly and indirectly, came most of its useful institutions. This was the Junto, some- times called the "Leathern-Apron Club." Into it he " formed most of his ingenious acquaintance " of no ele- vated origin, who met on Friday evenings first at a tavern but afterwards at the house of Robert Grace, near Second and High Streets in Jones' Alley. Every member in his turn was required to " produce one or more queries on any point of morals, politics, or natural philosophy, to be dis- cussed by the company," with an essay from each once in three weeks. No better idea of their doings can be written than that to be gained from their rules, which were not dogmatic like a constitution and by-laws. They were queries which were read at the opening of the meetings:
Have you read over these queries this morning in order to consider what you might have to offer the Junto touching any one of them? Viz :-
1. Have you met with anything in the author you last read, 9 129
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remarkable or suitable to be communicated to the Junto, particu- larly in history, morality, poetry, physic, travels, mechanic arts, or other parts of knowledge?
2. What new story have you lately heard agreeable for telling in conversation?
3. Hath any citizen in your knowledge, failed in his business lately, and what have you heard of the cause?
4. Have you lately heard of any citizens thriving well, and by what means?
5. Have you lately heard how any present rich man, here or elsewhere, got his estate?
6. Do you know of a fellow-citizen who has lately done a worthy action deserving praise and imitation, or who has lately committed an error proper for us to be warned against and avoid?
7. What unhappy effects of intemperance have you lately ob- served or heard, of imprudence, of passion, or of any other vice or folly?
8. What happy effects of temperance, of prudence, of modera- tion, or any other virtue?
9. Have you, or any of your acquaintance, been lately sick or wounded? If so, what remedies were used, and what were their effects?
10. Whom do you know that are shortly going on voyages or journeys, if one should have occasion to send by them?
11. Do you think of any thing at present in which the Junto may be serviceable to mankind, to their country, to their friends, or to themselves?
12. Hath any deserving stranger arrived in town since last meeting, that you have heard of? And what have you heard or observed of his character or merits? And whether, think you, it lies in the power of the Junto to oblige him, or encourage him as he deserves ?
13. Do you know of any young beginner lately set up, whom it lies in the power of the Junto any way to encourage?
14. Have you lately observed any defect in the laws of your country, of which it would be proper to move the Legislature for an amendment? Or do you know of any beneficial law that is wanting?
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THE LIBRARY COMPANY
15. Have you lately observed any encroachment on the just liberties of the people?
16. Hath any body attacked your reputation lately? And what can the Junto do towards securing it?
17. Is there any man whose friendship you want, and which the Junto, or any part of them, can procure for you?
18. Have you lately heard any member's character attacked, and how have you defended it?
19. Hath any man injured you, from whom it is in the power of the Junto to procure redress?
20. In what manner can the Junto, or any of them, assist you in any of your honourable designs?
21. Have you any weighty affair on hand in which you think the advice of the Junto may be of service?
22. What benefits have you lately received from any man not present ?
23. Is there any difficulty in matters of opinion, of justice and injustice, which you would gladly have discussed at this time?
24. Do you see anything amiss in the present customs or pro- ceedings of the Junto which might be amended?
A pretty wide range were these of intelligence office, star chamber, gossip club and business protective union. The members were required to declare that they respected each member, loved mankind in general, believed in free- dom of opinion and loved truth for truth's sake. The original members were Benjamin Franklin, Hugh Mere- dith, Joseph Brientnall, Thomas Godfrey, Nicholas Scull, William Parsons, William Maugridge, Stephen Potts, George Webb, Robert Grace and William Coleman.
1
It was hard to join and not very solemn at first, had a song or two, an anniversary banquet, and many picnic meetings in rural places " for bodily exercise." During its forty years of existence it was never very large. Franklin mentions only eleven persons and Roberts Vaux has added about a dozen more names to the list-all re-
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spectable but few of any special prominence. It was influ- ential, prosperous, popular and profitable from the start.
About 1730 Franklin proposed, since their books were often needed in their meetings, that they should bring them all together, so that they might be consulted and used as a library by the members. So three little bookcases were fitted up in the small room in Jones' Alley and a few books put into them. Constant handling and little care soon caused dissatisfaction and each member took his books home. Nothing daunted, however, Franklin went on and proposed that the Junto procure fifty subscribers of forty shillings each to begin with, and ten shillings a year for fifty years, to start a subscription library. As the sub- scriptions came slowly twenty-five were held to be enough and when forty-five pounds was in hand the Library Com- pany determined to send to England for books, commis- sioning James Logan to select them.
The instrument of association was dated July 1, 1731, and the first directors were Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Hopkinson, William Parsons, Philip Syng, Jr., Thomas Godfrey, Anthony Nicholas, Thomas Cadwalader, John Jones, Jr., Robert Grace and Isaac Penington. William Coleman was elected Treasurer and Joseph Brientnall, secretary, and thus originated the " Library Company of Philadelphia," the mother of all North American subscrip- tion libraries.
The books were first kept in Robert Grace's house from which those who had signed the articles of association were allowed to take them home " into the bosom of private families." Grace's house was on the north side of High Street below Second, nearly opposite the town hall. It was one of the oldest brick houses in the city and had an arched carriage-way in the rear upon Jones' Alley, or Pewter Platter Alley, as it was later called on account of the popu-
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Birch, 1799
THE PHILADELPHIA LIBRARY COMPANY'S FIRST HOME ON FIFTH STREET, CORNER OF LIBRARY THE UNIVERSITY'S MEDICAL SCHOOL BEYOND
THE LIBRARY COMPANY
lar inn of that name situated upon it. It was through this rear archway that the members of the Junto and the Library Company entered so as not to disturb the inmates of the house.
The collection remained here for ten years and was in 1740 removed, by permission of the Assembly, to the upper room of the western-most office of the State House. The Proprietaries granted the Company a charter in 1740 and also contributed a lot on Chestnut between Eighth and Ninth Streets, but it was too far out of town to build upon. The books increased by gift and purchase. James Logan, widely respected as a man of learning and the best judge of books in the Province, took an active interest in the Library and as we have seen made the selection of those to be bought in England with the first funds of the associa- tion, amounting to £45.
The first Librarian was Lewis Timothee, who attended on Wednesday afternoons and on Saturday from ten to four. In 1737 Franklin succeeded him, then William Parsons, Francis Hopkinson, Zachariah Poulson, George Campbell, J. J. Smith, and Lloyd P. Smith.
Books were allowed to be used in the library-room by " any civil gentleman," only subscribers and James Logan being allowed to take them home. These little restrictions were made by the directors who met at the house of Nicholas Scull and seem to have felt no need for supplying the feminine mind. Or may we not think that the gallant gentlemen knew that their present stock would be neither useful nor interesting to the ladies of the City?
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