All about coffee by William H. Ukers
1766. Here, too, for several years the fishermen set up May poles.
991 words | Chapter 66
Bradford gave up the coffee house when he joined the newly formed
Revolutionary army as major, later becoming a colonel. When the British
entered the city in September, 1777, the officers resorted to the London
coffee house, which was much frequented by Tory sympathizers. After the
British had evacuated the city, Colonel Bradford resumed proprietorship;
but he found a change in the public's attitude toward the old resort,
and thereafter its fortunes began to decline, probably hastened by the
keen competition offered by the City tavern, which had been opened a few
years before.
Bradford gave up the lease in 1780, transferring the property to John
Pemberton, who leased it to Gifford Dally. Pemberton was a Friend, and
his scruples about gambling and other sins are well exhibited in the
terms of the lease in which said Dally "covenants and agrees and
promises that he will exert his endeavors as a Christian to preserve
decency and order in said house, and to discourage the profanation of
the sacred name of God Almighty by cursing, swearing, etc., and that the
house on the first day of the week shall always be kept closed from
public use." It is further covenanted that "under a penalty of £100 he
will not allow or suffer any person to use, or play at, or divert
themselves with cards, dice, backgammon, or any other unlawful game."
[Illustration: THE CITY TAVERN, BUILT IN 1773, AND KNOWN AS THE
MERCHANTS COFFEE HOUSE
The tavern (at the left) was regarded as the largest inn of the colonies
and stood next to the Bank of Pennsylvania (center). From a print made
from a rare Birch engraving]
It would seem from the terms of the lease that what Pemberton thought
were ungodly things, were countenanced in other coffee houses of the
day. Perhaps the regulations were too strict; for a few years later the
house had passed into the hands of John Stokes, who used it as dwelling
and a store.
_City Tavern or Merchants Coffee House_
The last of the celebrated coffee houses in Philadelphia was built in
1773 under the name of the City tavern, which later became known as the
Merchants coffee house, possibly after the house of the same name that
was then famous in New York. It stood in Second Street near Walnut
Street, and in some respects was even more noted than Bradford's London
coffee house, with which it had to compete in its early days.
The City tavern was patterned after the best London coffee houses; and
when opened, it was looked upon as the finest and largest of its kind in
America. It was three stories high, built of brick, and had several
large club rooms, two of which were connected by a wide doorway that,
when open, made a large dining room fifty feet long.
Daniel Smith was the first proprietor, and he opened it to the public
early in 1774. Before the Revolution, Smith had a hard struggle trying
to win patronage from Bradford's London coffee house, standing only a
few blocks away. But during and after the war, the City tavern gradually
took the lead, and for more than a quarter of a century was the
principal gathering place of the city. At first, the house had various
names in the public mind, some calling it by its proper title, the City
tavern, others attaching the name of the proprietor and designating it
as Smith's tavern, while still others used the title, the New tavern.
The gentlefolk of the city resorted to the City tavern after the
Revolution as they had to Bradford's coffee house before. However,
before reaching this high estate, it once was near destruction at the
hands of the Tories, who threatened to tear it down. That was when it
was proposed to hold a banquet there in honor of Mrs. George Washington,
who had stopped in the city in 1776 while on the way to meet her
distinguished husband, then at Cambridge in Massachusetts, taking over
command of the American army. Trouble was averted by Mrs. Washington
tactfully declining to appear at the tavern.
After peace came, the house was the scene of many of the fashionable
entertainments of the period. Here met the City Dancing Assembly, and
here was held the brilliant fête given by M. Gerard, first accredited
representative from France to the United States, in honor of Louis XVI's
birthday. Washington, Jefferson, Hamilton, and other leaders of public
thought were more or less frequent visitors when in Philadelphia.
The exact date when the City tavern became the Merchants coffee house is
unknown. When James Kitchen became proprietor, at the beginning of the
nineteenth century, it was so called. In 1806 Kitchen turned the house
into a bourse, or mercantile exchange. By that time clubs and hotels had
come into fashion, and the coffee-house idea was losing caste with the
élite of the city.
In the year 1806 William Renshaw planned to open the Exchange coffee
house in the Bingham mansion on Third Street. He even solicited
subscriptions to the enterprise, saying that he proposed to keep a
marine diary and a registry of vessels for sale, to receive and to
forward ships' letter bags, and to have accommodations for holding
auctions. But he was persuaded from the idea, partly by the fact that
the Merchants coffee house seemed to be satisfactorily filling that
particular niche in the city life, and partly because the hotel business
offered better inducements. He abandoned the plan, and opened the
Mansion House hotel in the Bingham residence in 1807.
[Illustration: EXCHANGE COFFEE HOUSE SCENE IN "HAMILTON"
In this setting for the first act of the play by Mary P. Hamlin and
George Arliss, produced in 1918, the scenic artist aimed to give a true
historical background, and combined the features of several inns and
coffee houses in Philadelphia, Virginia, and New England as they existed
in Washington's first administration]
Reading Tips
Use arrow keys to navigate
Press 'N' for next chapter
Press 'P' for previous chapter