Old Taverns of New York

“The 19th instant being his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales’s Birthday. It was celebrated at the Black Horse in a most elegant and genteel manner. There was a most magnificent Appearance of Gentlemen and Ladies. The Ball began with French Dances. And then the Company proceeded to Country Dances, upon which Mrs. Norris led up two new Country Dances upon the Occasion; the first of which was called The Prince of Wales, and the second, The Princess of Saxe-Gotha, in Honour of the Day. There was a most sumptuous Entertainment afterward. At the conclusion of which the Honourable Rip Van Dam Esq., President of His Majesty’s Council, began the Royal Healths, which were all drank in Bumpers. The whole was conducted with the utmost Decency, Mirth and Cheerfulness.”

No mention is made of any celebration at the Fort. The New York Gazette has the following account of the celebration of the governor’s party:

“On the 20th Instant, being the Anniversary of His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales’s Birthday, the Royal Healths were drank at the Fort, by the Gentlemen of the Council, and the Principal Merchants and Gentlemen of the Place. The Continuance of the Governour’s Indisposition hinder’d the Celebration of the day with the usual solemnity at the Fort; However there was a Ball in the Evening at Mr. Todd’s, at which there was a very great appearance of Gentlemen and Ladies, and an Elegant Entertainment made by the Gentlemen, in honour of the Day.”

At the Black Horse, committees of the assembly met for the transaction of public business, but the conferences of committees of the two houses were held at the house of Robert Todd. Here, on the 4th of November, 1736, a conference was held of committees from the council and assembly, to prepare an address to his majesty on the nuptials of his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales. It seems also to have been a place for public entertainments. A concert of vocal and instrumental music was given here, January 21, 1736, for the benefit of Mr. Pachelbell, the harpsicord part performed by himself, the songs, violin and German flutes by “private hands.” Again on the 9th of March, 1736, this was repeated, when it was announced that tickets could be had at the Coffee House, at the Black Horse and at Mr. Todd’s; at 4 shillings each. Mr. Pachelbell was probably the music teacher, and was assisted in the concert by his pupils or friends. On the evening of January 6, 1745, a concert was given at the house of Robert Todd, for the benefit of Mr. Rice, which the newspaper affirms was “thought by all competent judges to exceed anything of the kind ever done here before.”

When Samuel Bayard died, in 1745, he left the house on Broad Street next adjoining the DeLancey house, which afterwards became the noted Fraunces Tavern, to his son, Nicholas, which he states in his will, was in the tenure of Robert Todd. It had been occupied by him for at least eight years; earlier, his house is described as next to the Exchange Coffee House.

Among the last acts of Governor Cosby was that declaring Rip Van Dam suspended from the council. This was to prevent Van Dam, as senior member of the council, from succeeding him and again becoming acting governor. After the death of Cosby, Van Dam and his friends declared this suspension illegal, and Van Dam made an effort to obtain control, but George Clarke, next in order, was supported by the council and also by the assembly, when it convened, and in the course of a few months received his commission from England as lieutenant-governor, which put an end to the claims of Van Dam. Clarke received from Cosby a legacy of trouble, but he was an astute politician and a much abler man than Cosby. He is credited with the policy of making it appear that the governorship of New York was not a desirable post, and by this means held his office for many years, and then retired to England with a competency. The community continued to be divided by party strife. The government party were, in derision, called “courtiers,” and they in turn characterized the opposition as a Dutch mob. A visitor to New York in 1739 describes the different parties as courtiers, Zengerites, the prudents and the no-party-men; and states that there was much bitterness displayed, and that the women were as zealous politicians as the men.

Exchange Coffee House

From the time of the establishment of a coffee house on Broadway, in 1696, until about 1738, there had been but one coffee house in New York, so far as we can ascertain. The first coffee house, called also the King’s Arms Tavern, disappears from our view in 1709, and we hear no more of any coffee house until 1729, when we find that there was then a coffee house also called the King’s Arms supposed to be situated in Broad Street near the exchange, and called the Exchange Coffee House. It had probably had a continued existence during this interval. During the time of political excitement preceding and following the trial of Zenger, it appears to have been, with the house of Robert Todd, the resort of the “courtiers,” as the supporters of the governor and his party were called. In March, 1731, there was a sale of several lots of land by auction at this house, and after the death of Governor Montgomerie, his library, a collection of valuable books, was announced to be sold on the 1st of June, 1732, and notice was given that a catalogue of the books and conditions of sale might be seen at the Coffee House. In October, 1732, the late governor’s barge, which he had used in making visits to his government of New Jersey, with awning, damask curtains, two sets of oars, sails and everything necessary for her, were sold by auction at the Coffee House. It seems at this time to have become a place for public sales of all kinds and for the transaction of all kinds of business.

In 1747 it was on the corner of Broad and Dock (now Pearl) Streets and its landlord was David Cox, who gave it up in 1749, when Andrew Ramsay, who was then the landlord of a tavern in Dock Street, announced that he had opened the Exchange Coffee House next door to where Mr. Cox lately kept it. This was the house known some years before as the Fighting Cocks. When Ramsay purchased the unexpired part of the lease of the Long Island ferry, in 1750, and moved to the ferry house on the Long Island side of the river, he was succeeded by Richard Clarke Cooke, who describes his house as the Gentlemen’s and Exchange Coffee House and Tavern at the Sign of the King’s Arms. His occupancy was of short duration. Anne Stockton made an attempt to establish an ordinary in it, but at the end of about a month she gave notice that she “has declined, and is advised to teach young Ladies to sew and embroider and Millinery.”

George Burns then became the landlord of the King’s Arms, which appears no longer to be known as a coffee house, and which was brought back to its former location on the corner. Benjamin Pain appropriated the name of “Gentlemen’s Coffee House” – and carried it to Broadway, where he opened a house in April, 1751.

In January, 1753, a committee of the common council met at the house of George Burns, the King’s Arms, for the purpose of letting to farm the ferry between New York City and Long Island, when they were furnished with the usual entertainment provided for such occasions.

On Monday, the 25th of June, 1753, in celebration of the anniversary of the festival of St. John the Baptist, “the Ancient and Right Worship Society of FREE and Accepted MASONS of this City assembled at the Spring Garden, and being properly cloathed made a regular Procession in due Form to the King’s Arms Tavern in Broad Street, near the Long Bridge, where an elegant Entertainment was provided.” Here, they drank his majesty’s health and many other loyal healths and concluded the day in the most social and satisfactory manner. The King’s Arms Tavern continued on or near the corner of Broad and Dock Streets for many years and was a well known tavern under various landlords.

In 1696, what was called the Shoemakers’ Pasture was divided into building lots, and soon after on lot number 58, of the map of this property, on the southeast side of the present William Street, about midway between John and Fulton Streets, was built a house which became a prominent and much frequented tavern, from its sign, known as the Horse and Cart. The part of William Street near this tavern became known as Horse and Cart Street. It has been said that this house was a tavern in the time of Captain Kidd, and that he was a frequent visitor to it before he went on his fateful voyage. This may be a mere tradition, but if true, the house, which is still standing, at No. 122 William Street, must be over two hundred years old. It is, at any rate, we think, the oldest house now standing on Manhattan Island. In October, 1733, it was advertised as the meeting place of the proprietors of a tract of 50,000 acres of land, “for concerting matters necessary for their mutual defence in law,” and again, in 1737, a meeting of these proprietors or their proxies was called at the same house.

George Burns, who in 1750 was keeping a tavern opposite the Merchants Coffee House, moved to the noted sign of the Horse and Cart, where he announced that “to gratify his Customers he takes in the Boston, Philadelphia and New York papers.” He soon gave place to Captain George Edmonds. It seems to have been a tavern that was patronized by travelers, especially those coming in from the north and east and was a favorite of the New England people, as is shown by the announcement made by Captain Edmonds when its landlord in 1751, that it had “lately been very much balked, to the great Disappointment of Numbers of Persons from New England that used to frequent that House.” Notice was given in March, 1752, that “the once noted Horse and Cart Inn, in the City of New York, is now revived by Edward Willett.” Thus there are indications that the house had lost the popularity which it once enjoyed. Throughout all its many vicissitudes it retained its name for a great many years. Landlords came and landlords went, but the sign of the Horse and Cart remained, and was well known as a landmark by which the locations of other houses and places were designated. The house was still known as the Horse and Cart as late as 1765. The old sign was probably taken down about this time, or a little later, and during the decade preceding the Revolution the house was known as the Golden Hill Inn.

In 1733 there was a tavern on Broadway that hung out the sign of the Coach and Horses, kept by Thomas Welch, from London, where, it was announced, could be had “very good Entertainment for Man and Horse,” and where were “also Horses to be let or stand at Livery.”

In 1738 Captain Norris, commander of the ship Tartar, then lying in the harbor of New York, was in need of men and made application to the mayor for permission to impress thirty seamen to man his ship. The governor and council ordered the mayor to comply with this request, but the mayor pre-emptorily refused to obey the order, and the governor and council prudently refrained from taking further action. Thus it seems that it was difficult at that time to obtain a crew for a man-of-war in New York harbor, but a year or two later there was no difficulty in obtaining volunteers for privateering.

Privateering

As soon as England had declared war with Spain the adventurous merchants of New York commenced fitting out privateers to prey upon the commerce of the enemy, and the taverns along the East River shore were all bustle and excitement. Many of them became headquarters for recruiting seamen for these adventurous expeditions. The vessels were commanded and manned in part by young men of the best families of New York, who left off cock-fighting and horse-racing to go a-privateering. The appeals for volunteers to join these expeditions were made to “Gentlemen Sailors” and to “Gentlemen Adventurers.” Samuel Bayard went out in the sloop Ranger as its commander and soon returned with two prizes, taken at St. Jago, in the West Indies. These were offered to be sold, in June, 1740, and notice was given that the inventory could be seen at the Coffee House. He seems to have been a successful commander and brought in other prizes.

The sign of the Pine Apple on the New Dock, kept by Benjamin Kierstede, was a place for recruiting seamen and also for enlisting men in the military companies then organizing to go out against the Spanish colonies in the West Indies. Another place of the same kind was the tavern at the sign of the Jamaica Arms, on Cruger’s Wharf, kept by Benjamin Pain. At both of these places there was great activity in making up crews for privateers about to sail. Here the “articles” could be seen, and men were engaged. Here also prizes and cargoes were sold.

In August, 1740, five companies of soldiers had been enlisted, commanded by Captains Clarke, Cosby, Provost, Cuyler and Stevens, and were encamped on the Common. In September the companies raised in Rhode Island were expected to join them. The New York Weekly Journal of August 4, 1740, contains the following:

“An express arrived a few days since from the Earl of Waldegrave which Occasioned the holding of a Council which sat till 2 the next Morning. The Dispatch brought by the Courier occasions great Matter of Speculation among the Coffee House Politicians and some since talk of Peace while others say the French will no longer remain Neuter.”

When, in 1744, war was declared with France an additional impulse was given to the privateering business. For the five years preceding 1748 no less than thirty-one vessels, each carrying from ten to twenty-four guns, are named in the newspapers, and there is continually mention made of prizes being brought in, of cases before the court of admiralty, of sales of the captured ships and their cargoes and of the adjustments of disputes over the division of the spoils. In 1745, we find that arbitrators were to meet at the house of Robert Todd every Friday evening “for settling the Differences between the four Privateers formerly arrived here with six French Prizes.” This continued from January to May. In September, 1744, a New York newspaper stated that, “’tis computed there will be before winter 113 Sail of Privateers at Sea, from the British American Colonies, mostly stout Vessels and well manned. A Naval Force equal (some say) to that of Great Britain in the Time of Queen Elizabeth.” In 1745 it was stated that at that time there were thirteen privateers at sea from the port of New York. The men for these vessels were not all supplied by New York City. The alluring promises of gain drew volunteers from all the neighboring country. Governor Hamilton, of New Jersey, complained that the privateers-men were sweeping into their ranks the flower of the youth of his province.

In 1745 Captain Bevan, of the privateer sloop Clinton, brought into the port of New York a French prize, which he had taken after a short engagement, without the loss of a man. Her cargo, consisting of sugar, indigo and cotton, was valued at £40,000, and each man of the crew received £160 prize money. As a reward for complying with his request not to plunder the passengers, officers and sailors of the captured ship, Captain Bevan gave his crew a handsome treat of a hogshead of punch and an ox roasted whole in the fields at Dominie’s Hook, which was quite handsome in Captain Bevan. The cargo of the prize ship Le Pomone (La Pomme), brought in by Captain Bevan, was sold at the house of widow Thomas. The prize ship Joseph of Egypt and cargo were sold in April, 1746, at the house of the widow Susannah Lawrence, on the Dock, near the Meal Market, at the lower end of Wall Street.

When news came of the capture of Louisburg the common council, to celebrate the victory, ordered that Mr. DeJancourt, whose house was near the Meal Market, be directed to prepare a handsome dinner for the board and that the governor, the members of the council, the assembly members of the city, with the field officers, be invited to dine with them and that a bonfire be made “without the Spring Garden” in the evening. They also ordered that twenty gallons of good wine be sent to the bonfire for the people.

The Negro Plot

In 1741, during the Spanish war, New York City was thrown into a panic of excitement by the so-called negro plot. Each week the newspapers gave accounts of the numerous executions and of the trials resulting from the confessions of the victims, each one of whom was induced to accuse another in order to save himself. It seems to have seized on the inhabitants of New York in the same way that witchcraft overwhelmed the people of Salem, Massachusetts. In the intense excitement persons of better and better standing in the community were being accused until a halt was found necessary. Thomas Croker, at this time, was landlord of the Fighting Cocks in Dock Street, and it was at his house that John Ury, who was tried for complicity in the plot, lodged. Although Ury, the most prominent victim, was, no doubt, innocent of any criminal act, he was, nevertheless, convicted on the evidence of those who had been urged to accuse somebody to save themselves or to gain a reward. He was a stranger and fell a victim to the panic which pervaded the community.

The sign of the Fighting Cocks had hung in Dock Street, next door to the corner of Broad Street, for many years. In 1736, the tavern was kept by Edward Eastham, who met with the loss of a silver quart tankard, marked on the handle with an E, taken from his house, for the recovery of which he offered a reward of three pounds. The next year a silver watch was taken from this house, “of a size rather larger than midling, Regmaiden at Dublin the Maker,” for the return of which a reward of ten shillings was offered, “and no questions asked.” Although though the Fighting Cocks Tavern, as its name implies, may have been the scene of many cock-fights, we do not think that at that time this would detract from its standing and respectability.

The King’s Birthday

In March, 1748, in celebration of the King’s birthday, it is stated that a Jack was displayed all day from the flagstaff on the southwest bastion of Fort George. The city regiment of militia and troops were under arms and were reviewed by the governor from the piazza of the City Hall, as they passed from Broadway, where they had been drawn up, and, it is said, made a very handsome appearance. The governor and some of the gentlemen of the council who attended him were entertained by the mayor, corporation, and officers of the militia with some extraordinary wine (“such as is rare to be met with in any private house”) from Hugh Crawford’s, ford’s, near at hand, and there they drank the health of his majesty and other royal healths under the discharge of twenty-one guns at the Fort.

In honor of the day there were two halls, one at the Fort and another at Ramsay’s tavern in Dock Street. We give an account of these two balls as it appeared in a newspaper of that period.

“In the evening there was a private entertainment and ball at his Excellency’s, consisting of a snug select company of the choicest fruits of the town, that were particularly invited for that purpose, the only entertainment of the kind that His Excellency’s leisure has admitted of upon such public occasions during his administration; the company was very sociable, and the night concluded there as usual.

“The gentlemen that had not the honour to be invited to His Excellency’s ball resolved not to be behindhand in their demonstrations of loyalty on this occasion, and therefore ordered a public entertainment to be provided against the evening at Mr. Ramsay’s tavern, where there was a very splendid and beautiful appearance of ladies, such as would have graced an Assembly in England. There were several gentlemen of Council and Corporation, and most of the principal merchants and other gentlemen in the city, that made up a gay and numerous assembly.

“The ball was opened about six o’clock, the city being illuminated from one end to the other, the supper was served up about ten and notwithstanding the short warning given, there was the greatest variety this town or country could produce, and the tables were decorated in so neat and elegant a manner as raised a general admiration and ’twas declared by good judges that never was a more magnificent entertainment in this country. The whole tables were taken up with ladies the length of two rooms laid into one, that the gentlemen’s time was generally employed in waiting on them, and when they were done the gentlemen supplied their places. After supper, His Majesty’s, the Prince and Princess of Wales, and the other Royal Healths were drank, and then prosperity to the province, a speedy exportation of its enemies, etc.

“The whole affair was conducted with the utmost decency and decorum; there was the greatest gaiety, cheerfulness and complacency in every countenance. The ball was concluded about 5 A. M. and the night was passed in the general satisfaction, without the least incivility offered or offence taken by any one, which is scarce to be said on the like occasions. We are told this was distinguished by the title of the Country Ball.”

V

The Merchants’ Coffee House

The Meal Market

Trade had extended its territory along the East River shore until about the beginning of the eighteenth century it had reached and taken in Wall Street. In 1709 the first slave market was erected at the foot of this street, on the site of the Half Moon Battery and block house of the Dutch era, and for many years continued to be the established place where slaves were offered for sale and “stood for hire.” A market house had been built, and in January, 1726-7, it was ordained by the common council of the city of New York that the market house at the lower end of Wall Street be appointed a public market for the sale of all sorts of corn, grain and meal, and a penalty was fixed for selling such in any public market elsewhere. From this time it was known as the Meal Market.

In the course of time several taverns had been opened in the neighborhood of the market, and it had become the center of considerable business. In 1726 the only newspaper in New York gave notice of servants to be sold by John Dunks at the sign of the Jamaica Pilot Boat, on the Dock. In 1750 the following appeared in the New York Gazette or Weekly Post Boy: “Just imported, a parcel of likely negros, to be sold at public vendue to-morrow at Ten o’clock at the Merchants’ Coffee House.”

The tavern at the sign of the Jamaica Pilot Boat stood on the northwest corner of the present Wall and Water Streets, then Wall and Burnet Streets. Francis Child, a wigmaker, owned it and advertised it for sale in 1736 and 1737, when he described it as the corner house near the Meal Market, “a well frequented tavern for several years past” and in good repair.

Daniel Bloom, mariner, who as captain of the Turtle Dove had met with a very unfortunate experience in the West Indies, his brig and all on board being stript of everything even to the clothing they wore, and who had lately arrived rived in New York, purchased the house and lot, in June, 1738, the consideration mentioned in the deed being five hundred pounds (£500). Bloom was landlord of the house for more than a dozen years. While living here he, in December, 1747, took the lease of the ferry between the city and Nassau (Long) Island for the term of five years, for which he agreed to pay the sum of four hundred and fifty-five pounds (£455) per annum, to be paid in quarterly installments, and the common council ordered that the neighborhood of the Meal Market have leave, at their own expense, to make and erect a dock and stairs, for the convenience of the ferry boat which was to land there, in such manner as shall be directed by the committee appointed for that purpose. Bloom ran the ferry for about three years, when, in September, 1750, by permission of the common council, he transferred the lease to Andrew Ramsay, who at this time was the landlord of the Exchange Coffee House, from which he moved to the ferry house on the Long Island side of the river. Soon after this Bloom died. At the time of his death he was still indebted to the city for a portion of the rent of the ferry, and the corporation, in June, 1751, offered to take from the executors of his estate fifty pounds (£50) in settlement of all arrears due.

The Merchants’ Coffee House

Long before Daniel Bloom purchased the house that hung out the sign of the Jamaica Pilot Boat, it had been kept by John Dunks. Bloom did not retain the sign, for we find that a few years later, it was used by the widow of John Dunks, who kept a house a little further up near the Fly Market. Bloom had seen considerable of the world, and appears to have been a man of some property, owning real estate in the city and in Westchester County. He probably had an acquaintance among the merchants, as sea captains generally had, and was able to make his house a resort for them. He called it the Merchants’ Coffee House, and he was no doubt the first landlord of the house by that name, which, for more than half a century, was one of the most prominent houses of the city. As its name implies, it gradually became the place where the merchants of the city met and transacted business, and it became also the place where auctions, or vendues, as they were called, were held, especially such as were connected with the shipping business. The year after Bloom’s death, its landlord was Captain James Ackland.