was afterward occupied by Titus, June & Angevine's Menagerie. It was injured by fire about 1845.1

Arch Street Theatre was opened in Arch Street, west of Sixth, north side, by William B. Wood, on the 1st of October, 1828. It was built by Haviland, the architect, had a handsome front, and was well fitted for a theatre, with a seating capacity of fifteen hundred. The interior was torn out and rebuilt, and the house reopened Sept. 12, 1863. At various times it was under the management of Jones, Duffy, Forrest, and William E. Burton.

Washington Amphitheatre and Circus, old York road, above Buttonwood Street, was opened in 1829 by Fogg & Stickney.

In 1834 the Sansom Street Circus, in Sansom Street above Eighth, was opened by Weeks.

In October of the same year Joseph Jefferson, Jr., opened the Northern Exchange Theatre, in Third Street below Green.

In 1835 the Hall of Industry was opened at Fotterall's Hall, northwest corner of Fifth and Chestnut Streets. It was afterward known as the American Museum, J. H. Myers, manager. This place was burned down in December, 1854. It was rebuilt and occupied as Thomeuf's Varieties, 1856-59.

On Nov. 7, 1836, the Pennsylvania Theatre, in Coates Street, west of Second, north side, was opened by Logan & Wemyss.

Cooke's Equestrian Circus, on Chestnut Street, below Ninth, was opened by T. Cooke on the 28th of August, 1838. Cooke's company performed there for some time, then it was taken to Baltimore; there it suffered heavy losses in horses, costumes, etc., by the burning of the Front Street Theatre, where it was playing. Cooke came back to Philadelphia with the remnants of his stock, and performed at the Walnut Street Theatre. In the mean time William E. Burton fitted the circus on Chestnut Street for dramatic performances, and opened it in August, 1840, as the National Theatre. A correspondent sent to the Dispatch some years ago the following interesting reminiscence of the opening night:

"I was one of five hundred or more persons who squeezed themselves into the cheapest part (the pit) of the National Theatre, in Chestnut Street, below Ninth, when it was first opened by William E.

1 The large factory building of the Tathams, lead-pipe manufacturers, now occupies the site.

2 The question having been raised some years ago as to whether the Arch Street Theatre was built by Strickland, a correspondent wrote as follows to the Philadelphia Dispatch:

"In a Philadelphia guide-book, published by Carey & Hart in 1830-31, is a description of the Arch Street Theatre. The compiler says, 'Mr. Strickland was the architect of this beautiful theatre, which was first opened on the 1st of October, 1828.' The Album,' published in 1828 or 1829, has an engraving of the Arch Street Theatre, and I am sure Strickland is mentioned as the architect. Strickland was the architect of the capitol at Nashville, Tenn. In constructing the dome of that building he left a niche for his sepulchre. He died at Nashville, April

7, 1854, and his remains were placed there in accordance with his request. On a slab in the dome is this inscription,- William Strickland, architect of this building, born at Philadelphia, 1787, died at Nashville, April 7, 1854.'"

Burton, on the 31st of August, 1840. I give the date because I pre

served the playbill, and have it now. It cost me 'three levvies' to get into the pit, which now, being called the parquet, is considered the best

part of the theatre. The play was The Rivals,' in which Burton did

Bob Acres, Richings, Captain Absolute, and Tom Placide, Fag. Charlotte Cushman made her first appearance in this city as Lydia Languish, and her pretty sister, Susan, as Julia. The after-piece was 'A Roland for an Oliver,' The Hon. Alfred Highflyer, Mr. Richings; Maria Darlington, Charlotte Cushman, ' with a song' (what do you think of that?), 'When Harmony Wakens.' Burton abolished the old green curtain, and introduced instead a canvas curtain representing the American flag, painted in drapery style by W. Russell Smith. It was very showy. But the act-drop was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. I do not consider that it was excelled by the effective drop at the Academy of Music, painted by George Heilge, who in this proved his merit. The subject was 'The Cottage of Claude Melnotte, on the Lake of Como.' There was chance to introduce the finest landscape effects. The beauty, the clearness of the water, the rich foliage of the shore, the rocks, the mountain peaks, and all the accessories were splendid. The sky had the effect of distance and clearness. It seemed as if you could see the scenery of the lake and shore stretching out for miles. When this magnificent picture was unrolled at the end of the first act of 'The Rivals,' it came down and opened so unexpectedly in its beauty that the whole house was startled-I think I may use the word-by the unexpected effect. The audience sat as if spell-bound for a moment or two, when simultaneously, as if acting under command, there broke forth such peals of applause that the sound was perfectly deafening, and it was kept up for a long time. The triumph of the artist must have been the most gratifying of his life."

Burton was not successful in his enterprise. He failed, and was sold out by the sheriff. The magnificent act drop,-which had met with an accident, having been torn in two, but had been mended so as to conceal effectively the rent-was brought to the hammer, and was purchased for the use of the Walnut Street Theatre. The "National" subsequently became Welch's Amphitheatre, and was quite successful in that line of performance. It was destroyed by fire, July 5, 1854. On the same evening the Philadelphia Museum building, at the northeast corner of Ninth and Sansom Streets, was burned down.

The year 1839 saw the opening of the Assembly Buildings, corner of Tenth and Chestnut Streets. This place was burned March 18, 1851, but was rebuilt and reopened in 1852.

McAran's Garden Theatre, Filbert Street, between Seventeenth and Eighteenth Streets, was opened June 13, 1840, by Ward & McIntosh. The Athenæum Museum and Theatre, afterward known as Barnum's Museum, at the southeast corner of Seventh and Chestnut Streets, was opened by Taber & Co., Dec. 25, 1845. It was burned down on the 30th of December, 1851.

The Academy of Fine Arts, or Peale's Museum Theatre, Masonic Hall, Chestnut Street, between Seventh and Eighth, was opened by John Sefton in August, 1846. It closed in July, 1847. "The company at this little theatre was a superior one, and nowadays would be called 'a star company.' Among the members were Joseph (‘Rip Van Winkle') Jefferson, John Sefton, David P. Bowers, John E. Owens, Barney Williams, Charles Burke, half brother of Jefferson, and a better comic actor than the latter, with his wife, one of the liveliest actresses of the day, E. N. Thayer, Mrs. Russel (afterward Mrs. John

and Mrs. Charles Howard, and others. This splendid galaxy could be seen at any time at this theatre for twenty-five cents.

Sansom Street Hall, opened in 1848 for concerts, balls, etc., was closed as a place of amusement in 1863.

T. V. Turner & Co. opened the American Circus, on Fourth Street, between Brown and Poplar, in January, 1849.

The Melodeon was opened in 1852 in the old Bolivar Hotel building, on Chestnut Street, between Sixth and Seventh, north side. In 1854 it became Wood's Museum, and was opened on the 17th of December by Col. J. H. Wood. It was destroyed by fire in 1857.

Ballard & Stickney opened a menagerie and circus on Walnut Street, west of Eighth, in December, 1853, which afterward became Welch & Raymond's Circus, and, still later, the Continental Theatre. This theatre was destroyed by fire June 19, 1867, and was rebuilt the same year. The City Museum Theatre, on Callowhill Street, between Fourth and Fifth, was opened by Ashton & Co. on the 11th of September, 1854. It was burned, also, on the 25th of November, 1868.

National Hall, Market Street, between Twelfth and Thirteenth, was opened on Jan. 8, 1856, with a concert given by the Musical Union. In November, 1862, it was fitted out as a circus, and opened by Gardner & Hemmings. In 1873 this place was turned into a theatre, and opened, October 21st, by J. H. Johnson & Co., under the name of the Olympic Theatre. It was burned Jan. 29, 1874. Jayne's Hall, Chestnut Street near Seventh, was also opened in 1856 with a concert.

The National Guards' Hall, on Race Street, between Fifth and Sixth, opened with a ball and promenade concert, Nov. 17, 1857. McDonough's Gaieties, on Race Street, between Second and Third Streets, was opened by J. E. McDonough, Jan. 19, 1859; the following year it opened as McDonough's Olympic Theatre. The Theatre of Art was opened by J. Sanderson, in Jayne's Commonwealth Building, north side of Chestnut Street, between Sixth and Seventh. This place is now used for business purposes.

The new Chestnut Street Theatre, on Chestnut Street, between Twelfth and Thirteenth, north side, was opened on the 26th of January, 1863, by William Wheatley. The interior of this theatre was rebuilt in 1874.

Adam Forepaugh opened the Philadelphia Circus and Menagerie, on the southwest corner of Tenth and Callowhill Streets, Nov. 27, 1865. In the same year a private amateur company opened the Amateurs' Drawing-Room, on Seventeenth Street above Chestnut. On the 29th of May, 1867, Horticultural Hall, Broad Street above Spruce, opened with a floral exhibition. On the 18th of September of the same year, Tunison & Parsons opened the Philadelphia

name was afterward changed to "Seventh Street Opera-House," later, to "Philadelphia Opera Comique," and finally to " Adelphi Variety." The building was originally the Second Presbyterian Church.

The Arch Street Opera-House, on Arch Street west of Tenth, which had been opened by Simmons and Slocum on the 20th of August, 1870, was burned on the 20th of March, 1872. It was immediately rebuilt, and reopened Aug. 26, 1872. The American Museum, Menagerie and Theatre, at the northwest corner of Ninth and Arch Streets, was opened Nov. 23, 1870, by Simpson, Carncross & Dixey. This place afterward became Wood's Museum. On the 17th of December, in the same year, Robert Fox opened Fox's New American Theatre, on Chestnut Street between Tenth and Eleventh, north side. Another theatre, Harmonie Hall (German), was opened at that time in Coates Street, near Seventh, by the Maennerchor Musical Society. Its existence was brief, it being destroyed by fire March 8, 1871. Sanford's OperaHouse, Second Street, above Poplar, was opened in 1871 by S. S. Sanford. It had scarcely commenced the season when it took fire and was burned down, Oct. 17, 1871.

Thus, from 1799 to 1871, nineteen theatres, circuses, and museums were destroyed by fire, being over onethird of the total number of such places opened during that period, and a little less than one-fourth of all such places of amusement, together with music halls that existed at any time since 1749. It is a remarkable fact that so many fires in places of public resort were not attended by any loss of life among the audiences. Rensselaer Albert Shephard, an actor, was caught in the falling ruins of the National Theatre, Chestnut Street, July, 1854, and burned to death.

CHAPTER XXX.

INNS, TAVERNS, ORDINARIES, COFFEE-HOUSES, AND HOTELS.

IN olden times, such a thing as the modern hotel, with its fashionably-dressed and all-important clerk, its vast smoking-room, carpeted parlors, gilt mouldings, and other luxurious appointments, was unknown. The modest inn accommodated "man and beast," and the jolly landlord welcomed the wearied traveler,-and fleeced him, too, when the occasion offered,—and an active, bright-eyed barmaid waited on him, and provided those simple comforts,-a pipe, a pair of slippers, a glass of hot punch or a tankard of foaming ale, and a cosy corner near the tap-room fire. If the cloth was coarse it was generally white and clean, at least in respectable establishments, and the plain deal table groaned under the weight of

viands which, if they presented no great variety, were well cooked and wholesome. Our fathers were great eaters and stout drinkers, and there was no need of a French menu and wines with high-sounding names to whet their appetites; roast beef, a leg of mutton, ham and cabbage, a fat fowl, were the solid dishes laid before them; ale, port or Madeira wine, and a glass of Jamaica rum and hot water to top off, left them in a pretty good condition to find sleep on the clean bed, sometimes a hard one,-prepared for them in the small room, whose bare floors, whitewashed walls, and plain curtains, did not invite dreams of palatial splendors.

The tavern, though it accommodated guests with bed and board, had more of the character of a drinking-house. The inn was rural in its origin, the tavern originated in the city, and was frequented not merely by topers and revelers, but by quiet citizens, bachelors having no fireside of their own, and men of family who went there to meet neighbors and discuss business or the news, while enjoying a quiet glass and pipe. The ordinary was an eating-house, something between the restaurant and the boardinghouse of our day. Coffee-houses, so called, which dispensed intoxicating drinks as well as the fragrant decoction of the Arabian bean, made their appearance later; they were but taverns in an aristocratic disguise.

Philadelphia had quite a large number of these establishments for a city of its size, yet this fact was not due merely to the drinking habits of the inhabitants. It is more truly accounted for by the surprisingly rapid increase of the population from immigration during the first half of the eighteenth century, and the continual influx of strangers during and after the Revolution. These people had to be provided with food and lodging. It was a paying business, and many embarked in it. Nor does the increase in the number of taverns indicate an increase in drunkenness. We have related in another chapter the complaints and fears of the serious-minded citizens of ante-Revolution times, that the people were fast becoming a community of drunkards, yet, during those trying years of the war of independence, although folly and extravagance were the marked characteristics of fashionable society, there is nothing to show a greater tendency to intemperance. After the war, when the era of peace and prosperity commenced, quite the reverse is apparent. Through some unexplained cause or influence the people have turned to the ways of temperance, and there is not more drunkenness-not as much, perhaps-in Philadelphia than in any other large city in the Union.

Many interesting memories are attached to the old taverns and inns, important events and illustrious names are connected with the history of many of them, others awaken a curious interest by their quaint signs and rhymed mottoes and sentiments. They form part of the history of the city, and should

BLUE ANCHOR INN AND DOCK CREEK.
[From an old drawing in Philadelphia Library.]

William Penn landed, the first house in which he broke bread on the soil that was to be Philadelphia. This house was the southwestern one in a row of houses on Front Street, which was known as Budd's Long Row." It formed what is now the northwest corner of Front and Dock Streets. It was subsequently called the "Boatman and Call."

The next oldest, probably, was the Penny PotHouse, at Front and Vine Streets, it being also built at a landing to which it gave its name. It was a two-story brick house of good dimensions. It was still standing in the earlier part of the present century, but the name had been changed to the Jolly Tar Inn. In the year 1701, William Penn set forth and ordained that "the landing-places now and here

and a good meal is to be had for sixpence sterling." How fast the number of taverns and drinking-houses increased after the incorporation of the city is shown by the grand jury reports. In 1709 many tippling and disorderly houses were presented; in 1714, thirty-five true bills were found, in one session, against unlicensed taverns; in 1744, there were upward of a hundred houses licensed; in 1752, there were a hundred and twenty taverns with licenses, and one hundred and eighteen houses that sold rum by the quart. During all this time, and until 1759, justices of the peace heard and decided causes at public inns, and the Common Council itself had held its sittings occasionally in those places.

The first public-house designated as a "coffeehouse" was built in Penn's time by Samuel Carpenter, on the east side of Front Street, probably above Walnut Street. That it was the first of its kind, the only one, in fact, for some years, seems to be established beyond doubt. It was always alluded to in old times as "ye Coffee-House." Samuel Carpenter owned also the Globe Inn, which was separated from the Coffee-House by a public stairway running down from Front Street to Water, and, it is supposed, to "Carpenter's wharf." The Coffee-House was a great place in those early days; it was there the ship-captains and merchants congregated to discuss the commercial and political news, and many interesting scenes must have taken place there of which no account has been preserved.

CLARK'S INN.

Facing the State-House, on Chestnut Street. Clark's Inn, the Coach and Horses, was in Chestnut Street, opposite the State-House, before the Revolution. Here assemblymen, Governors, and public officers, with judges, perhaps, refreshed themselves in the good old times.

Enoch Story's Inn, at the sign of the Pewter Platter, which gave its name to Pewter Platter Alley, was a place much frequented by the young bloods in Governor Evans' time, and was the scene of many a bacchanalian revel. It was there young Penn and his friends had the fight with the watch which led to their being presented by the grand jury.

The Crooked Billet Inn, on the wharf above Chestnut Street, was the first house entered by Benjamin

Franklin when he came to Philadelphia in 1723. It was already an old house. Not so old, however, as the Indian King Tavern, in High Street, near Third. This house, which was famous in its time, was selected by Franklin and his friends as the club-house of the Junto.

The Three Crowns Tavern, in Second Street, adjoining the City Tavern, was celebrated for its excellent table and perfect management under the supervision of the worthy hostess, Mrs. Jones. Entertainments were given there to Richard Penn and other Governors. Peg Mullen's "Beefsteak House," on the east side of Water Street, at the corner of Wilcox's Alley, was another house celebrated for its cookery. Mr. Watson was informed by the late Col. Morris that it was the fashionable house in his youthful days. Governor Hamilton and others held their clubs there. The Freemasons held their lodge meetings at Mrs. Mullen's, which was also a favorite place for public entertainments and meetings of societies.

The London Coffee-House has been described at length in another chapter. Its successor in the public favor was the City Tavern. This house was finished in 1773, and was advertised as a new house in Second Street, near Walnut. It was intended to be kept as a genteel tavern. "It contains several large rooms, two of which, thrown into one, makes a room fifty feet long. Also several lodging-rooms." Inquirers were requested to address their communications to Hugh James. In 1774 it was advertised that the long room at the City Tavern was divided into boxes fitted with tables and elegantly lighted.

On his arrival in Philadelphia, on the 4th of September, 1774, Gen. Washington supped at the "New Tavern," which was then kept by Mr. Smith. "On Monday, 5th of September, 1774," says Mr. Bancroft, "the members of Congress, meeting at Smith's Tavern, moved in a body to select a place for their deliberations." On the 20th of October, in the same year, "a grand entertainment was given by the Assembly of the province to all the delegates from the different provinces, at this time in the city, at the New Tavern." It was at the City Tavern Monsieur Gerard, the first accredited representative of France near the government of the United States, gave his grand entertainment in honor of Louis XVI.'s birthday. At the time of the riot known as the Fort Wilson affair, the friends of James Wilson assembled at the City Tavern and sent word to President Reed of the danger apprehended. When the rioters commenced their demonstration, they marched first to the City Tavern, expecting to find there some of the obnoxious merchants. The gentlemen had already left the tavern, and the baffled party went up to Wilson's house.

The bull's head was a very common sign. There were several houses of that name in existence at

1 Christopher Marshall's Diary.