Old Taverns of New York

by W. Harrison Bayles

As before the war, the people were divided into two great parties, one for war, the other for peace, but both claiming to be acting for the good of the general government and the welfare of the people, while the fear of disunion of the states hung heavily over the country. At the anniversary dinner at Washington Hall on the 4th of July, 1813, one of the volunteer toasts was: “Our Country—Disgraced by the folly of democracy, may its character soon be retrieved by the virtue and talents of federalism.” The war made the celebration of the Fourth of July particularly important, and the two parties vied with each other in patriotic demonstrations. The celebration of Independence Day, 1814, was made by two grand processions; one was led by the Tammany Society, which was joined and followed by several other societies; the other was led by the Washington Benevolent Society, joined by the Hamilton Society. The military parade, headed by the governor, was made entirely independent of any procession. After the procession the members of the Tammany Society sat down to a repast prepared by Martling and Cozzens, proprietors of Tammany Hall Hotel, and the members of the Washington Benevolent Society and of the Hamilton Society dined in the afternoon at Washington Hall, but in separate rooms. The State Society of the Cincinnati held their annual meeting at the City Hall, after which they retired to the Tontine Coffee House where a dinner was served to them at four o’clock. Commodore Decatur, lately elected an honorary member, dined with the Society. After dinner, eighteen toasts were drunk, each followed by an appropriate piece of music by Moffit’s military band. At Vauxhall the celebration in the evening surpassed in display and grandeur any previous exhibitions of the kind.

News of Peace

At the close of the war of 1812 the news of peace was received in New York with the greatest joy. Mr. Carroll, the bearer of the treaty, on his arrival in the British sloop-of-war Favorite, about eight o’clock in the evening of Saturday, February 15, 1815, went directly to the City Hotel, which he made his quarters; and in less than twenty minutes after he entered the house most of the windows in the lower part of Broadway and the adjoining streets were illuminated, and the streets were densely filled with people who came forth to see and to hear and to rejoice. Samuel G. Goodrich, who was at a concert in the City Hotel, writes: “While listening to the music the door of the concert-room was thrown open and in rushed a man breathless with excitement. He mounted on a table and, swinging a white handkerchief aloft, cried out: “Peace! Peace! Peace!” The music ceased, the hall was speedily vacated, I rushed into the street, and oh, what a scene! In a few minutes thousands and tens of thousands of people were marching about with candles, lamps, torches, making the jubilant street appear like a gay and gorgeous procession. The whole night Broadway sang its song of peace.” Swift expresses were sent out to Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, Boston, Providence and Albany, and when the news was received from Washington of the ratification, which, by a combination of four newspapers was brought to New York in twenty-three hours, extensive preparations were made for a grand celebration and illumination on February 22, which on account of unfavorable weather was deferred and took place on the 27th. Fire works were gotten up and exhibited on a stage in front of the Government House under the superintendence of Joseph Delacroix, of Vauxhall Garden, which is said to have exceeded any former exhibition. The descriptions of the illuminations filled column after column of the newspapers. Among many others, lengthy descriptions were given of the illuminations of Tammany Hall, Washington Hall and the City Hotel.

The Grand Ball

Great preparations were soon made for a “superb ball” in honor of the joyful peace, which was given on March 16 at Washington Hall. The company consisted of upwards of six hundred ladies and gentlemen. The dancing room, eighty feet by sixty, was arranged to present the appearance of a beautiful elliptical pavilion, formed by eighteen pillars, on each of which was inscribed the name of a state, connected with the center of the lofty ceiling by garlands or festoons of laurel, and between the garlands, suspended from the ceiling, chandeliers composed of verdant and flowery wreaths. The garlands extending from the pillars were attached to a light central canopy, beneath which was a golden sun made to revolve rapidly, by means of machinery above the ceiling, so as to diffuse from its dazzling surface the reflected radiance of eight hundred lights. This was styled the Temple of Concord. On one side of the room, on a raised platform under a canopy of flags and surrounded with orange and lemon trees loaded with fruit, was the Bower of Peace, furnished with seats from which a good view of the cotillion parties could be had. The seats in each end of the room were also shaded with a profusion of orange trees and various rarer plants brought from the gardens and greenhouses of the vicinity. “The supper tables at which all the ladies were accommodated with seats at one time, though in two different apartments, were arranged and decorated in the most brilliant style; being lighted from above by illuminated arches entwined with flowers and supported by grouped columns from the center of the tables, and forming a line of arches from one extremity to the other. In short, the whole scene was one of the most splendid ever exhibited in this city; reflecting the highest credit on the managers and displaying a picture of female beauty, fashion and elegance not to be surpassed in any city of the union.”[5] The landlord of Washington Hall at this time was Peter McIntyre, who had in February succeeded Daniel W. Crocker. He had formerly kept a porter house at 33 Nassau Street.

The Shakespeare Tavern

In the description of the grand illumination on the evening of February 27, the decorations of the Shakespeare Tavern are particularly mentioned by the newspapers. This tavern had been for some years and continued to be for many years after, the resort of actors, poets and critics, as well as the rendezvous of the wits and literary men of the period. It stood on the southwest corner of Fulton and Nassau Streets, a low, old-fashioned, solid structure of small, yellow brick, two stories high, with dormer windows in the roof. Thomas Hodgkinson, brother of John Hodgkinson of the Park Theatre, became its landlord in 1808, and continued in it for sixteen years. He had formerly been the proprietor of a porter house at 17 Fair (Fulton) Street. In its early days the entrance to the house was by a green baize-covered door on Nassau Street, opening into a small hall with rooms on either side, the tap-room being the south front room on Nassau Street, in which was a circular bar of the old English pattern. It had been built many years before the Revolution, and in 1822 a modern extension was added on Fulton Street, three stories high. On the second floor was a large room for public meetings and military drills, and on the third floor another large room with arched ceiling for concerts and balls and for the accommodation of the political, literary and musical patrons of the house. The Euterpian Society met here once a month and once a year gave a public concert at the City Hotel, followed by a ball; while the older members of the society had a supper below. This was one of the events of the season, and the Assembly Room was crowded.

THE SHAKESPEARE TAVERN

For many years the Shakespeare Tavern was closely connected with the military history of the city. The Veteran Corps of Artillery usually had their dinners here. A dinner was served here to Captain Swain’s Company of the Third Regiment of Artillery on Evacuation Day, 1813. A few years ago a bronze tablet might have been seen on the corner of Fulton and Nassau Streets on which was the following inscription: