Old Taverns of New York

by W. Harrison Bayles

At the tavern of George Burns, opposite the Long Bridge, a grand dinner was ordered by the corporation. A committee had been appointed with instructions to invite his majesty’s Council, such members of the Assembly as should be in town, the captain of the man-of-war, with such gentlemen as came over with the Governor, the treasurer of the colony, the King’s attorney, Mr. Rutledge, Mr. Gordon, Mr. Penn and Mr. Oliver De Lancey to dine with his Excellency, Sir Danvers Osborn, Bart. The committee were, besides, instructed to provide for a bonfire on the common near the workhouse, and to procure three dozen of wine to be sent to the fire, that the City Hall, the Alms-House and the Ferry-House should be illuminated and that a half-barrel of cannon-powder be provided to discharge the cannon on the Common near the bonfire. The newspapers state that the dinner was “an elegant and splendid entertainment. In the evening two and forty cannon were discharged in the Common. Two large bonfires were erected. Some thousands of the populace crowded the Common and the whole town was for several hours most bountifully illuminated.” Notwithstanding all this rejoicing, and the enthusiasm with which he was received, the new Governor became despondent and, on the morning of Friday, the 12th of October, his body was found hanging to the garden fence of Mr. Murray, at whose house he was staying. He had committed suicide.

From the very fact that the house of George Burns was selected as the place for the dinner given to the new Governor, we may very confidently conclude that it was considered the best tavern in New York at that time. George Burns was the landlord of the King’s Arms, which, until about this time, had also been called the Exchange Coffee House. The coffee house of this period was generally considered to be more a meeting place for the transaction of business than the tavern and until the Merchants’ Coffee House was established the Exchange Coffee House had been the resort of merchants and the place where business transactions were made and where auctions were held for the sale of merchandise of all kinds.

The Province Arms

Before the year 1754 there had been no one tavern that had stood at the head and maintained a leading position for any length of time; but in this year Edward Willett, well known in New York as the landlord, at different times, of many prominent houses, opened a tavern in the house of James De Lancey on Broadway which from this time became the most prominent tavern in the city and so continued until after the Revolution, when on the same site was built in 1794 the City Hotel, which also for a long time held the lead as a public house. Willett moved into it from the Horse and Cart and described it as “the house of the honorable James De Lancey, Esq., Lieutenant Governor, at the sign of the Province Arms in Broadway, near Oswego Market.”

While Willett was keeping the Horse and Cart, on Thursday, October 25, 1753, the last day of the sitting of the Supreme Court, the justices of the court, the attorney-general, and the counsellors and attorneys attending the court, marched in a procession from the City Hall to the house of the Lieutenant Governor and presented him with an address, after which, accompanied by the Lieutenant Governor, they all marched to the house of Edward Willett, where a grand dinner was served to them.

The house that Willett opened on Broadway at the Province Arms, or the New York Arms, as it was sometimes called, was one of the largest and finest in the city, and from the time it was opened as a tavern was patronized by the public societies and was the recognized place for giving all public entertainments of importance. It had been built by Stephen De Lancey about the year 1730 and, subsequently, came into the possession of his son, James De Lancey, the Lieutenant Governor. It was two stories high, with windows opening to the floor. It stood on the west side of Broadway, between the present Thames and Cedar Streets, commanding from its windows a beautiful view of the bay, the river and the opposite shores. Somewhat retired from the busy parts of the city, it was a beautiful and agreeable spot for a first-class public house. Broadway was becoming the favorite promenade. The church walk, in front of Trinity, near by, was the resort of the fashion of the town for the afternoon.

On Tuesday, April 29, 1755, soon after Lieutenant Governor De Lancey had returned from a trip to the more southern colonies, where he had been received with all the honors due to his official station, and where he had met the other governors in consultation as to the situation on the French and Indian frontier, Governor William Shirley, of Massachusetts, and Governor Robert Hunter Morris, of Pennsylvania, arrived in New York from the westward and were welcomed to the city with great formality. On landing at Whitehall Slip they were saluted by a discharge of cannon from Fort George, and welcomed ashore by Lieutenant Governor De Lancey, members of his majesty’s council and many of the principal gentlemen of the city. The city militia had been ordered to muster and were drawn up so as to line the street as the gentlemen passed on to the fort, where they drank his majesty’s and all the loyal healths with success to the English-American enterprises. They then proceeded through the lines still formed by the militia to the New York Arms, on Broadway. Here a handsome entertainment was provided where the healths of his majesty and the royal family were repeated with “cheerfulness and alacrity.” The newspaper account states that the doors, windows, balconies and the tops of the houses were decorated, red cloaks being largely used to brighten the scene and give it life and color.

Charter of King’s College

On Wednesday, the 7th of May, 1755, the gentlemen who had been appointed governors of the College of the Province of New York (afterwards called King’s College) met at the house of Edward Willett, at the sign of the New York Arms, “when the Deputy Secretary attended with his Majesty’s Royal Charter of Incorporation.” Lieutenant Governor De Lancey was pleased to order the charter read, and “after addressing himself to the governors in a very affectionate, genteel and suitable manner,” delivered to them the Charter, and they were qualified to exercise the important trust reposed in them by taking the oaths (to the government and that of office), and subscribing the declaration as prescribed by the charter. This was the birth of King’s College, now Columbia University. The next Tuesday, the 13th of May, being the day appointed by the charter for the annual meeting of the governors, they accordingly met at the New York Arms to proceed upon business, and the meetings of the governors of the college continued to be held here for many years.

French and Indian War