Old Taverns of New York

by W. Harrison Bayles

On the 2d of August the Indians were entertained by the Tammany Society with a grand banquet at their Great Wigwam in Broad Street, at which were present, the Governor of the State, the Chief Justice of the United States, the Secretary of State, the Secretary of War, the Mayor of the City and Colonel Willett. The richly ornamented Calumet of Peace was passed around and wine flowed freely. Colonel Willett had delivered his big talk and partaken of their black drink on his visit to them, and the Indians were now receiving a return of hospitality. Patriotic songs were sung by members of the society and the Indians danced. The Indian chief conferred on the grand sachem of Tammany the title of “Toliva Mico”—Chief of the White Town. The President of the United States was toasted as “The Beloved Chieftain of the Thirteen Fires.” The President’s last visit to Federal Hall was to sign a treaty with these Indians, which was attended with great ceremony. Tammany had taken the lead in all this Indian business and Tammany had made its mark.

TONTINE COFFEE HOUSE

The Tontine Coffee House

In the year 1791 an association of merchants was organized for the purpose of constructing a more commodious Coffee House than the Merchants’ Coffee House, and to provide a business centre for the mercantile community. The company was formed on the Tontine principle of benefit to survivors, and the building they erected was called the Tontine Coffee House. Among the merchants who were interested in this enterprise were John Broome, John Watts, Gulian Verplanck, John Delafield and William Laight. On the 31st of January, 1792, these five merchants, as the first board of directors of the Tontine Association, purchased from Doctor Charles Arding and Abigail, his wife, the house and lot on the northwest corner of Wall and Water Streets, for £1,970. This was the house which had been known as the Merchants’ Coffee House from about 1740, when it was first opened by Daniel Bloom until 1772, when its business was carried by Mrs. Ferrari diagonally across the street, where it had since remained. It was sold in 1759, as related in a previous chapter, by Luke Roome, owner and landlord of the house, to Doctor Charles Arding, who had ever since been its owner. They had already purchased, December 1, 1791, for £2,510, the adjoining lot on Wall Street, and shortly after, for £1,000, they purchased the adjoining lot on Water Street. On the ground of these three lots the Tontine Coffee House was built. Thus the business originated on this spot was coming back to its old home.

In January, 1792, “the committee to superintend the business of the Tontine Coffee House Institution,” gave notice that they would pay a premium of ten guineas to the person who should hand in before the 20th of February next, the best plan for the proposed building, and a premium of five guineas for the second best plan. The objects to be considered in the plans were, “Solidity, Neatness and Useful Accommodation”; the building to be four stories high and to occupy a space of fifty feet by seventy. The plans in competition were to be sent to Mr. David Grim. A petition for the privilege of adding to the Tontine Coffee House a piazza to extend over the sidewalk, presented by John Watts and others in March, 1792, was refused, but, on May 11 permission was given for a piazza to extend six feet over the Wall Street sidewalk. The corner-stone of the building was laid with considerable ceremony on the 5th of June. The first landlord of the house, when completed, was John Hyde.

Just a year later, on Wednesday, June 5, 1793, one hundred and twenty gentlemen sat down to a dinner provided by Mr. Hyde at the Tontine Coffee House to celebrate the anniversary of the laying of the corner-stone of that building. After dinner when fifteen toasts had been drunk, the chairman offered an additional toast, which was: “Success to the Tontine Coffee House and may it long continue to reflect credit on the subscribers.”

The Cap of Liberty

During the French revolution the sympathies of the people of the United States were greatly excited, but many of those who wished success to France were filled with disgust and indignation at the behavior of the French Minister Genet, and of Bompard, the commander of the French ship, L’Ambuscade, who, after landing Genet at Charleston, South Carolina, made his way north to Philadelphia, boarding American ships on his way and seizing British merchantmen near the coast and even in the very bays of the United States. Bompard and his officers were received at Philadelphia with great enthusiasm. On the 12th of June, 1793, they arrived in New York. Instantly there was great excitement. Those friendly to them carried things to extremes. Opposed to them were the supporters of government and good order, joined to the strong English faction that had long prevailed. Two days after their arrival, the Cap of Liberty was set up in the Tontine Coffee House, according to one account, by “the friends of Liberty, Equality, and the Rights of Man, amid the acclamations of their fellow citizens, in defiance of all despotic tyrants. It was a beautiful crimson adorned with a white torsel and supported by a staff.” The cap, “Sacred to Liberty,” was declared to be under the protection of the old Whigs, and the aristocrats, as the opposite party was tauntingly called, were defied to take it down. This defiance brought forth a threat that it would be done, and, in expectation that its removal would be attempted, for several days, hundreds of people gathered in front of the house. No attempt, at that time, seems to have been made to remove the cap, and the excitement gradually subsided.