Old Taverns of New York

by W. Harrison Bayles

The City Hotel

The new house which was erected in the early part of the year 1794 was called the Tontine Hotel, but it soon came to be more generally spoken of as the City Hotel. Robert Hunter, who had been keeping a tavern in Wall Street, became its first landlord. He was in possession of it and meetings were being held there in the early part of June, 1794. It was considered the largest and finest hotel then in the United States. It became the meeting place of societies and associations and of the City Assembly which continued to flourish as it had done for many years. On Friday, October 7, 1796, there was great rejoicing in the city over the French victories, news of which had just been received. The church bells were rung from twelve to one o’clock, “and in the evening, as it were by patriotic sympathy, a hall full of old Whigs and friends to the liberty of Man, assembled at Hunter’s Hotel, where a number of patriotic songs were sung, a cold collation was served up and sixteen toasts were given apropos of the news of the day.” The nineteenth anniversary of the signing of the treaty of alliance between France and the United States was celebrated on Monday, February 6, 1797, at Hunter’s Hotel by a numerous assembly of patriotic citizens. Hunter remained landlord of the City Hotel until 1799, when he was succeeded by John Lovett, under whose management the house became quite popular.

THE CITY HOTEL

Saturday, the 4th of July, 1795, the anniversary of our independence was celebrated in the city with more than usual attention, induced probably by the political excitement which then prevailed. The ringing of all the bells of the city with a Federal Salute from the Battery ushered in the day, which was repeated at noon and in the evening. There was a large procession, which about eleven o’clock moved from the Battery to the new Presbyterian Church where the Declaration of Independence was read by Edward Livingston and an elegant and patriotic discourse was delivered by the Rev. Mr. Miller. On returning to the Battery, where a feu-de-joie was fired the different societies that had taken part separated and at three o’clock sat down to entertainments prepared for them at different places in the city. After dinner, the Corporation, the Society of the Cincinnati, the Militia Officers, the Society of Tammany, the Mechanic and Democratic Societies and the Merchants at the Tontine Coffee House sent deputations to each other with congratulations upon the return of the day. The festivities closed with a beautiful display of fireworks under the direction of Colonel Bauman. The merchants, who celebrated the day by a dinner at the Tontine Coffee House were honored by the company of Governor Jay, Major-General Morris, Judge Iredell, Mr. Reed, Senator in Congress from South Carolina, Judge Hobart, Judge Lawrence, Colonel Hamilton, Mr. King, the Mayor of the City, Doctor Johnson, the Secretary of the State, the Attorney-General of the District, the Treasurer of the State, Captain Dennis, Captain Talbot, Captain Thomson. After the dinner toasts were drunk as usual.

The Tammany Wigwam

For some years the Tammany Society had their anniversary dinners and their Fourth of July dinners at Bardin’s, the City Tavern. The Great Wigwam of the society was in the old Exchange in Broad Street, where it continued to be until the building was taken down in 1799. After this the Long Room of Abraham B. Martling’s Tavern on the corner of Nassau and George (now Spruce) Streets, where the American Tract Society Building now stands, became the wigwam of the society. During the period of political excitement, from 1793 to 1795 and later, the Tammany Society is said to have been opposed to radical measures, which might have involved us in European difficulties. A toast drunk at one of their festivals was, “The hawks of war—may they be harmless.” In 1795, during the excitement about the Jay treaty, the minority of the United States Senate who voted against it were toasted, thus showing that there was then in the society a strong anti-federal sentiment. On July 4, 1798, the Tammany Society met in their Great Wigwam in the evening, where a newspaper states “they partook of a collation and drank toasts which were in unison with their political opinions.” This was about the beginning of Tammany’s political career. The principles of Jefferson were in the ascendant; it had become a republican society. Martling’s Tavern was a low, wooden building, with a very rough exterior devoid of paint, having an entrance on Nassau Street. The Long Room was in the rear of the house, and its somewhat dilapidated appearance caused it to be called the “Pig Pen,” by those not friendly to Tammany. All the leading republicans of the day attended the meetings held here, and although the party was threatened by divisions of the Burrites, the Lewisites and the Clintonians, it was held together.

MARTLING’S TAVERN

During the French Revolution there were many Frenchmen who had been driven from France and had taken refuge in New York City. One of these was the famous gastronome, Anthelme Brillât-Savarin, author of La Physiologie du Gout, who tells us something of the way they enjoyed themselves while here. He says: “I sometimes passed the evening in a sort of café-taverne, kept by a Mr. Little, where he served in the morning turtle soup, and in the evening all the refreshments customary in the United States. I generally took with me Vicomte de la Massue and Jean Rodolphe Fehr, formerly a mercantile broker at Marseilles, both emigrés like myself. I treated them to welch-rabbit, which was washed down with ale or cider, and here we passed the evening talking over our misfortunes, our pleasures, and our hopes.”