Chapter 23
From the collection in the Museum of the Poc.u.mtuck Valley Memorial a.s.sociation, Deerfield, Ma.s.s.]
_New England's Most Famous Coffee House_
The Green Dragon, the last of the inns that were popular at the close of the seventeenth century, was the most celebrated of Boston's coffee-house taverns. It stood on Union Street, in the heart of the town's business center, for 135 years, from 1697 to 1832, and figured in practically all the important local and national events during its long career. Red-coated British soldiers, colonial governors, bewigged crown officers, earls and dukes, citizens of high estate, plotting revolutionists of lesser degree, conspirators in the Boston Tea Party, patriots and generals of the Revolution--all these were wont to gather at the Green Dragon to discuss their various interests over their cups of coffee, and stronger drinks. In the words of Daniel Webster, this famous coffee-house tavern was the "headquarters of the Revolution." It was here that Warren, John Adams, James Otis, and Paul Revere met as a "ways and means committee" to secure freedom for the American colonies.
Here, too, came members of the Grand Lodge of Masons to hold their meetings under the guidance of Warren, who was the first grand master of the first Masonic lodge in Boston. The site of the old tavern, now occupied by a business block, is still the property of the St. Andrew's Lodge of Free Masons. The old tavern was a two-storied brick structure with a sharply pitched roof. Over its entrance hung a sign bearing the figure of a green dragon.
[Ill.u.s.tration: THE GREEN DRAGON, THE CENTER OF SOCIAL AND POLITICAL LIFE IN BOSTON FOR 135 YEARS
This tavern figured in practically all the important national affairs from 1697 to 1832, and, according to Daniel Webster, was the "headquarters of the Revolution"]
Patrons of the Green Dragon and the British coffee house were decidedly opposed in their views on the questions of the day. While the Green Dragon was the gathering place of the patriotic colonials, the British was the rendezvous of the loyalists, and frequent were the encounters between the patrons of these two celebrated taverns. It was in the British coffee house that James Otis was so badly pummeled, after being lured there by political enemies, that he never regained his former brilliancy as an orator.
It was there, in 1750, that some British red coats staged the first theatrical entertainment given in Boston, playing Otway's _Orphan_.
There, the first organization of citizens to take the name of a club formed the Merchants' Club in 1751. The members.h.i.+p included officers of the king, colonial governors and lesser officials, military and naval leaders, and members of the bar, with a sprinkling of high-ranking citizens who were staunch friends of the crown. However, the British became so generally disliked that as soon as the king's troops evacuated Boston in the Revolution, the name of the coffee house was changed to the American.
The Bunch of Grapes, that Francis Holmes presided over as early as 1712, was another hot-bed of politicians. Like the Green Dragon over the way, its patrons included unconditional freedom seekers, many coming from the British coffee house when things became too hot for them in that Tory atmosphere. The Bunch of Grapes became the center of a stirring celebration in 1776, when a delegate from Philadelphia read the Declaration of Independence from the balcony of the inn to the crowd a.s.sembled in the street below. So enthusiastic did the Bostonians become that, in the excitement that followed, the inn was nearly destroyed when one enthusiast built a bonfire too close to its walls. Another anecdote told of the Bunch of Grapes concerns Sir William Phipps, governor of Ma.s.sachusetts from 1692-94, who was noted for his irascibility. He had his favorite chair and window in the inn, and in the accounts of the period it is written that on any fine afternoon his glowering countenance could be seen at the window by the pa.s.sers-by on State Street.
After the beginning of the eighteenth century the t.i.tle of coffee house was applied to a number of hostelries opened in Boston. One of these was the Crown, which was opened in the "first house on Long Wharf" in 1711 by Jonathan Belcher, who later became governor of Ma.s.sachusetts, and still later of New Jersey. The first landlord of the Crown was Thomas Selby, who by trade was a periwig maker, but probably found the selling of strong drink and coffee more profitable. Selby's coffee house was also used as an auction room. The Crown stood until 1780, when it was destroyed in a fire that swept the Long Wharf. On its site now stands the Fidelity Trust Company at 148 State Street.
Another early Boston coffee house on State Street was the Royal Exchange. How long it had been standing before it was first mentioned in colonial records in 1711 is unknown. It occupied an ancient two-story building, and was kept in 1711 by Benjamin Johns. This coffee house became the starting place for stage coaches running between Boston and New York, the first one leaving September 7, 1772. In the _Columbian Centinel_ of January 1, 1800, appeared an advertis.e.m.e.nt in which it was said: "New York and Providence Mail Stage leaves Major Hatches' Royal Exchange Coffee House in State Street every morning at 8 o'clock."
In the latter half of the eighteenth century the North-End coffee house was celebrated as the highest-cla.s.s coffee house in Boston. It occupied the three-storied brick mansion which had been built about 1740 by Edward
During the Revolution, Captain David Porter, father of Admiral David D.
Porter, was the landlord, and under him it became celebrated throughout the city as a high-grade eating place. The advertis.e.m.e.nts of the North-End coffee house featured its "dinners and suppers--small and retired rooms for small company--oyster suppers in the nicest manner."
[Ill.u.s.tration: METAL COFFEE POTS USED IN THE NEW YORK COLONY
Left, tin coffee pot, dark brown, with "love apple" decoration in red, New Jersey Historical Society, Newark; right, weighted bottom tin pot with rose decoration, private owner]
_A "Skysc.r.a.per" Coffee House_
The Boston coffee-house period reached its height in 1808, when the doors of the Exchange coffee house were thrown open after three years of building. This structure, situated on Congress Street near State Street, was the skysc.r.a.per of its day, and probably was the most ambitious coffee-house project the world has known. Built of stone, marble, and brick, it stood seven stories high, and cost a half-million dollars. Charles Bulfinch, America's most noted architect of that period, was the designer.
[Ill.u.s.tration: EXCHANGE COFFEE HOUSE, BOSTON, 1808, PROBABLY THE LARGEST AND MOST COSTLY IN THE WORLD
Built of stone, marble and brick, it stood seven stories high and cost $500,000. It was patterned after Lloyd's of London, and was the center of marine intelligence in Boston]
Like Lloyd's coffee house in London, the Exchange was the center of marine intelligence, and its public rooms were thronged all day and evening with mariners, naval officers, s.h.i.+p and insurance brokers, who had come to talk shop or to consult the records of s.h.i.+p arrivals and departures, manifests, charters, and other marine papers. The first floor of the Exchange was devoted to trading. On the next floor was the large dining room, where many sumptuous banquets were given, notably the one to President Monroe in July, 1817, which was attended by former President John Adams, and by many generals, commodores, governors, and judges. The other floors were given over to living and sleeping rooms, of which there were more than 200. The Exchange coffee house was destroyed by fire in 1818; and on its site was erected another, bearing the same name, but having slight resemblance to its predecessor.
[Ill.u.s.tration]
[Ill.u.s.tration: PRESIDENT-ELECT WAs.h.i.+NGTON WELCOMED AT THE MERCHANTS COFFEE HOUSE, NEW YORK
The reception took place April 23, 1789, one week before his inauguration. From a painting by Charles P. Gruppe, owned by the author]
CHAPTER XIII
HISTORY OF COFFEE IN OLD NEW YORK
_The burghers of New Amsterdam begin to subst.i.tute coffee for "must," or beer, at breakfast in 1668--William Penn makes his first purchase of coffee in the green bean from New York merchants in 1683--The King's Arms, the first coffee house--The historic Merchants, sometimes called the "Birthplace of our Union"--The coffee house as a civic forum--The Exchange, Whitehall, Burns, Tontine, and other celebrated coffee houses--The Vauxhall and Ranelagh pleasure gardens_
The Dutch founders of New York seem to have introduced tea into New Amsterdam before they brought in coffee. This was somewhere about the middle of the seventeenth century. We find it recorded that about 1668 the burghers succ.u.mbed to coffee[91]. Coffee made its way slowly, first in the homes, where it replaced the "must", or beer, at breakfast.
Chocolate came about the same time, but was more of a luxury than tea or coffee.
After the surrender of New York to the British in 1674, English manners and customs were rapidly introduced. First tea, and later coffee, were favorite beverages in the homes. By 1683 New York had become so central a market for the green bean, that William Penn, as soon as he found himself comfortably settled in the Pennsylvania Colony, sent over to New York for his coffee supplies[92]. It was not long before a social need arose that only the London style of coffee house could fill.
The coffee houses of early New York, like their prototypes in London, Paris, and other old world capitals, were the centers of the business, political and, to some extent, of the social life of the city. But they never became the forcing-beds of literature that the French and English houses were, princ.i.p.ally because the colonists had no professional writers of note.
There is one outstanding feature of the early American coffee houses, particularly of those opened in New York, that is not distinctive of the European houses. The colonists sometimes held court trials in the long, or a.s.sembly, room of the early coffee houses; and often held their general a.s.sembly and council meetings there.
_The Coffee House as a Civic Forum_
The early coffee house was an important factor in New York life. What the perpetuation of this public gathering place meant to the citizens is shown by a complaint (evidently designed to revive the declining fortunes of the historic Merchants coffee house) in the _New York Journal_ of October 19, 1775, which, in part, said:
To the Inhabitants of New York:
It gives me concern, in this time of public difficulty and danger, to find we have in this city no place of daily general meeting, where we might hear and communicate intelligence from every quarter and freely confer with one another on every matter that concerns us. Such a place of general meeting is of very great advantage in many respects, especially at such a time as this, besides the satisfaction it affords and the sociable disposition it has a tendency to keep up among us, which was never more wanted than at this time. To answer all these and many other good and useful purposes, coffee houses have been universally deemed the most convenient places of resort, because, at a small expense of time or money, persons wanted may be found and spoke with, appointments may be made, current news heard, and whatever it most concerns us to know. In all cities, therefore, and large towns that I have seen in the British dominions, sufficient encouragement has been given to support one or more coffee houses in a genteel manner. How comes it then that New York, the most central, and one of the largest and most prosperous cities in British America, cannot support one coffee house? It is a scandal to the city and its inhabitants to be dest.i.tute of such a convenience for want of due encouragement. A coffee house, indeed, there is, a very good and comfortable one, extremely well tended and accommodated, but it is frequented but by an inconsiderable number of people; and I have observed with surprise, that but a small part of those who do frequent it, contribute anything at all to the expense of it, but come in and go out without calling for or paying anything to the house. In all the coffee houses in London, it is customary for every one that comes in to call for at least a dish of coffee, or leave the value of one, which is but reasonable, because when the keepers of these houses have been at the expense of setting them up and providing all necessaries for the accommodation of company, every one that comes to receive the benefit of these conveniences ought to contribute something towards the expense of them.
A FRIEND TO THE CITY.
_New York's First Coffee House_
Some chroniclers of New York's early days are confident that the first coffee house in America was opened in New York; but the earliest authenticated record they have presented is that on November 1, 1696, John Hutchins bought a lot on Broadway, between Trinity churchyard and what is now Cedar Street, and there built a house, naming it the King's Arms. Against this record, Boston can present the statement in Samuel Gardner Drake's _History and Antiquities of the City of Boston_ that Benj. Harris sold books at the "London Coffee House" in 1689.
[Ill.u.s.tration: NEW YORK'S PIONEER COFFEE HOUSE, THE KING'S ARMS, OPENED IN 1696
This view shows the garden side of the historic old house as it was conducted by John Hutchins, near Trinity Church, on Broadway. The observatory may have been added later]
The King's Arms was built of wood, and had a front of yellow brick, said to have been brought from Holland. The building was two stories high, and on the roof was an "observatory," arranged with seats, and commanding a fine view of the bay, the river, and the city. Here the coffee-house visitors frequently sat in the afternoons. It is not shown in the ill.u.s.tration.
[Ill.u.s.tration: BURNS COFFEE HOUSE AS IT APPEARED ABOUT THE MIDDLE OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY
It stood for many years on Broadway, opposite Bowling Green, in the old De Lancey House, becoming known in 1763 as the King's Arms, and later the Atlantic Garden House]
The sides of the main room on the lower floor were lined with booths, which, for the sake of greater privacy, were screened with green curtains. There a patron could sip his coffee, or a more stimulating drink, and look over his mail in the same exclusiveness affected by the Londoner of the time.
The rooms on the second floor were used for special meetings of merchants, colonial magistrates and overseers, or similar public and private business.
The meeting room, as above described, seems to have been one of the chief features distinguis.h.i.+ng a coffee house from a tavern. Although both types of houses had rooms for guests, and served meals, the coffee house was used for business purposes by permanent customers, while the tavern was patronized more by transients. Men met at the coffee house daily to carry on business, and went to the tavern for convivial purposes or lodgings. Before the front door hung the sign of "the lion and the unicorn fighting for the crown."