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CHAPTER VI Landmarks, Taverns, Markets and Fairs
BY WILLIAM J. BACKES I. Landmarks OF ALL of Trenton's landmarks, the Trent House is undoubtedly the oldest. It was built in 1719, the same year in which the name Trent-town was bestowed on the settlement, until then commonly referred to as “the Falls.” THE TRENT HOUSE, OR BLOOMSBURY COURT This
mansion, known at different times as Kingsbury Hall, Bloomsbury Court,
and Woodlawn, is a landmark of rich historical interest. It was built
by William Trent, in whose honor the settlement was named, on the tract
of eight hundred acres which he had acquired from Mahlon Stacy, Jr.,
by deed dated August 17, 1714. Trent himself did not make his permanent
residence here until 1721, but had built the house while still living
in Philadelphia, coming here to enjoy it in the summer seasons before
making it his permanent abode. As
originally constructed the mansion was an oblong building erected of
bricks brought over from Europe, and it exists today exactly as originally
built except for a frame addition said to have been added about 1850
by James M. Redmond, the then owner. Chief Justice Trent died there on Christmas Day 1724. James Trent, his eldest son and heir-at-law, conveyed the property to William Morris, a merchant of the Island of Barbadoes, in the West Indies, by deed dated March 28, 1729. The deed conveyed three hundred acres of land “together with the brick messuage or dwelling house, lately erected by the said William Trent, wherein the said James Trent now liveth.” Morris held title to the property, conveying it to Governor George Thomas of Pennsylvania, in October, 1733. It is not known whether Governor Thomas ever actually occupied the house, but he held title until 1753. Lewis
Morris, the first Colonial governor of New Jersey separate from New
York, leased the property from Governor Thomas in 1742. On June 3, 1744,
while Governor Morris was living at Kingsbury, he wrote his daughter
in London, Mrs. Norris, that he was living in a place of Colonel Thomas's
about a half mile from Trenton: . . . for which I give £60 per annum, our house is good and not one chimney in it smoked, and we live much more private here than at Morrisania. Your mother amuses herself with a brood of turkeys, fowels and ducks which she has about her. He again writes to her in January 1745 that having: . . . to do with an ignorant, perverse and obstinate Assembly who notwithstanding their faire promises, came predetermined to do nothing, I was forced to dissolve them, and being obliged to go down stairs got a most violent cold and cough which held me long and reduced me to skin and bones, 1 1 Collections of the New Jersey Historical Society, Vol. IV, pp. 189, 205. Governor
Thomas conveyed the property to Robert Lettis Hooper on January 31,
1753. The latter, a son of the chief justice of the same name, was a
miller and owner of considerable property at Rocky Hill, and moved into
the Trent House soon after his purchase. He acquired all of the Trents’
former holdings south of the Assunpink Creek, and caused to be laid
out building lots of uniform size on both sides of the road leading
from Trenton to Crosswicks (now South Broad Street) and on the north
side of Ferry Street to the ferry. These lots he advertised as follows:
2 2 Pennsylvania Journal, August 31,1758. Whereas the subscriber having put himself at considerable charge in clearing the ground and laying out in lots of 60 feet front and 181 and a half feet back, being one quarter of an acre, to the best advantage of the settler, a most convenient piece of ground for a town lying in the county of Burlington and township of Nottingham, in West New Jersey, .being on Delaware River, at the ferry commonly known by the name of Trenferry, thence running as the road runs to the Grist Mill opposite; thence down the stream of the said mill to the River Delaware; thence down the river to the ferry; being the head of the navigation from the Capes of Delaware. He called this tract “my new Town of Kingsbury.” On June 25, 1759, he advertises Kingsbury to let for a term of years and on March 12, 1767, advertises it for sale in the Pennsylvania Journal, stating that . . . it is accommodated with a genteel brick dwelling house, 40 x 48 feet, two stories high, four rooms on a floor, with a large handsome stair case and entry, with a cellar under the whole building, and a court yard on each front of the house, one fronting down the River Delaware to the ferry, thro’' a large handsome avenue of English cherry trees, the other fronting up the river to Trenton, with a large brick kitchen 30 x 20 feet, two stories high, with a well in it, and four handsome apartments above for servants . . . . The “brick kitchen” mentioned was built by Governor Thomas when Governor Morris became tenant, and has long since disappeared. William
Bryant bought the property from Hooper on October 28, 1769. He was a
practising physician in Trenton during the Revolution, and the house
was always referred to by the Hessians as “the Doctor's House.” John
Cox, who purchased it from Dr. Bryant on October 28, 1778,changed the
name of the mansion to “Bloomsbury Court.” He was an iron manufacturer
at Batsto (in Burlington County). Mrs. Cox and their six daughters were
very prominent in the social life of Trenton during their occupancy
of Bloomsbury Court. They participated in the reception given to Washington
at the Triumphal Arch by the Ladies of Trenton, when he passed here
on his way to New York in 1789 to be inaugurated the first President
of the United States. John
Cox and Esther, his wife, by deed dated September 24, 1792, reciting
that they then resided in Philadelphia but late of Bloomsbury, conveyed
the property to Marin Bazile Gaston, L’official de Woofoin, gentleman,
of Philadelphia. The latter on October 27, 1795, through his attorney
in fact, James Philip Rossignol de Gandmont, conveyed the property to
Esther Cox, executrix, and John Stevens and Mathias Barton, executors
of the last will and testament of John Cox, deceased. In 1792 a goodly
number of French Roman Catholic families found their way into Trenton
as refugees from the barbarities of the revolution in Santo Domingo.
Simeon Worlock, one of these, occupied the mansion but six weeks before
he died. His body was buried in the Presbyterian churchyard on State
Street. The grave was afterwards covered by the present church building;
but in the vestibule is a slab marked “Simeon Worlock, July 1792, 39
yr.” 3 3 A letter relative to this marker, written by Mrs. Worlock to the Rev. Mr. Armstrong, the minister of the church in 1792, may be found in Dr. Hall's History of the Presbyterian Church (revised ed.), p. 211. Between 1795 and 1838, when James Redmond acquired the property, the mansion passed into the handsof William Cox, Sr., Edward Burd and Edward Shippen Burd, Daniel William Cox and Philemon Dickerson. The latter was governor of New Jersey from 1836 to 1837 and, as he owned the Trent House from August 1835 to September 1838, it was, most likely, the executive mansion during his governorship. Joseph
Wood, a former mayor of Trenton, acquired the property from James M.
Redmond in 1852, and, except as noted in the following paragraph, lived
in it until his death on May 8, 1860. Mr. Wood conducted a general store
at Ringoes before coming to Trenton. He acquired a very large amount
of real estate after coming here, and at the time of his death was probably
the wealthiest man in Trenton. His only daughter, Permelia Sargent,
married Edward H. Stokes, and in August 1861 the executors of the estate
of Joseph Wood conveyed the Trent House to Edward H. Stokes. The latter
on March 17, 1887, conveyed it to his son Edward A. Stokes, the present
owner, who vacated the building about a dozen years ago and has since
resided at Morristown. The
Trent House became the executive mansion for the last time during the
encumbency of Governor Rodman Price, 1854 to 1857. When Mr. Wood resided
in the mansion it was called “Woodlawn.” THE OLD HUNTERDON COUNTY
COURT HOUSE AND JAIL
The
first public building to be erected in Trenton was the Hunterdon County
Court House. It stood on the east side of Warren Street, midway between
Front and State Streets, on the site occupied by the building recently
vacated by the Trenton Banking Company. The lot on which it stood is
commonly believed to have been given to the County of Hunterdon by William
Trent. The Court House, a two-story building of grey sandstone with
stuccoed front, 4 was built in 1719 and soon after its lower story was used for confining
offenders of the law. 4 Raum gives a rather detailed description of the place in his History of Trenton. See also pp. 77-8, above. The court had sat alternately in Maidenhead and Hopewell townships from 1714 to 1719, pursuant to an ordinance of the seventh of April, XIII of Anne, which directed that the Court of Common Pleas and Quarter Sessions be held alternately at those places “until a court-house and gaol for the county should be built.” It having been represented to the governor that the then existent arrangement was inconvenient, the governor accordingly directed (March 1719) that the courts be held at Trenton from September on. The
Court House was used as a jail probably as early as 1721. John Muirheid,
the high sheriff, had complained to the court concerning the lack of
a jail in 1714, 1717, June 1719 and again in March 1720. Escapes from
the jail were frequent and the New Jersey Archives abound with notices
of rewards by the jailor for the capture of escaped prisoners. In
1755 a group of Indians, who had been skulking about the countryside
of Sussex County, were taken into custody and kept in this jail for
the safety of the terrorized inhabitants. British soldiers, Tories and
other persons arrested for high treason, were kept there during the
Revolution. When the Hessians were stationed at Trenton, a part of Colonel
Rall’s own Grenadier Regiment was quartered in the old Court House.
It is said that the walls around the rear and sides of the building
were struck by a cannon ball fired from a Continental battery during
the Battle of the Assunpink. Goods taken from the local Tories after
the Battle of Trenton were stored in the jail of the Court House and
were later returned to the rightful owners through the generosity of
General Washington. Part
of the old jail wall still stands in the rear of the present building
and marks of where the cells had been may be seen in the basement of
the building. The court room was the scene of many interesting trials, among them the case of the Rev. John Rowland, a travelling preacher. Here, too, the renowned Presbyterian minister, the Rev. William Tennent, then pastor of the church at Freehold, was tried for perjury. The
Declaration of Independence was first read publicly from the steps of
the old Court House on Monday, July 8, 1776. In all probability it was
Samuel Tucker, then president of the Provincial Congress of New Jersey,
who read this document to the citizens of the town. The Declaration
had been agreed to on Thursday, July 4, 1776, and after being printed
it was rushed post-haste to the larger towns of the Colonies. We are
informed that the reading at Trenton took place “in the presence of
the Provincial Congress, the gentlemen of the committee, the officers
and privates of the militia under arms, and a large concourse of the
inhabitants.” From
these same steps on April 15, 1783, the proclamation of Governor William
Livingston, declaring the cessation of hostilities between Great Britain
and the United States, was read in the presence of the vice-president
of the State, members of the Legislature, judges of the Supreme Court
and other public officials, together with a great number of the inhabitants
of the town and vicinity. On December 19, 1787, the ratification of
the Constitution of the United States by New Jersey was read aloud at
the old Court House in the presence of the principal citizens of Trenton. The
events which centered interest on the Court House are too many to be
noted here. Mention may be made, however, of the use of the Court House
as a borough hall during the period when Trenton had its first charter. The
Court of Commissioners appointed by the Continental Congress in 1782
to settle the land dispute between Connecticut and Pennsylvania met
in this building, convening here on November 12, 1782. The New Jersey
House of Assembly met in the Court House in November 1784. The Baptists
held services in the building for a while and the city government met
here until the enraged freeholders locked them out. By
an Act of the Legislature passed March 4, 1780, the court was removed
from Trenton to the house of Henry Mershon in Amwell Township (Flemington
became the county seat for Hunterdon in 1791). Thereafter prisoners
of war were kept in the Trenton court house and for a while the Admiralty
Court held its sessions there. When the jail was abandoned by the County,
the town jailor took over the jail for the custody of city prisoners. In
February 1805, the freeholders of Hunterdon County sold the “Old Court-house
and Gaol” to the Trenton Banking Company for $2,025. The history of
the building since that date is given in Chapter XI below, “Banks and
Commerce.” THE OLD BARRACKS AT TRENTON
For
a time preceding the year 1757, and especially during the French and
Indian War, the colonists here were put in fear of a threatened invasion.
Their desire that suitable protection be afforded them against the expected
incursions of the savage Indians, and also that they be relieved of
the burden and inconvenience of supporting soldiers quartered in their
homes, found expression in petitions to the Legislature for the erection
of barracks in the Colony, in which to house the troops of Great Britain
mobilized for defensive purposes. In compliance with the prayers of
these petitions the Legislature made an appropriation for the erection
of the Trenton barracks, among others, and they stand today the only
one remaining of the five built in 1757-58.
On
March 31, 1757, a petition was sent to the General Assembly of the Province
by magistrates, freeholders and inhabitants of the town of Trenton and
other places adjacent in the County of Hunterdon, which recited: That altho we your Petitioners do with truly Loyal and gratefull Hearts acknowledge how much we Owe to our Most Gracious Sovereign, and his Parliament, for furnishing us with repeated supplys of Troops at this Critical Juncture of Affairs when our all is threatened and endangered by our Inveterate and Potent Enemy, in Conjunction with surrounding nations of Cruel and deceitful Savages. And altho we are chearfully willing to exert the utmost of our power to render these his Majesties Troops perfectly usefull, and to answer the just end for which they were designed, in proportion to the number that shall from time to time fall to our share to support: Yet such is the Scituation of Trenton being so great a thoroughfare, and consequently so many soldiers continually passing and repassing upon their Severall Commands, and Quartered upon us Night and day, that unless by the Assistance of this Honourable House we can by some wholesome Law and legal Remedy be eased of this present Distress, the Country will be no longer able to bear the Burden, nor the Officers have it in their Power to keep their stragling Soldiers under due Command and Subjection. We shall not take upon us to dictate to this Honourable House what should be the method of this Remedy, but hope we may presume to offer our Sentiments, that if we could be provided with convenient Barracks it would answer all ends both as to the conveniency and safety that would redound to the Troops, as well as the great ease and advantage it would be to the Subject. We therefore your petitioners Humbly request that this Honourable House would speedily take it into Consideration and enable us to erect and Build such sufficient and Convenient Barracks for the purposes aforesaid or to give us such other adequate Remedy, in such Measure, and with such Power & Authority, and with such Clauses, Proviso’s and restrictions as to this Honourable House, in their Wisdom shall think meet and fitt. And your Petitioners as in duty Bound shall ever Pray, &c. This petition was signed by many persons, of whom descendants are now living in Trenton and vicinity, and believing it will be of interest to have them fully set out, the names follow:
There are thirty-nine petitions of similar character on file in the military records of the State. 5 5 Stryker, The Old Barracks at Trenton, pp. 4, 5. On March 31, 1758, at a session of the Colonial Legislature at Burlington, petitions were presented from Middlesex County setting forth that the quartering of soldiers in that County was found by experience to be very inconvenient, and praying that a number of barracks might be built. It was thereupon ordered that members Johnston, Yard, Read, Paxson and Leaming be a committee to prepare a plan of the manner and an estimate of the expense of building barracks for 1500 men and lay the same before the House. The above-named committee on the same day made the following report: We, the Committee appointed to consider a Plan for building Barracks for 1500 men; and computing the Expences thereof, do hereby report, that we are of Opinion, it will be proper to build . . . one at Trenton, for 300 Men . . . . And it appearing to us . . . the Expence and Method are . . . too uncertain for us to form any tolerable Estimate; Our Opinion therefore is, that the best Method the House can fall upon, will be to appoint three responsible Freeholders in each of the above Places, and to impower any two of them to draw on the Treasury for . . . the sum of £1400, for Trenton . . . and with the moneys so received, to compleat the said Buildings, in the most cheap, expeditious and convenient Manner they are capable of. All which is, nevertheless, submitted to the House by CHARLES READ AARON LEAMING HENRY PAXSON JOSEPH YARD. THE BUILDING OF THE BARRACKS AUTHORIZED The report was unanimously agreed to and on Saturday, April 15, 1758, the bill having passed both Houses, Governor John Reading was pleased to give his assent to the bill “Entituled an Act for Building of Barracks within this Colony,” etc. 6 6 Journal of The Provincial Council, New Jersey Archives, Vol. XVII, p. 165. In
his sketch, The Old Barracks at Trenton, Adjutant General Stryker
says: Soon after the passage of the law a lot was purchased of Mrs. Sarah Chubb, at a place on the west end of Front Street, where the River Road entered Trenton. The purchase money was forty pounds, and the lot contained about one acre. Joseph Peace, the father of Mrs. Chubb, purchased this lot in a tract of thirty-six acres, from James Trent, son of William Trent, March 10, 1732, for one hundred and seventy pounds, silver money. Joseph Peace, the father of Mrs. Chubb, did purchase from James Trent a tract of thirty-six acres, by deed dated March 10, 1732, but this tract lies south of Front Street, and consequently could not have included all of the barracks lot. In 1714 William Trent had purchased from Mahlon Stacy, Jr., 800 acres on both sides of the Assunpink Creek; the 500 acres north of the creek were bounded on the west by a tract of l00 acres then belonging to Nathaniel Pettit, on which the State House is now erected. Front Street, as laid out by Trent, ran westward to within 165 feet of the Pettit tract, where it was intersected and terminated by another (unnamed) street running north. When the Barracks were erected the building was placed directly over Front Street, closing off its west end as well as the unnamed street running north, which it intersected, That part of Front Street from Willow Street to the cast wall of the Barracks had always remained a street and it was impossible for Mrs. Chubb to sell it. ERECTION COMMENCED IN 1758 The erection of the Barracks was commenced on May 31, 1758. 7 The deed for the lot does not appear to have been recorded. A diligent search for it in the office of the secretary of State and in the county clerk's office at Flemington fails to disclose it. The committee of the Provincial Assembly was quite right in its surmise that the expenses of building would vary greatly according to the place where the building was to be erected, as it is found in the minutes 8 that the Barracks at Trenton cost £1040 14s. 2d., plus £2446 6s. 9d. The building of the Trenton Barracks was pushed so rapidly that more than one-half of the structure was filled with soldiers in December 1758. It was fully completed in March 1759. 7 The Old Barracks at Trenton, pp. 10, 11, 12. 8 pp. 33, 52, 59. THE OFFICERS’ QUARTERS We now come to the interesting question of the old Colonial house at the northwest corner of Front and Willow Streets, - the officers’ quarters. General Stryker says that in December 1759 a small addition was built to the Barracks for the exclusive use of the officers in charge of the English troops. 9 9 The Old Barracks at Trenton, p. 12. The Barracks, as is well known, were erected in the form of three sides of a hollow square, the main building running north and south, with two wings, one at the northerly and the other at the southerly end, both extending eastward. General Stryker says it was built entirely of stone, undressed, two stories in height, the main building 130 feet in length and 18 1/2 feet in width, with the two wings each 58 feet in length. The time between the completion of the Barracks in March 1759, until December when the addition for the officers was built, is a period of months only, after which time until the partial demolition of the building for the opening of Front Street. the appearance of the building must have remained unchanged and included the officers’ quarters, which were, in fact, the Colonial house on the northwest corner of Front and Willow Streets. It is assumed that General Stryker was correct when he says that the officers’ quarters were built in December 1759 although he does not disclose the source of his authority nor does he mention the Colonial house or building as being those quarters. Chancellor Walker says that he was able to find only one person who could assure him of the historical fact that this building was the officers quarters, and part and parcel of the Barracks, in 1759, and that person was Miss Emeline R. Johnston, since deceased, whom he interviewed in 1910. She was then eighty-eight years of age, and in the full possession of her faculties. She told him her father purchased this very house in 1836 when she was fourteen years of age, and the family then moved into it. She and her sister resided there until the Civil War, when she left, and her sister, who is also now deceased, continued to reside there for many years afterwards. Miss Johnston not only informed the Chancellor that she had always understood that the old house was part of the Barracks and occupied by the British officers, but also that a daughter of Conrad Kotts (who lived on the west side of South Warren Street between State and Front Streets during the Revolutionary War), 10 who was sixteen years old at the time of the Battle of Trenton, had called upon the Johnston family in 1836 when they first moved into the Barracks house and in conversation told them that the house in which they were living was standing there during the Revolutionary War and was occupied by the officers in command of the troops occupying the Barracks. Miss Johnston also informed the Chancellor that when she lived in the house there was an iron plate in the fireplace in the kitchen, about one yard square, with the British coat of arms upon it, the lion and the unicorn being distinctly remembered by her. 10 Stryker, Trenton One Hundred Years Ago, p. 11. THE PLANS OF THE BUILDING A few years ago there was found in the cellar of the State House a ground-floor plan of the Barracks which showed the old house as the officers’ quarters. The plan, or rather plans, referred to are in duplicate and have been photographed. These photographs now hang in the Barracks. From inspection it would appear that they are not the working plans from which the Barracks were built in 1758-59, but that they were made at a later date and for a different purpose as will now be shown. The French and Indian War ended with the establishment of peace with France in 1765. During that year the buildings seem to have been unoccupied, The attention of the General Assembly was called to this fact in May of that year, and they ordered that the perishable articles therein should be sold and the building kept in repair and rented. William Clayton and Abraham Hunt were appointed commissioners to carry out these orders of the Legislature and they immediately sold the furniture and rented the building and premises, a clause in the lease providing that the premises be surrendered up at any time, on suitable notice being given by the governor that they were needed for the use of the British soldiers. 11 Now it will be observed, by looking at the photographs of the plans, that the building was divided into rooms, which are numbered, and a price set opposite the number of each room. It is obvious that there was no one in Trenton in the Colonial period who for any reason or purpose desired to rent the Barracks as an entirety, and therefore it clearly appears that the building was divided into rooms for the purpose of renting to families and others, and this arrangement must have been made about the year 1765 and continued down to 1776. This plan, then, must have been made not earlier than seven nor later than seventeen years after the erection and completion of the Barracks, by a person contemporary with the structure as erected, who marked indelibly upon the plan the words “Officers Quarters” in making a correct drawing and truly stating a fact concerning the Colonial mansion on the corner of Front and Willow Streets. 11 The Old Barracks at Trenton, pp. 13, 14. At a meeting of the Provincial Council in 1767, William Franklin, the last Colonial governor, presented a communication from Earl Shelburn, one of the Secretaries of State for England, disallowing an Act of the Legislature of this Province for supplying the several barracks with necessaries for the King's troops, and for defraying other incidental charges. This Act was disallowed by the King upon the advice of the Privy Council, because the Act made the nomination of commissioners for carrying it out depend on an Act of the Legislature and not of Parliament. Another reason for the disallowance was that the articles with which the troops were to be supplied, and limiting the money to be paid therefor, was referred to as the usage of the Province. The history of the Barracks during the Revolutionary War is succinctly told on the tablet inside the building which was unveiled on the one hundred fiftieth anniversary of the celebration of its construction, as follows: THESE BARRACKS WERE ERECTED 1758-9 By authority of the Legislature of the Colony of New Jersey for the purpose of quartering British and Provincial troops to resist the threatened invasion by the French and Indians. In its original form presented three sides of a hollow square, which was intersected by the extension of Front Street, in 1813. The building was constantly occupied by troops from the time of completion until peace was established with France in 1765. From that time until the breaking out of the war which resulted in the independence of the United States it was practically disused. For a short time preceding the battles of Trenton and Assunpink it was occupied by the British troops, Hessians, Provincial recruits for the service of the Crown, and Tory refugees, and during the remainder of the war by troops of the Continental Line, State Militia and their French Allies. After the cessation of hostilities it was used for various private and philanthropic purposes, until purchased by the Old Barracks Fund Committee, November 3, 1902, and is now cared for by THE OLD BARRACKS ASSOCIATION, its present owner and preserver, by whom this tablet was erected on the 150th anniversary of the construction of the building. For three years after the Revolution the Barracks were disused and on June 1, 1786, Moore Furman, commissioner for the State, sold them to William Ogden and William Patterson. 12 12 Deed, Hunterdon County Clerk's Office, Vol. 1, pp. 222 ff. FRONT STREET CONTINUED WESTWARDLY Afterwards, Front Street was continued westwardly from Willow Street to the State House lot, and the question is, when was this done? We find that on May 27, 1793, the surveyors of the townships of Trenton, Maidenhead and Hopewell agreed to lay out a road 42 feet wide beginning at the end of Front Strect, near the Barracks, from thence running in the middle of the road north 70 degrees, west 4 chains and 70 links to the State House lot, thence north 22 degrees, east 3 chains and 49 links out into the road leading from Abraham Hunt’s to Beatty’s Ferry (now West State Street) and that the said road should be opened on or before September 1, 1793. That part of the road running north into what is now West State Street was afterwards opened southerly to the river, and was first known as Wall Street, but from 1842 until vacated (as hereafter noted) was called Delaware Street. There are two or three conveyances of land on Front Street prior to 1800 which run to the wall of the Barracks; also one in 1809 and another in 1811. Mr. Raum 13 says that Front Street was continued to the State House yard through the Old Barracks in 1801. General Stryker 14 says that this was done in 1813. The opinion of General Stryker probably rightly expresses the date when part of the walls of the Barracks were demolished to make a continuous highway through from Willow Street to the State House grounds. General Stryker was more accurate that Mr. Raum; the latter says that buildings known as White Hall (Old Barracks) were erected by the King as barracks for his officers. This is a mistake. The King never erected the Barracks, nor was his permission even asked. True, they housed the soldiers of the King, but they were never built exclusively for officers, - in fact the officers’ building was erected after the Barracks proper. As there is no authority showing that part of the walls of the building was actually demolished for the projection of Front Street through the Barracks prior to 1813 (although the street was undoubtedly opened to the westward of the Barracks after it was laid out by the surveyors of the highway in 1793), General Stryker’s assertion, it appears, should be accepted. He says that the building was entirely stone. This is important when we know that at the time of the restoration the front wall of the officers’ quarters facing on the north side of Front Street was of brick, doubtless put there by the owner after the extension of the street, so as to give the dwelling a more modern appearance and in a measure to dissociate it from what it had formerly been. The stone wall has since happily been replaced. 13 History of Trenton, p. 271. 14 The Old Barracks at Trenton, p. 14. HISTORIC STRUCTURE NOW RESTORED
This historic structure has now beers restored to its pristine condition and presents exactly the same appearance it had when originally erected. The restoration was not difficult, - only expensive, and the State of New Jersey generously provided the necessary funds. That
part of the structure on the south side of Front Street has never been
altered externally, though the interior was undoubtedly changed by a
division into rooms for renting to individuals, and that division is
still maintained. The projection of Front Street westward was through
the north end of the main building where it joined the north wing running
easterly. None of the walls of that part which was left standing was
demolished (except for the substitution of brick for stone in the front
wall of the officers’ quarters, now restored) and they stand today as
originally built. When
the Indigent Widows’ and Single Women’s Home Society, which had occupied
that portion of the structure known as White Hall on the southerly side
of Front Street, removed to its new home on Spring Street, the Old Barracks
was put up for sale. To prevent it from passing into the hands of speculators
or contractors, and save it from demolition, some of the patriotic ladies
of Trenton, through a committee, known as the Purchase Fund Committee
and composed of Mrs. Samuel D. Oliphant, Mrs. Eliza Warren Hook, Mrs.
William S. Stryker, Mrs. Washington A. Roebling and Mrs. James B. Breese,
assisted by others, by great effort raised a fund and purchased the
property, which they opened and maintained as the Old Barracks. The
State, becoming interested, persuaded the City of Trenton to vacate
so much of West Front Street as extended through from Willow to Delaware
Streets and all of Delaware Street; bought the houses and lots on the
vacated streets, and restored the Barracks to exactly the state that
they were in when built, except as to the interior, which at first probably
consisted of large rooms, some of which were afterwards undoubtedly
made much smaller. The purchase fund committee and other ladies interested
formed on June 13, 1902, the Old Barracks Association of Trenton, New
Jersey, which the State has graciously continued as managers and custodians
of the Barracks as an historical landmark and repository forever. By deed dated February 10, 1914,the Old Barracks Association conveyed, to the State of New Jersey, White Hall or that part of the property which was owned by the association. 15 The State, therefore, now owns the entire property, with the management and control, as stated, in the Old Barracks Association. 15 Deed recorded in the Mercer County Clerk's Office, Vol. 366, p. 434. The
Old Barracks are now largely used as a museum of Colonial and Revolutionary
relics. The main entrance is in the old officers’ quarters, the ground
floor of which is one large reception room. On the second floor is an
armory, where weapons are displayed. The ground floor of the main building
contains the administration quarters and rooms of patriotic societies;
and so, generally, does the second floor. The doors are open to visitors
from 9 to 5 daily and the entire premises are open to inspection. On
the second floor there is an auditorium running through the north wing,
turning at right angles and running southerly for some distance through
the main building, with the speaker's rostrum at the middle or turning-point,
so that observation from that point can be had both ways. A similarly
arranged banquet hall is located in the basement, with facilities for
about 175 guests, where patriotic societies and the like may give dinners. DOUGLASS HOUSE On
the front of the German Evangelical Trinity Lutheran Church, on South
Broad Street nearly opposite Livingston, is a bronze tablet bearing
this inscription: Here in the house of Alexander Douglass Washington called a council of war on the evening of January 2, 1777, when the flank movement to Princeton was decided upon. Erected by the Trenton High School Class of 1903, February 22, 1902. The church stands upon the original site of the Douglass House, in which the conference between Washington and his generals took place on the night preceding the momentous Battle of Princeton. 16 The modest little two-and-a-half-story frame building was then owned by Quartermaster Alexander Douglass, who had turned it over to Brigadier General Arthur St. Clair for his headquarters. Situated farther from the enemy’s gunfire, incident to the second Battle of Trenton, than was General Washington’s own headquarters in the True American Inn, the Douglass House was selected as the meeting place of the little group of patriots upon whose determination the fate of the new-born nation depended. 16 See Frederick E. Ferris's chapter, above, on “The Two Battles of Trenton.”
The
Douglass House was built by George Bright about the year 1766 on lot
No. 9 in the “New Town of Kingsbury.” Bright had purchased the lot from
Robert Lettis Hooper on September 21, 1756, and conveyed it to Alexander
Douglass on May 12, 1769. Douglass remained in possession of the property
for over 66 years, and upon his death on April 4, 1836, devised it to
Joseph Douglass, son of his brother William. Quartermaster Douglass
had been one of Trenton’s true patriots, serving his country throughout
the Revolution. He took part in the Battles of Long Island, the Assunpink
and Princeton, and the battle at Springfield, N.J., on June 23, 1780. Upon
the death of Joseph Douglass, intestate, on October 16, 1847, the property
descended to Ann Douglass, his daughter. She was the last of the family
to occupy the historic house, parting ownership with it in 1852. Ann
lived to the ripe age of ninety and died on December 17, 1893. 17 17 Her body is interred in St. Michael’s churchyard, Trenton, an exception having been made in her case after the cessation of burials in that graveyard. The
Douglass House came into the possession of the German Lutherans soon
after they had organized a church here in 1851. Thereafter it was used
as a parsonage adjoining the small house of worship. In 1871 a larger
church building was found necessary; the Douglass House was thereupon
sold and removed to 478 Centre Street, where it was remodelled for tenant
purposes. For many years its historic significance was lost sight of,
until the writer’s interest was aroused in 1912 and he eventually succeeded
in positively identifying the building.
18 18 Trenton Sunday Advertiser, March 3, 1912. Following
upon this discovery and identification, the late Adjutant General Wilbur
F. Sadler became interested in the preservation of the shrine. In 1913
he obtained an option to purchase the house, and this was turned over
to the Trenton Catholic Club with the understanding that the club should
supervise the financing of the purchase of the property. Patriotic societies and the school children of Trenton were solicited to aid in raising the money needed for purchase and restoration. Within a few weeks a sufficient fund was raised wherewith to purchase the property but not sufficient to carry on the work of removal and restoration. The World War then interfered with the collection of further funds, but in 1923, ten years after General Sadler had turned his option over to the Catholic Club, Dr. William A. Wetzel, principal of the Trenton High School, successfully supported the club’s campaign for collection of funds, appealing to the children of the city and parochial schools for small contributions. The response was quick and generous. The total amount of money collected from all sources for purchase, removal and restoration of the Douglass House was $14,699.18. In 1923 the Douglass House was moved from Centre Street to a site in Mahlon Stacy Park set aside for its permanent location by the State of New Jersey. Here the house was restored. On January 2, 1926, the 149th anniversary of the second Battle of Trenton, the building was dedicated to the public. The
officers of the Douglass House committee, a corporation not for pecuniary
profit, which had charge of the entire project, were: William J. Backes,
president; Vincent P. Bradley, secretary; Thomas M. Durnan, treasurer. BOW HILL AND ANNETTE SAVAGE Bow
Hill, or “Beau Hill,” as the local wits of a century ago called the
house, was the property of Barnt De Klyn, who, so the story goes, leased
it for a season to his friend, Joseph Bonaparte, as a sequestered retreat
for his protegee, the beautiful Annette Savage. Here on the outskirts
of South Trenton, at the head of a long lane surrounded by beautiful
shade trees, stood and still stands today the old red brick mansion
to which over a century ago the former King of Spain brought the lovely
Quakeress. The highly decorous society of Philadelphia had previously
declined to “know” the fair Annette, when she lived there, and her friend
and protector, Comte de Survilliers, as he called himself, sought for
her what he hoped would prove a more favorable social atmosphere in
the little provincial town on the banks of the Delaware. But if such
was his expectation it was soon made evident that the local dispensers
of social favors were no more inclined to take a complacent attitude
towards Bonaparte’s “friend” than were the moral arbiters of the more
sophisticated Quaker capital. Little is known of her life here, but
it must have been a lonely one. In the early 1820’s Bow Hill was vacated,
and its occupant departed for the wilds of Jefferson County, N.Y., where
Bonaparte laid out a town which he called Diana, and built a villa to
which he gave the title “White Horse.” Here Annette Savage presided
as mistress until the Revolution of 1830 called Bonaparte back to France.
Subsequently she was married to Joseph de la Foille, a young Frenchman
then living in Diana. In addition to the child, Pauline Josephann, whose
grave is in St. Michael’s churchyard, there appears to have been a younger
daughter, Charlotte, who grew to womanhood and died in Richfield Springs
in the last quarter of the nineteenth century. “Pine
Grove,” a house which stood on the bluff overlooking the Delaware River,
now apart of Riverview Cemetery, was also occupied by Annette Savage
for a period. Bow
Hill is now, and has been for many years, in possession of members of
the Lalor family, descendants of Barnt De Klyn, though none of that
name is living in Trenton today. Miss Caroline Lalor, who died about
twenty years ago, was the last of the family to occupy the mansion.
The house since her death has remained closed, with a caretaker in charge
of the property. 19 19 See Heston, South Jersey, a history, p. 120; Woodward, Bonaparte', Park, and the Murats; Mills, Historic Houses of New Jersey, “Bow Hill”; Schuyler, A History of St. Michael’s Church, p. 358. THE DICKINSON HOMESTEAD - THE “HERMITAGE” The “Hermitage,” originally built and occupied by the Rutherford family previous to the War of the Revolution, was purchased by General Philemon Dickinson in 1776, shortly before the Battle of Trenton. It was occupied for many years by the Dickinson family, being the home of Samuel Dickinson, son of the General, who married Ann, a daughter of General Samuel Meredith. Subsequently it was the home of his son Philemon. Many famous people were entertained in this mansion during the Dickinson regime. John Adams, a personal friend of General Dickinson, was a frequent guest. Later Madame Moreau “the beautiful Parisian,” and Louis Philippe, a future King of France, together with many other notables, enjoyed the hospitality of the Hermitage. A partial list of the celebrities entertained was compiled some years ago by Philip Wharton Dickinson. It includes the names of Washington, Adams (John), Jefferson, Livingston, Franklin, Morris (Robert and Gouveneur), Clymer, Witherspoon, Rutledge, Pinckney, Middleton, Carroll, Lafayette, Steuben, Rocharnbeau, Greene, Putnam, Stirling, Wayne, Knox, Lincoln and two kings, viz., Louis Philippe, mentioned above, and Joseph Bonaparte. The mansion, subsequently rebuilt, came into the possession of the Atterbury family, and early in the present century was sold by them, and is now occupied as an apartment house. “Sic transit gloria mundi!” 20 20 See Mills, Historic Houses of New Jersey, “The Hermitage”; and Schuyler, A History of St. Michael’s Church, p. 206. BELLEVILLE This
mansion formerly stood near what is now the corner of West State and
Prospect Streets. Attached to it was an estate of several hundred acres.
It was first occupied by Sir John Sinclair, of the baronetcy of Nova
Scotia. The Rev. Andrew Burnaby, an English traveller, visited Belleville
when he was in Trenton in 1759. Subsequently it belonged to Brigadier
General “Lord” Stirling whose correct name was William Alexander, but
who claimed a title from the English Crown and immense tracts in Nova
Scotia. He was a native of New York, was born in 1726 and had been in service in the French and Indian War on the Staff of General Shirley, but his home was near Baskingridge in Somerset County. His wife was a sister of Governor Livingston of this State. He was Colonel of the first battalion, Somerset Militia, at the breaking out of the war; was appointed Colonel of the first battalion New Jersey Continental line November 7, 1775, Brigadier General by Congress, March it, 1776, and Major General nearly a year later. 21 21 Stryker, The Battles of Trenton and Princeton, pp. 348-9. The mansion was afterwards occupied by Robert Lettis Hooper, III, at one time vice-president of the State, who died there July 30, 1797, in the sixty-seventh year of his age. Soon afterwards is advertised for sale “that elegant seat called Belleville, late the residence of R. L. Hooper on the Delaware and containing one hundred acres.” In September 1806 Belleville was advertised by John Rutherford as “the summer residence of the subscriber in the City of Trenton, having three hundred and thirty acres on both sides of the river and one of the lots between the new street and Calhoun’s lane including Prospect Hill.” The Sinclair, Alexander and Rutherford families were all related. 22 22 Hall, History of the Presbyterian Church, 2nd ed., p. 151. THE GROVE
The Dickinson house, the old stone mansion, sometimes known as the “Grange” but more properly as the “Grove,” so called because of the fine grove of trees which surrounded the house, situated at the corner of North Clinton and Girard Avenues, is the oldest building in East Trenton. It was built, probably in 1792, by Samuel Dickinson, son of General Philemon Dickinson. He was born in 1770 and died in 1839. By profession he was a lawyer but did not practise. His wife was a daughter of Samuel Meredith, the first treasurer of the United States. After the death of his father in 1809, Samuel Dickinson moved from the “Grove” to the Hermitage. His eldest son, John Dickinson, and family, were the last of the name to occupy the mansion. John Dickinson, among others in the locality, attempted the culture of silk-worms and planted many mulberry trees for the silk-worms to feed on. Mulberry Street took its name from these trees. Silk culture as a local industry proved a dismal failure. About 1860 the “Grove” passed out of the Dickinson family. Since that time the house has changed hands a number of times. At one time it was a saloon and later a branch of the Y.W.C.A. In 1928 it was bought by the trustees of the Free Public Library for branch library purposes. |
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II. Inns and Taverns THE inns and taverns 23 of long ago filled a large place in the life of the community. They were the social clubs of an age which had so few of our modern conveniences. Public bodies utilized their chambers for the transaction of official business. Travellers over poor roads had to break their journey frequently for comfort and refreshment and the little inn with its lights aglow after nightfall was a welcome sight to many a stranger. Therein were food and shelter for man and beast. In coaching days, Trenton was an important stopping point and Warren Street, on the direct line of traffic between New York and Philadelphia, was lined with houses of public entertainment. As the capital of the State and the place of meeting of the Courts and the Legislature, this city had to be prepared for unusual numbers of transient guests. The following pages describe in some detail many of the hostelries which have served Trenton's residents and visitors from early Colonial times until the present. 23 “Ordinary” was the general term applied to public places where transients were accommodated. Afterwards the terms “inn” and “tavern” were applied to them. These terms have been used interchangeably by almost everyone. However, there is this distinction - that an inn is a house which is held out to the public as a place where all transient persons who come will be received and entertained as guests for compensation, while a tavern, according to the early nomenclature, signifies a place where food and drink without lodging may be obtained. THE LIGONIER OR BLACK HORSE TAVERN The Ligonier stood on the northwest corner of Queen (Broad) and Second (State) Streets, and was kept by Robert Rutherford. It is described by many writers as located at the northwest corner of Queen and Front Streets, but this is an error. Samuel Tucker, sheriff of Hunterdon County, on November 29, 1764, advertised the tavern for sale in the Pennsylvania Gazette, as follows: By virtue of several Writs of Fieri Facias to me directed, will be exposed to Sale, at public Vendue, to the highest Bidder, on Tuesday, the 15th Day of January next, between the Hours of Twelve and Five o’clock in the Afternoon, on the Premises, that commodious, and most agreeable situated House, which has long been known to be an elegant and well accustomed Tavern, with the Lots of Land thereunto belonging, situated in Trenton, is on the Corner 67 Feet front on Queen-street, and 174 Feet front on Market-street, adjoining the Lands of William Morris, Esq; William Clayton, Esq; James Smith, and Robert Singar, containing Half an Acre, more or less; the House is built of Brick, 35 by 35 Feet square, two Stories high, four Rooms on the lower Floor, a spacious Entry through it, there are three Rooms on the Second Story, one of which is a genteel Assembly Room, with a Door that opens into a fine Balcony fronting on Queen Street, good lodging Rooms in the third Story or Garret, neatly finished, convenient Fire-places, in the House, and excellent Cellars underneath the whole. Also, a large Brick Kitchen, 21 Feet front on Queen-street, and 41 Feet back, two Stories high, in which is a Wash-house, with good lodging Rooms in the second Story and Garret; the whole compleatly finished, large Stables fronting Market-street, with Cow-houses, Hen-houses, Pigeon-houses, a good Garden, with a large Yard, in which is an excellent Well; late the Property, and now in the Possession of Robert Rutherford; Seized and taken in Execution at the Suit of Moore Furman, Robert Lettis Hooper, and others, and to be sold by SAMUEL TUCKER, Sheriff. 24 24 New Jersey Archives, Vol. XXIV, p. 460. Robert Lettis Hooper evidently purchased the property at the sale. He in turn advertised it for sale, along with other property, in March 1767, and described it as “one handsome brick house, lately the property of Robert Rutherford, and allowed the best stand for a tavern or a gentleman in any part of Trenton.” There followed a detailed description of the property. 25 25 ibid., Vol. XXV, p. 314. The land on which the house was erected was owned by Benjamin Smith in 1733. Smith purchased it from Enoch Andrews and built the house on it. Some time prior to 1744 he conveyed the property to William Morris, who on February 26, 1748, conveyed it to Thomas Cadwalader, the first chief burgess of Trenton. Since the house was “allowed the best stand for a tavern or a gentleman in any part of Trenton,” we presume it was Dr. Cadwalader’s residence while in Trenton. In August 1750 Dr. Cadwalader advertised all his Trenton properties for sale, among them “a large commodious corner brick house, two stories high furnished with three good rooms on the lower floor and a large entry through; four good rooms on the upper floor and four lodging rooms plaistered in the upper story, with good cellars, stone kitchen, garden and stables, situated in Queen Street in a very public part of the Town of Trenton very convenient for any public business.” 26 He conveyed the property on February 4, 1754, to James Rutherford, “yeoman,” who in turn conveyed it to Robert Rutherford, his nephew, by deed dated July 27, 1759. The deed refers to the grantee as “tavern keeper”; Robert Rutherford had been licensed to keep a tavern three years before. 26 ibid., Vol. XII, p. 661. Robert Rutherford was imprisoned in Trenton gaol for debt in 1765. On November 27, 1766, he made an assignment for the benefit of his creditors and was discharged from confinement by the court. He continued to conduct the Ligonier Tavern, as a license was granted him afterwards on May 3, 1768. Under execution of several judgments entered in Hunterdon County. John Barnes, sheriff of that County, on April 10, 1771, sold the Ligonier Tavern, as the property of Robert Rutherford, to John Johnson of Perth Amboy. 27 The latter on April 23, 1778, conveyed it to Joseph Millner, and it was afterwards commonly known as Millner’s corner. 27 Deed Book G. 3, p. 78, Office of the Secretary of State. No account of the Ligonier Tavern would be complete without some reference being made to the romance which budded there and the fate which befell Robert Rutherford and his family. In May 1856 London papers carried the report of a suit then in the equity court, of which the following is an extract: Robert Rutherford [as the result of a family quarrel] quitted his father’s house [in the north of Ireland], and shortly afterwards enlisted in Ligonier’s troop of Black Horse. After a time he . . . settled at the village of Trenton, in the United States, where he opened a tavern, which he called “The Ligonier or Black Horse.” . . . About that period [1770] there one day drove up to the tavern, in a carriage and four, an English officer, by name of Fortescue. Colonel Fortescue dined at the tavern, and after dinner had a conversation in private with one of Rutherford’s daughters. Within two hours after this conversation Francis Mary Rutherford had, notwithstanding her sisters’ entreaties, quitted her father’s house in company with Colonel Fortescue. With him she went to Paris, where after a few years he died, leaving her, it is supposed, a considerable sum of money. On his death she quitted Paris and came to England; and here she married a gentleman of considerable property, named Shard. In 1798 Mrs. Shard had a great desire to discover what had become of her father’s family, [but] inquiries were fruitless - her brother and three sisters were dead . . . . In 1819 Mrs. Shard died a widow, childless and intestate. No next of kin appearing, the Crown took possession of the property. In 1823 an attempt was made to set up a document as the will of Mrs. Shard, but it was declared a forgery. In 1846 the present plaintiff made a claim to the property, setting up that claim through a Mrs. Davies, who was alleged to be first cousin of the deceased . . . . The Vice-Chancellor came to the conclusion that as between the Crown and the claimant the latter made out a case . . . but as it did not follow that there might not be still nearer relatives than the claimant, . . . the matter must go back to chambers for further inquiries. ROYAL OAK After Robert Rutherford left the Ligonier, Rensselaer Williams occupied the building in 1768 as the Royal Oak. Williams was from Middlesex County, and was first licensed to keep a tavern in Trenton as early as 1766. Where his first inn was located has not been ascertained. Early in 1773 Williams removed the Royal Oak inn to Trenton Ferry, the notice of the removal appearing in the Philadelphia papers on March 22. 28 Before March 1, 1776, Williams left the inn at Trenton Ferry and opened a public house in Trenton, “at the sign of the Royal Oak, in the house where the late Mr. Cottnam dwelt.” Williams’ advertisement describes his new stand as well accommodated with good stables, carriage house and hay. 29 The Mr. Cottnam here referred to was Abraham Cottnam, one of the leading lawyers of Trenton before the Revolution. 30 28 New Jersey Archives, Vol. XXVIII, p. 461. 29 New Jersey Archives, 2nd Ser., Vol. I, pp. 8, 79. 30 See Chap. XII, below, “Courts, Judges and Lawyers.” Former writers have stated that in the latter part of his life Cottnam removed to Dowd’s Dale, locating his tenement at what is now the northwest corner of Bank and Warren Streets, and that at his death it became the inn of Rensselaer Williams. 31 31 See footnote, New Jersey Archives, 2nd Ser., Vol, I, p. 59. This seems to be an error, in view of existing evidence indicating that Abraham Cottmum lived elsewhere. Under his will, bearing date December 16, 1775, Cottnam devised to his wife Elizabeth Ann Cottnam “the house and Lott of land wherein I now live, together with the gardens, barns, stables and all the outhouses belonging thereto, for and during her natural life” and after her decease to his son-in-law Robert Hoops and to his son George Cottnam, forever, as tenants in common. On March 2, 1779, Cottnam's executors advertised the property for sale: To be sold and may be entered on the first day of April, next. All that tenement whereon Abraham Cottnam, Esq., lately lived, situate on the east side of Queen Street, in Trenton. There are on the .premises a large commodious brick dwelling house two stories and a half high, four rooms on a floor, with convenient upper lodging rooms, a convenient kitchen adjoining, an elegant brick out house fronting the street at a small distance a large convenient barn, stables, carriage house and other out building; a garden containing about three quarters of an acre. It has been a tavern for upwards of two years past, and is a very convenient and an excellent stand for that business or any other, being situate on the street leading directly through the town, and is a very agreeable situation for a private gentleman. 32 32 New Jersey Archives, 2nd Ser., Vol. II, p. 149. The house in which Abraham Cottnam dwelt at the time of his death was the northeast corner of what is now Broad and Hanover Streets. 33 33 See Deed, Highbee to Tucker, Vol. XXXV of Deeds, p. 175, recorded February 2, 1856, in Mercer County Clerk’s Office; and Deed, Morris to Smith, Book A.F., p. 236, Secretary of State’s Office. George Cottnam on behalf of himself and the other executors of Abraham Cottnam, on April 20, 1779, entered into a written agreement to sell and convey this property to Rensselaer Williams for £5000. The agreement states that it was then in the actual possession of Williams. 34 34 Book A.L, p. 428, Secretary of State’s Office. References to Rensselaer Williams’ inn are frequently found in the early records. Thus we learn that many prisoners of war were sent there upon their parole during the Revolution; notable among them was Dr. John Lawrence of Monmouth County. 35 The Admiralty Courts met at the Inn in January, February and March, 1778, 36 and on December 8 of the same year the law library of Daniel W. Coxe and the household goods of John Barnes, two prominent loyalists, were sold there. 37 35 Minutes of Provincial Congress and Committee of Safety, p. 495. 36 New Jersey Archives, 2nd Ser., Vol. II, pp. 10, 48, 92. 37 ibid., p. 555. THE CITY TAVERN On the southwest corner of King and Second (Warren and State) Streets, where the Mechanics National Bank now stands, stood the City Tavern. On September 20 and 21, 1730, Peter Bard conveyed to John Dagworthy a lot 66 feet on King Street by 330 feet on Second Street. Dagworthy at that time owned and lived in the house located immediately south of this corner lot. On the corner lot Dagworthy built a stone house two stories high with gable roof. The building measured 45 feet front by 53 feet in depth, with a kitchen in the rear containing rooms for servants on the second floor. It was the handsomest and most commodious house in Trenton in its day. From 1740 to 1742 it was the official residence of Governor Lewis Morris. Mr. Dagworthy died in 1756 and in 1760 the property was sold by his executors to Samuel Henry, who occupied it as his residence until 1780. Henry leased the property to Jacob Bergen, who, after making extensive changes, opened it as a tavern under the name of the Thirteen Stars. In 1780 the General Assembly of New Jersey is said to have held its sessions in this place. About 1781, Mr. Bergen went to Philadelphia to conduct the Bunch of Grapes, and one John Cape took over the Thirteen Stars, changing its name to the French Arms. Cape quit the inn in 1783 and Bergen returned to take over the management of the place. When the Continental Congress met in Trenton in 1784, its sessions were held in the Long Room of Mr. Bergen’s French Arms. It was here that the Marquis de Lafayette took leave of the Congress on December 11, 1784. When that body adjourned on December 24, 1784 the commissioners who had leased the property for the use of Congress for a period ending March 31, 1786, assigned the unexpired term to Francis Witt. Witt had entered the tavern business a few years previously by taking over Joseph Clunn’s inn, the Alexander the Great, later changing its name to the Blazing Star. Carrying the Blazing Star sign with him to his new stand, Witt substituted it for the French Arms. After Witt left the inn on April 1, 1789, Henry Drake took possession, naming it the City Tavern. Here it was that Washington was dined and received by the citizens of Trenton, April 21, 1789, while on his way to New York to be inaugurated the first President of the United States. Earlier in the day he had been received and greeted by the ladies of Trenton at the Triumphal Arch erected over the Assunpink Bridge. Drake was followed by Joseph Broadhurst in 1793. Broadhurst, as well as the many subsequent proprietors, continued the inn under the name of the City Tavern. In 1837, when The Mechanics and Manufacturers Bank purchased the property, the tavern was taken down and the banking house erected. THE AMERICAN HOUSE The American House corner has been the site of a tavern or hotel for over two hundred years. The present American House is on the southwest corner of Warren and Hanover Streets. Prior to 1849 it was known as the Rising Sun Hotel. On July 30, 1725, James Trent conveyed the lot, on which the American House now stands, to James Severns. The latter, on August 13, 1730, conveyed it “together with the new house or tenement built by the said John Severns on the hereby granted premises” to William Allen. The deed conveys a lot 66 by 165 feet commencing 330 feet from the northwest corner of State and Warren Streets. This is the northerly part of the present lot occupied by the American House. It was advertised for sale by Samuel Tucker, sheriff, under an execution as the property of John Allen in 1764. 38 This execution was satisfied as Isaac Allen, a Trenton lawyer, inherited the property from his father John Allen. During the Revolution Isaac Allen remained loyal to Great Britain and joined His Majesty’s troops under the command of Sir William Howe in New Jersey in December 1776. As a consequence he was attainted August 1, 1778, and his whole estate confiscated and sold. Included in his property was his dwelling house of stone, two stories high, in Trenton. Stephen Lowrey purchased it from the commissioners of forfeited estates on March 20, 1779. On July 26, 1792, Lowrey conveyed the premises to Colonel Isaac Smith, who by profession was a physician and not a lawyer, but was placed on the Supreme Court bench in February 1777. He was later elected to Congress and was the first president of the Trenton Banking Company, serving from February 13, 1805, until his death August 29, 1807. 38 New Jersey Archives, Vol. XXIV, p. 324. The first mention of the Rising Sun Tavern appears in an advertisement in the Federalist of May 2, 1808, wherein John V. Hart and Samuel T. Mahette announced that they had opened a new store in Warren Street next door south of the Rising Sun Tavern. At that time the Rising Sun was conducted by John Anderson who, in 1801, had quit the Indian Queen to be succeeded there by Peter Probasco. Anderson ran the Rising Sun until 1821 when he was succeeded by Jacob Herbert, who had formerly been at the City Hotel. Herbert died in 1825 but Mrs. Hannah Herbert, his widow, continued the Rising Sun until 1828, when she removed to the City Hotel. In 1828 Joseph Wildes, who came from Mount Holly, took over the tavern and ran it until 1831. In December of that year we find Hannah Wildes running it. Joshua Hollinshead followed in May 1834 and ran it until 1842. The next proprietor was Joshua English, who remained until February 2, 1847, when a great fire practically destroyed the Rising Sun. At the time, the hotel was pretty well filled with members of the Legislature and other guests but they were either at the State House or at a lecture at the City Hall. The loss to the owner, Joseph Wood, was estimated at $12,000. Mr. Wood immediately rebuilt the house and on June 8, 1847, it was opened as the American Hotel with Charles Wyckoff as its new proprietor. Mr. Wyckoff continued at the hotel for a number of years. Then Isaac Heuling had it for a while. In February 1857 John V. D. Joline, formerly of Princeton, purchased it. Some of the subsequent proprietors were Edmund Bartlett, Walter F. Bartlett, Charles Kropp, and others. The American House Realty Company (all members of the Kuser family) are now the owners, with Benedict C. Kuser as manager. It contains about seventy-five rooms. For many years this was the principal hotel in the city and many great men have been guests there. President Monroe arrived in Trenton on June 7, 1817. He was escorted to the Rising Sun Hotel and remained in Trenton until the morning of June 9. President Jackson stopped at Trenton on June 11, 1833, when on his tour through the States. He was received by the citizens in large numbers, and dined at the Rising Sun Hotel. General William H. Harrison stopped there on September 9, 1836. President James K. Polk who had been invited to be present at the Independence Day celebration on July 4, 1847, was received by the citizens of Trenton with great rejoicing and after the speeches at the State House he was escorted to the American Hotel where he dined. Daniel Webster was a guest at the American Hotel March 20, 1852, when he appeared as counsel for the Goodyears in the celebrated India rubber case in the United States Court, which is discussed elsewhere in this History. THE INDIAN KING The Indian King Tavern is said to have stood on the west side of North Warren Street, facing .East Hanover. As far back as 1782 we find a printed reference to the Indian King in a notice of Jacob Beck, a blue-dyer, of Germantown, Pa., which informed his customers that they might send their yarn, cloth, etc., to him by leaving it “at Mr. Isaac Britton’s, inn-keeper, at the sign of the Indian King in Trenton.” 39 No other mention of this hotel by name appears until August 16, 1853, when the State Gazette informs its readers that the ancient building occupied by Benjamin S. Disbrow at 88 Warren Street was being torn down. The newspaper then went on to say that the place had at one time been known as the “Indian King Tavern” and that it dated back to the Revolution. In 1800, continued the article, Peter Probasco kept the place, then known as the Eagle Tavern, but for the past twenty or thirty years it had not been used as a tavern. 39 New Jersey Gazette, March 6, 1732. The next reference to the Indian King is found in E. M. Woodward’s History of Burlington and Mercer Counties (p. 709) where we read: “The Indian King was located in Warren Street facing East Hanover Street. Benjamin S. Disbrow afterwards erected his large iron building on the same spot, where he kept a furniture store until his death.” Thus Woodward embalmed the error made earlier in the century by the State Gazette, for the fact is that the Indian King did not stand on the site of the Disbrow building. The truth of this is evidenced by several considerations, the first among them being the taverns that flourished here in 1782. We have heretofore noted that Francis Witt conducted the Alexander the Great before moving down to the French Arms. Witt was at the Alexander the Great, then the Blazing Star, on January 23, 1782. 40 and remained there until January 1785, when he took possession of the French Arms. The Jacob Beck advertisement, set out above, bears date of February 27, 1782. It is quite evident that Isaac Brittain’s “Indian King” and Francis Witt’s “Alexander the Great” were not one and the same tavern. The truth of the matter is that Isaac Brittain’s tavern was located at what is now the northwest corner of Warren and Hanover Streets. It was advertised by John Anderson, sheriff, to be sold under execution on July 12, 1783, as late the property of Isaac Brittain, and is described as “that house and lot where the said Isaac Britton [sic] now dwells, which has been a noted and well accustomed tavern for many years past, with a lot of land containing 16 acres adjoining the tavern.” 40 New Jersey Archives, 2nd Ser., Vol. V, p. 364. John Howell and Abner Scudder advertise the tavern in October 1817 as the Union Tavern, then occupied by Mr. Runyan. 41 In April 1818 one Hugley informs the public that he has moved to the house lately occupied by William J. Leslie (the Phoenix Hotel) between the Indian Queen Tavern and the Union Hotel, “where he will continue the business of clock and watchmaking.” 42 41 Trenton Federalist, October 2o, 2827. 42 ibid., April 6, 2828. A word as to the Alexander the Great site. William Trent conveyed the lot on which the tavern stood to Barbara Talbot on April 25, 1723, and the latter’s daughter, Sarah, conveyed it to Samuel Johnson on July 1, 1731 The deed to Johnson designates the lot as No. 4 in the plan of Trenton, and this is the only evidence we have of the fact that Trent numbered his lots. The southerly 28 feet of the lot belonged to Dorothy Wright in 1787. The remaining 38 feet of lot No. 4, and the land between it and Isaac Allen’s (the American House to the north), was conveyed to William and Robert Chambers by Harrison Palmer on July 22, 1780. 43 These two, by deed dated September 8, 1781. 44 partitioned the property between them, William releasing the lower 38 feet to Robert and retaining the balance. This remaining acreage, measuring about 33 1/2 feet by 165, was sold by the sheriff of Hunterdon County under execution against the Chambers, to James B. Machett, by deed dated February 11, 1796. 45 43 Deed Book I, p. 267, of Hunterdon County. 44 ibid. 45 Deed Book I, p. 442, of Hunterdon County. The Alexander the Great was sold to Francis Witt, then located at the French Arms, by Robert Chambers and Francina, his wife, on August 22, 1787. 46 Witt never moved back to the stand he had once kept, nor was the place ever used again as a tavern. It is described in the deed from the Chambers to Witt as lying between the house late of Dorothy Wright on the south and James Machett on the north. The tavern lot was conveyed by George T. Olmstead to Theodore Blackwell on June 30, 1842 47 and the latter on March 31, 1853, conveyed it to Benjamin S. Disbrow. In the same year the old structure was pulled down and a large iron-front building erected in its place. 48 Mr. Disbrow used the new structure as a furniture store until his death. After that it was used by William S. Sharp as a book- and job-printing establishment. The Daily Public Opinion was printed in this office. Later the ground floor was turned into a billiard-room, restaurant and saloon, which at different times bore the names of the Galaxy and the Alhambra, Frederick Caminade, Edward Updegrove and James H. Letts being proprietors. Finally, in 1928, the building was torn down to make way for the Lincoln Theatre. 46 Deed Book I, p. 269, Hunterdon County. 47 Deed Book D, p. 613, of Mercer County. 48 State Gazette, August 16, 1853. THE CITY HOTEL The City Hotel used to stand on the west side of North Warren Street, opposite Perry Street, the present site of St. Mary's Cathedral rectory and the offices of the Trenton Roman Catholic Diocese. It was the commodious residence of Stacy Potts until 1784. In January 1785 we find it advertised to let: To be let until the first day of November next and may be entered immediately, the House wherein Stacy Potts lately lived in Trenton, which was taken for the use of the President of Congress, and is now vacant by his removal. The house is two stories high, spacious and elegant, having three rooms with fireplaces, besides a large dining room with two fireplaces on the lower floor, five rooms on the second floor, a large convenient kitchen, a cellar under the whole, a pump at the door, a convenient lot with a stream of running water through it and an excellent garden - a stable sufficient to contain eight horses, with room for hay to keep them, may be had with it. . . 49 49 State Gazette, June 12, 1857. Colonel Gottlieb Rall had made the Potts house his headquarters when he and his Hessians came to Trenton in 1776. After the Battle of Trenton, General Washington and General Greene visited the wounded Colonel at this house and offered their consolations before leaving him. In 1784, Potts’ tenancy of the house came to an end. In that year Congress located in Trenton and the State, through Moons Furman, Conrad Kotts and James Ewing, commissioners, leased it for the use of the president of Congress for the term of one year, beginning October 30, 1784. Colonel Richard Henry Lee of Virginia, having been chosen president of the Congress on November 30, 1784, immediately took possession and continued to reside there until January 5, 1785. The place was then advertised for rent for the remainder of the lease. 50 50 See reprint in State Gazette, June 12, 1857, of the original advertisement which ran January 10, 1785. After Mr. Potts had sold the house in 1785 it was converted into a tavern. When General Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, Ambassador to France, visited Trenton early in November 1798 he was tendered a reception at the tavern, then known as the City Hotel. James Ewing, mayor, made the address of welcome and the distinguished guest replied. The hotel was the scene of many receptions and meetings in years following. In February 1803 the question of uniting the Delaware and Raritan Rivers by a canal was discussed here by a meeting of the citizens. The State Bank opened its subscription books at the City Hotel in February 1812. In 1816, Richard Davis and William Scott advertised the hotel as “long kept as a public house” and one of the finest stands in Trenton. Soon after, the building was turned into a boarding house, John Mount, Jr., being one of the keepers. On December 28, 1838, the place was reopened as a tavern under the name of the Trenton City Hotel, by John Van Fleet. 51 During Mr. Van Fleet’s proprietorship, travelling shows frequently set up their attractions at the City Hotel. 51 New Jersey Gazette, December 28, 1838. Dr. Jacob Quick became the owner of the property under a conveyance made by Sam |
