as early as 1752

"As early as 1752 one hundred and twenty licensed taverns did business in [Philadelphia] ... . Such houses offered a genuine social solvent. 'I dined at a tavern with a very mixed company of different nations and religions,' recordered Dr. Alexander Hamilton in his Itinerarium in 1744. 'There were Scots, English, Dutch, Germans,and Irish; there were Roman Catholicks, Churchmen, Presbyterians, Quakers, Newlighters, Methodists, Seventh daymen, Moravians, Anabaptists, and one Jew,' gathered in 'a great hall well stocked with flies.' Daytimes, hundreds frequented the London Coffee House at Front and Market streets, opened by William Bradford in 1754, which served as a general clearinghouse for business, news and gossip ... ."

-- From Rebels and Gentlemen: Philapdelphia in the Age of Franklin, by Carl and Jessica Bridenbaugh, (New York: Reynal & Hitchcock, 1942).

For more on the important role that taverns and other "third places" have played in cities and towns, read excerpts from Ray Oldenburg's, "Our Vanishing Third Places" in the Planning Commissioners Journal (complete article is available to order & download).

Take a look also at a post on our PlannersWeb blog, "Exchanging Local News: from Colonial Taverns to Email Networks," that discusses how neighborhood communication has moved from the kind of third places Oldenburg focuses on to email networks. We take a look at one such network: Front Porch Forum. Is this trend something to be cheered, or saddened, by?