Brookston Beer Bulletin

Jay R. Brooks on Beer

  • Home
  • About
  • Editorial
  • Birthdays
  • Art & Beer

Socialize

  • Dribbble
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Flickr
  • GitHub
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
Powered by Head Quarters Built on WordPress
You are here: Home / Art & Beer / Pre-Revolutionary Inns & Ale Houses Of Old Philadelphia

Pre-Revolutionary Inns & Ale Houses Of Old Philadelphia

September 20, 2015 By Jay Brooks

independence-hall
Here’s another fun historical artifact that I came across when I one of my beer ads was for the Robert Smith Ale Brewing Company, which was founded in Philadelphia in 1774, incorporated in 1887, and was apparently acquired by Schmidt’s around 1881. In 1909, Schmidt’s, through their Robert Smith Ale Brewing Company brand, commissioned a local artist, James Preston, to create a series of twelve works depicting pre-revolutionary taverns and inns in or near Philadelphia as way to promote the heritage of the Robert Smith beer brand.

James Moore Preston (1873-1962) was artist and illustrator who trained under Thomas Anshutz at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia. Preston also did one cover for the “Saturday Evening Post,” in April 1905, although his most active period was during the 1920s. Here, you can read more about Preston’s http://rogallery.com/Preston_James_Moore/Moore_Preston-biography.htmlbiography.

And here’s more about Robert Smith, from an article in Zymurgy magazine by Pennsylvania beer historian Rich Wagner from 1991.

Another brewer who withstood the test of time was Robert Smith. What was to become Robert Smith’s Ale Brewery had its humble beginnings in 1774 when Joseph Potts established a brewery at Fifth and Minor Streets in Philadelphia. During the British occupation of the city, the brewery was seized and used as a barracks.

In 1786 Henry Pepper purchased Potts’ brewery and operated it quite successfully. His wealth and philanthropy were demonstrated when he provided the clock and bell in the tower of Independence Hall. Upon his death in 1898 he donated large sums of money to many charitable and cultural institutions of the city. His son George headed the brewery and directed it successfully before leasing the establishment to Robert Smith.

In 1837 Smith came to America after having served an apprenticeship with the Bass Brewery in Burton-on-Trent, England. He began brewing on St. John Street near the Delaware River. He became acquainted with Pepper and Sickel and in 1845 purchased their brewery.

The Robert Smith India Pale Ale Brewing Company was incorporated in 1887 and moved to a new plant at 38th and Girard (right across the Schuylkill River from “Brewerytown”). It operated until Prohibition as the oldest brewery in continuous operation in America. In 1891 Robert Smith was described as a “hale and hearty” 84-year-old who was still running the brewery. He died two years later and the business was reorganized as the Robert Smith Ale Brewing Co. owned by Schmidt’s Brewery of Philadelphia. The Smith brewery produced mainly ales and stouts. Production figures for the turn of the century are: 1902: 53,521 bbl.; 1905: 61,910 bbl.; 1907: 64,400 bbl. Brands included Tiger Head Ale, XXX Stout, Porter, IPA, Old Mystery, Imperial Burton and English Pale.

The twelve prints show up from time to time on eBay, antiques auctions, collectibles websites and even on Amazon. They’re also in the collection of the Library of Congress.

In addition to the posters, they also created a short book — more or a pamphlet at 37 pages — with information about the brewery and each of the twelve images.

Untitled
Untitled

Here’s the book’s introduction:

Untitled
Untitled

Below are all twelve illustrations. In each case, I used the biggest and best image I could find. Below each print I’ve added the text from the book, and it appears that some editions of the posters may have even included that text just below each print.

The Falstaff Inn
79242_ca_object_representations_media_121907_page

Untitled

Penny Pot Tavern and Landing
Penny-Pot-Tavern

Untitled

Indian Queen Hotel
25510_ca_object_representations_media_121909_page

Untitled

Spread Eagle Inn Inn
5219_ca_object_representations_media_121905_page

Untitled

State House Tavern
17821_ca_object_representations_media_121901_page

Untitled

The Three Crowns
27278_ca_object_representations_media_121902_page

Untitled

Drawbridge and Blue Anchor Inn
94167_ca_object_representations_media_121908_page

Untitled

London Coffee House
philadelphia-colonial-inn-the-london

Untitled
Untitled

City Tavern
philadelphia-colonial-inn-the-city

Untitled

Black Horse Inn Yard
84833_ca_object_representations_media_121911_page

Untitled

Smith’s 1774 Brewery
67086_ca_object_representations_media_121910_page

Untitled
Untitled

Moon and Seven Stars
56344_ca_object_representations_media_121904_page

Untitled

And here’s the final page of text from the 1909 book.

Untitled

Filed Under: Art & Beer, Just For Fun, Related Pleasures Tagged With: History, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pubs



Comments

  1. Scoats says

    September 21, 2015 at 4:13 am

    – “Old Mystery” what a great name for a beer. Maybe I’ll steal it at some point. Unless someone else has beaten me to it.

    – Wow. Loads of cool Philadelphia history I knew nothing about. Thanks for finding and sharing?

  2. Deb says

    March 24, 2016 at 6:08 pm

    my husband has three complete sets of these prints! they are wonderful!!

Trackbacks

  1. Old London Coffee House, Now and Then – Wei's Places in Time says:
    January 30, 2017 at 8:25 pm

    […] http://brookstonbeerbulletin.com/pre-revolutionary-inns-ale-houses-of-old-philadelphia/ […]

Find Something

Northern California Breweries

Please consider purchasing my latest book, California Breweries North, available from Amazon, or ask for it at your local bookstore.

Beer Bulletin Email

Enter your email address to receive daily digests:

Recent Comments

  • Susan Appel on Historic Beer Birthday: John Roehm
  • S. Pavelka on Beer Birthday: Rich Norgrove
  • Celebrating Texas History With Alamo Beer: An Iconic Taste Of The Lone Star State – SanctuaryBrewCo on Fictional Beer Brands
  • Neal Carey on Historic Beer Birthday: Anton Zahm
  • Experience The Taste Of Duff Beer: Limited-Edition Cans And Home Brewing Kits – SanctuaryBrewCo on Fictional Beer Brands

Recent Posts

  • Beer In Ads #4340: Miss Rheingold 1955 Raising The Flags February 2, 2023
  • Historic Beer Birthday: Anton Schwarz February 2, 2023
  • Beer Birthday: Luke Nicholas February 2, 2023
  • Historic Beer Birthday: Frank Senn February 2, 2023
  • Beer Birthday: Jamie Floyd February 2, 2023

Tag Cloud

Advertising Anheuser-Busch Announcements Bay Area Belgium Brewers Association Brewing Equipment Budweiser Business California Christmas Europe France Germany Guinness Health & Beer History Holidays Hops Humor Infographics Kegs Law Mainstream Coverage Miller Brewing Northern California Pabst Packaging Patent Pennsylvania Press Release Prohibitionists Rheingold San Francisco Schlitz Science Science of Brewing Sports Statistics The Netherlands UK Uncategorized United States Video Washington

The Sessions

session_logo_all_text_1500

Next Session: Dec. 7, 2018
#142: One More for the Road
Previous Sessions
  • #141: Future of Beer Blogging
  • #140: Pivo
  • #139: Beer & the Good Life
  • #138: The Good in Wood
  • #137: German Wheat
Archive, History & Hosting

Typology Tuesday

Typology-png
Next Typology:
On or Before March 29, 2016
#3: Irish-Style Dry Stout
Previous Typologies
  • #2: Bock Feb. 2016
  • #1: Barley Wine Jan. 2016
Archive & History

This month’s posts

February 2023
S M T W T F S
 1234
567891011
12131415161718
19202122232425
262728  
« Jan    

BBB Archives