What was advertised in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago today?

“The Fountain and Three Tuns, … [an] old accustomed and commodious tavern.”

When William Dibley, an experienced tavernkeeper, became the proprietor of the Fountain and Three Tuns in Philadelphia in February 1775, he placed an advertisement in the Pennsylvania Ledger to promote some of the amenities available at his new location.  He hoped that a variety of conveniences would encourage prospective patrons to visit the Fountain and Three Tuns.

Dibley made some of the most common appeals that appeared in advertisements for inns and taverns during the era of the American Revolution.  He highlighted the hospitality that he offered to guests, pledging that they would receive “the most civil treatment.”  He served “the best of liquors and provisions” in a “commodious tavern” that he had “considerably improved” or renovated for the comfort of his patrons.

Those improvements included updating the stables to accommodate sixty horses.  Travelers who visited Philadelphia could expect to find space for their horses in Dibley’s stables while they enjoyed their time at the Fountain and Three Tuns.  Those stables had easy access to the streets of Philadelphia via a “convenient passage either from Market or Chesnut streets.”  For affluent patrons, the tavernkeeper also had a “house for carriages.”

The tavernkeeper provided other services to entice merchants and others to visit the Fountain and Three Tuns, including messengers dispatched to other towns every Wednesday.  One “goes through Newark [in Delaware] to Nottingham [in Maryland],” carrying “packages and orders” to colonies to the south.  The other headed to the west, going “through Goshen to Strasburg, in Lancaster County.”  In addition, the “Virginia and Baltimore posts also call at the said inn every week.”  Dibley positioned the Fountain and Three Tuns at the center of networks for conducting commerce.

Dibley certainly hoped that his reputation would attract former customers and “his Friends in particular” who knew him from the Cross Keys on Chestnut Street.  His advertisement advised them that they could expect the same level of service at his new location.  Yet the tavernkeeper did not merely wish to transfer his current clientele from one establishment to another.  His extensive advertisement notified both locals and travelers of the many reasons they should choose the Fountain and Three Tuns over other inns and taverns in Philadelphia.