The French Arms Tavern (also known as the Thirteen Stars, Blazing Star Tavern, City Tavern and City Hotel) was a structure in

Trenton, New Jersey Trenton is the capital city of the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat of Mercer County. It was the capital of the United States from November 1 to December 24, 1784.Congress of the Confederation from November 1, 1784, to December 24, 1784. The building was located at the southwest corner of King (now Warren) and Second (now State) Streets from 1730 until 1837 when it was torn down.

History

Historian William Backes described the original building as "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 until 1742 it was the official residence of Royal Governor Lewis Morris. During the

Second Battle of Trenton The Battle of the Assunpink Creek, also known as the Second Battle of Trenton, was a battle between American and British troops that took place in and around Trenton, New Jersey, on January 2, 1777, during the American Revolutionary War, a ...

, it was involved in "one of the most brutal military murders" of the New Jersey campaign when Reverend John Rosburgh was bayonetted to death by Hessian troops. From April 1, 1780, until February 1781 it was known as the Thirteen Stars and run by Jacob Bergen. In 1781, John Cape, upon becoming the proprietor, changed the name to the French and Indian Arms, commonly referred to as the French Arms Tavern. In 1783, Jacob Bergen returned to operate the tavern again. It was extensively renovated in 1784, combining the rooms on the first floor into one room known as the Long Room. Moore Furman, James Ewing, and Conrad Knotts signed a lease with Bergen for annual payment of 150 pounds for "the use and purpose of Congress of the United States to set in." It continued to be known as the French Arms Tavern until being leased to Francis Witt on January 4, 1785 and renamed the Blazing Star. From December 11 to December 18, 1787, it served as the meeting location for the New Jersey

ratification Ratification is a principal's approval of an act of its agent that lacked the authority to bind the principal legally. Ratification defines the international act in which a state indicates its consent to be bound to a treaty if the parties inten ...

convention for the

United States Constitution The Constitution of the United States is the Supremacy Clause, supreme law of the United States, United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, in 1789. Originally comprising seven ar ...

. On April 1, 1789, Henry Drake took over the tavern and renamed it the City Tavern. It was here on April 21, 1789, that

George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of th ...

, journeying to New York for his inauguration, dined after being received by the citizens of Trenton at the

Assunpink Creek Assunpink Creek is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed April 1, 2011 tributary of the Delaware River in western New Jersey in the United States.Gertler, Edward. ''Garde ...

Bridge. In 1836, the First Mechanics and Manufacturers Bank purchased the property, tore down the tavern and constructed a new two-story building on the site. The building is currently occupied by a branch of

Wells Fargo Wells Fargo & Company is an American multinational financial services company with corporate headquarters in San Francisco, California; operational headquarters in Manhattan; and managerial offices throughout the United States and intern ...

Gallery

File:French Arms Tavern, Trenton, NJ - information plaque.jpg, Plaque commemorating the ratification of the United States Constitution on the One West State Street building now at this site File:Reception to Washington on April 21, 1789, at Trenton on his way to New York - N. C. Wyeth, at TESU.jpg, ''

Reception to Washington on April 21, 1789, at Trenton on his way to New York to Assume the Duties of the Presidency of the United States ''Reception to Washington on April 21, 1789, at Trenton on his way to New York to Assume the Duties of the Presidency of the United States'' is a large-scale oil painting completed in 1930 by American artist N. C. Wyeth of president-elect George ...

'', by

N. C. Wyeth Newell Convers Wyeth (October 22, 1882 – October 19, 1945), known as N. C. Wyeth, was an American painter and illustrator. He was the pupil of Howard Pyle and became one of America's most well-known illustrators. Wyeth created more than 3,000 ...

, 1930 File:One West State Street, Trenton, NJ - 2019.jpg, One West State Street building on this site File:Entrance, One West State Street, Trenton, NJ.jpg, Bronze doors at One West State Street, featuring

bas-relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term ''relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that the ...

portraits of

Marquis de Lafayette Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de La Fayette (6 September 1757 – 20 May 1834), known in the United States as Lafayette (, ), was a French aristocrat, freemason and military officer who fought in the American Revoluti ...

Alexander Hamilton Alexander Hamilton (January 11, 1755 or 1757July 12, 1804) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first United States secretary of the treasury from 1789 to 1795. Born out of wedlock in Charlest ...

, and

Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin ( April 17, 1790) was an American polymath who was active as a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher, and political philosopher. Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the leading inte ...

References

{{Coord, 40.2203, -74.7658, display=title Commercial buildings completed in 1730 Buildings and structures in Trenton, New Jersey New Jersey in the American Revolution History of Trenton, New Jersey Former national capitol buildings in the United States Buildings and structures demolished in 1837 1730 establishments in New Jersey Taverns in the American Revolution 1837 disestablishments in New Jersey