Tun Tavern

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Sketch of the original Tun Tavern

Tun Tavern was a tavern in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and is traditionally regarded as the site where the United States Marine Corps was founded.

The tavern was built in 1685 by Samuel Carpenter. He located this tavern on the waterfront at the corner of Water Street and Tun Alley at what is today known as Penn's Landing. The old English word tun means a cask, barrel, or keg of beer. With his new beer tavern on Tun Alley, Carpenter elected to name the brewery with a logical title, Tun Tavern.

In 1720, the first meetings of the St. George's Society (forerunner of today's "Sons of the Society of St. George") were held at the Tavern. The Society was a charitable organization founded to assist needy Englishmen arriving in the new colony.

In 1732, the first meetings of the St. John's No. 1 Lodge of the Grand Lodge of the Masonic Temple were held in the tavern. An American of note, Benjamin Franklin, was its third Grand Master. Even today the Masonic Temple of Philadelphia recognizes Tun Tavern as the birthplace of Masonic teachings in America.

Roughly ten years later in the early 1740s, a new proprietor expanded Tun Tavern and gave the addition a new name, "Peggy Mullan's Red Hot Beef Steak Club at Tun Tavern." The new restaurant became a smashing commercial success and was patronized by notable Americans. In 1747 the St. Andrew's Society, a charitable group dedicated to assisting poor immigrants from Scotland, was founded in the tavern.

Nine years later Col. Benjamin Franklin organized the Pennsylvania Militia {See "Associated Regiment of Philadelphia" under heading of Pennsylvania's 103rd Artillery and 111th Infantry Regiment at "Continental Army"}. He used Tun Tavern as a gathering place to recruit a regiment of soldiers to go into battle against the Native American uprisings that were plaguing the American colonies. George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and the Continental Congress later met in Tun Tavern as the American colonies prepared for independence from the English Crown.

On November 10, 1775, the Continental Congress commissioned Samuel Nicholas to raise two Battalions of Continental Marines, today known as the United States Marine Corps. That very day, Nicholas set up shop in Tun Tavern. He appointed Robert Mullan, then the proprietor of the tavern, to the job of chief Marine Recruiter -- serving, of course, from his place of business at Tun Tavern. Prospective recruits flocked to the tavern, lured by beer and the opportunity to serve in the new Corps of Marines. Needless to say, both the Marine Corps and the tavern thrived during this new relationship.

Tun Tavern no longer exists, and its original location is now covered by Interstate 95. The National Museum of the Marine Corps in Quantico, Virginia contains a replica of the tavern with a lunch menu and alcoholic beverages.