Market street, Philadelphia; the most historic ... - Hay genealogy

Its Merchants and Its Story 39
rented for £40 a year, but as larger apartments were needed the following
year this points to the dispensary having been located in a small
building and in turn this leads to the presimiption that the first dispensary
was housed in a building at 26 Strawberiy street. In August,
1787, the institution was removed to a house owned by John Uuest, on
Chestnut street.
In Strawberry street, in 1767, there dwelt James Smither, who was
one of the earliest engravers to be in business in America. Smither is
said to have been formerly an engraver who ornamented guns in London,
but here he did a general engraving business. An advertisement of his
in 1768 when he was working at times for Bell, the printer, states that
he makes metal cuts for printers, engraves seals and makes tools for
bookbinders, meaning their ornamental tools.
Not a great deal is known of Smither, but when he first arrived
here, evidently in 1767, he announced himself as engraver and as having
a drawing school "at the Golden Head, in Strawberry Alley." The
sign evidently was his own distinguishing mark, as there does not
appear to have been a tavern with that sign in Strawberry street. The
following year he had his place "at the first house in Third street from
the Cross Keys, corner of Chestnut." And that means that his shop
was next to the corner of Third and Chestnut streets, and south of the
latter thoroughfare. Smither was an excellent engraver, but he never
forgot his royalist proclivities. He left the city when the British did,
but returned in 1786. He is said to have died in 1800, but having had a
son of the same there is some confusion in following his career.
Early in the eighteenth century, before 1750, Elizabeth Walton kept
an inn at the sign of the Mariner's Compass and Four Horseshoes, in
Strawberry alley. In this half century also there was the Brig and
Snow Inn there, and in 1785 there were the signs of the White Horse
and the Horse and Groom. It is possible that some rear entrance to
the White Horse was responsible for the later name or i^art of Elbow
lane.
In the first half of the last century there was a Bull's Head in
Strawberry street, kept by John Evans, and its sign was said to have
been painted by Benjamin West. On what authority this statement was
made by Hazard is not known, neither is it to be explained by any other
reasoning than that the sign had done duty at another Bull's Head, and
had been painted while West was a mere lad here. It is known, of
course, that West did some painting here before he went to London to
study, and if he painted this inn signboard it must have been the work
of his earliest period.
It was not until the year 1759 that the market sheds in the middle
of Market street were extended as far westward as Third. For many
years previously there were sheds west of the Court House, but these