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The First Taverns

The openings of early public-houses are usually regarded as events of some importance in new settlements. In after-years, the sight or mention of these old houses, gray and dilapidated, or perhaps utterly wrecked and abandoned, often brings thronging recollections to the minds of those who, in their youth, knew them as resorts of pleasure, and welcome havens of shelter and refreshment to the traveler; as places of exciting military or political gathering, or perhaps as centres which brought those first small beginnings of travel and trade which afterwards caused villages or towns to spring up around them.

The first tavern in Farmington was opened by Solomon Walker, in the year of the township organization, 1827. It was an unpretending log structure, that stood on the north line of section 30, in its northeast quarter. It was completed and opened towards the last of the year, so that a dedicatory new year's festival was held there at the commencement of 1828, on which occasion there was a very large attendance of young people, and perhaps some who could hardly be termed young, except in their perennial fondness for dancing and festivity. The revelers came from near and from far off. Their conveyances were exclusively drawn by oxen, with the single exception of a horse-team which brought its load from Bloomfield. No doubt their enjoyment that night was as keen as if their teams had been fleeter, and their hall accommodations more spacious and splendid.

Small as it was, Walker's tavern soon became a place of some note, and in 1829 the annual township-meeting was first held there, though its location was by no means a central one, being only a mile from the western line of the town. It was not long before Mr. Walker built a frame tavern building, a little east of the old log house, and this he sold to Nathan S. Philbrick. He in turn sold it to Robert Wixom, Jr., who increased its size by building to it, and it remained a prosperous place for a long time under his proprietorship. It became a stopping-place for the stage-coaches of Hibbard and Burrill's line, and during their day was well known to travelers. Though now no longer a public-house, it remains with its low porch and ample barn, suggesting, in spite of its deserted aspect, thoughts of the bustle and cheerfulness which once reigned there.

Another tavern was opened by Nathan S. Philbrick in the southeast corner of the southwest quarter of section 15, now Fisher Chamberlin's place of residence. The precise date we are unable to give. Some of the old residents think it was in the same year in which Walker opened; others date it later. The township-meeting in the spring of 1828 was held at Philbrick's house, but that is not conclusive evidence that it had been then opened as a hotel; for, as it stood only half a mile away from the territorial centre of the township, this may have been the reason of its selection as a place of meeting, though not a public-house, just as the meeting had been held at the private house of Robert Wixom the preceeding year.

But whichever may be the correct date of its opening, it is certain that Philbrick's tavern, although not so located as to secure the trade of a great thorough-fare, yet became well known through a large section of country, and was highly regarded for the abundance and excellence of its entertainment. Mr. Philbrick was also for a short time proprietor of the Solomon Walker House before Wixom, as has already been mentioned. He filled several public offices, among them that of justice of the peace, and he was a most respected and esteemed citizen.