IX. OFFICE LOCATIONS. TT may be interesting to follow the company through its various offices, and call up pictures of the localities in which it found itself from time to time. It steadily maintained itself nigh to the haunts of the city's business, and we shall thus be able to obtain glimpses of some of its neighbors and associates and some studies of that section of the city in which centered Philadelphia's mercantile wealth. It is elsewhere stated that the new board met at six o'clock, v. M., on 14 December, 1792, in their own offices, which were in the brick building No. 119 (now 213) south Front street. This building remains substantially unchanged to this day, and is one of the few original edifices left in the block. A very faithful etching of it was made in the spring of 1880 by Mr. Pennell, a member of the Philadelphia Etching Club. dearly opposite, at No. 96 (now 212), lived Mr. Nesbitt, the president, the counting-house of his firm, Conyngham, Nesbitt & Co., being on the first floor; next door, No. 117, lived Mr. Jasper Moylan, a director, and later their counsel; at No. 115, Messrs. Isaac "Wharton and David Lewis, merchants and insurance brokers, had their office; and immediately south of No. 119 was the large building owned by Mr. John Ross, a director, occupied by the custom-house. On the 78 A HISTORY OF THE opposite side of Front street there dwelt at the time, besides Mr. JSTesbitt, Robert Ralston at ]N"o. 90, Miers Fisher, 'So. 92, Peter Blight, JSTo. 102, ISTalbro Frazier, 3STo. 104, Francis "West, 'No. 108, Samuel R. Fisher, 'N0.110, Mordecai Lewis, ~No. 112, and John Morton at No. 116. Shortly after their settlement in these offices, proposals were made to the hoard by the trustees for the Philadelphia Dancing Assembly to unite in erecting a suitable building for their joint uses; the proposals were submitted* to Mr. Nesbitt and Col. Pettit, but no further reference appears on the minutes to the subject. Here the company continued until February, 1794, the only intermission to their business being caused by the ravages of yellow fever in 1793, which was particularly severe in that quarter of the city. Mr. Nesbitt left the city in September and passed the remainder of the season at Clermont, the residence of his partner, Mr. David H. Conyngham, a handsome property with a fine mansion, situate at the southeasterly junction of Nicetown lane and Hart lane, a place afterwards known as Mrs. Griscom's famous school. Mr. Nesbitt, who was not in robust health, had probably been passing his nights out of the city previously, for on 24 September, 1793, he writes to Mr. Hazard, "I went to Town on Monday to see what was to do, but found things in our Neighbourhood in such a Situation I thought it Improper *The Dancing Assembly proposed that each should advance £6,000; the lot to belong to the Insurance Company, joint agents or trustees to be appointed for the management of the business, letting the house, &c., and the money arising from rent, &c., to be divided between the Insurance Company and tlie Dancing Assembly. INSURANCE COMPANY OF NORTH AMERICA. 79 to remain. Indeed I should have long since quit our own business, for that was arranged so as to make my presence unnecessary, but I did not like to decline my place in the Insurance office while I could remain in Town with any degree of personal safety, and if any applications are made, I shall, if sent out to me here, attend to and answer them as I do my own business."' Mr. Hazard had written him on the 23d: "The situation of our Neighbourhood I find has become truly alarming; in going to and returning from it, I am much exposed to Infection, and it does not appear necessary to attend longer at the Office, as so little Business offers; were there more, it could not be done, as I am now quite alone. Mr. Coulthard [the clerk who had been appointed 18 December, 1792] went a few miles into the country on Saturday afternoon and intended returning this morning; but as it is now one o'clock, and I have not yet seen him, I fear he is sick; there are no Directors whom I can consult on this Occasion: thus Situated, I have concluded to remove the Books and Papers, for the present, to my own house, where I shall be constantly ready to attend to anything that offers.'' Thus exposed, and without clerical help, Mr. Hazard moved the office work to his house, 'No. 145 Arch street, on the site of which is erected the easternmost of Mr. Womrath's improvement, and is now 'N0. 415. Mr. Hazard built this house in 1792, and there he resided until his death in 1817, when his heirs sold it, Mr. William Sansom (who was a director in the company 1795-97) purchasing it for his daughter, Mrs. G-eorge Yaux, whose family occupied it until they sold it to Mr. Womrath, who also 80 A HISTORY OF THE purchased the adjoining' property on the west, for many years owned and occupied by Mr. John Cooke. Mr. Hazard and eight others of his household succumbed to the epidemic, two of whom died from it; and here he remained until 9 November, when the approach of cool weather rendered it safe to return to the office to Front street, and clients would feel no hesitation in going thither. He had communicated daily with Mr. Xesbitt, but from 28 September to 11 October, his letters ceased, showing the time and duration of his illness. He had here himself written fifty-three policies, whose premiums amounted to $16,875.32, and kept up the books and all the correspondence of the company. The faithful porter, John Valentine Cline, always called Valentine, and recorded on the company's books as Doorkeeper, rode out daily on horseback to Cler- mont and exchanged letters with Mr. Xesbitt. This correspondence is preserved entire, and each letter is duly endorsed by the receiver; and thus we have in the com- pany's files a complete picture of the terrors of that awful visitation, whose mortality amounted to one in four of the population which continued in the city, the deaths in all amounting to five thousand in those few dreadful weeks. All Mr. Hazard's letters and enclosures coming from his fever-stricken house were passed through disinfectants at Clermont before being there read, and the papers show marks of the treatment to this day. But the enclosures were often returned by Mr. ^esbitt, the worse for such, and on 22 October, Mr. Hazard writes him: "If a less quantity of vinegar will answer the purpose, perhaps it will be best not to put so much on the Papers, as it defaces them; I do INSURANCE COMPANY OF NORTH AMERICA. 81 not know whether it will destroy the writing, but if it will, it may be very injurious in case of a Law suit or Reference in which these Papers must be produced." In February, 1794, the company rented the premises :N"o. 107 south Front-street, at the southeast corner of Walnut street, at £100 and taxes per annum, and there moved 1 March. It was on the 10 December following, the first fire policy of the company was here issued. They subleased to Mr. Alexander Todd "that part of the House of Com- pany's office now occupied by him, for £25 per annum." This building was destroyed some years ago, and the present warehouse erected on its site. Within a twelvemonth, the directors felt their business warranted the purchase of a property for its transaction, and Messrs. Pettit and Ball, with the president, were appointed a committee to purchase a lot, with or without buildings. Yet another twelvemonth elapsed, however, before they could consummate their plans, and on 12 December, 1796, they purchased the premises on the opposite corner, ^o. 84 south Front street, at the southwest corner "of Walnut, being a lot nineteen feet by eighty, with a main and back building thereon, for £3 400- but they appear not to have obtained possession until the close of the following year, for we find on 14 December, 1797, a committee (Messrs. Breck, Blight and Francis) was "appointed to view the house and consider what part of it will be wanted for the accommodation of the Office and Doorkeeper." The occasion of this appointment was a communication from Col. Pettit, the president, "respecting accommodations in the new building." On 19 December, they "reported, 82 A HISTORY OF THE That the following apartments in the said Building are absolutely necessary for the accommodation of the Corn- /' v pany; the large room on the ground floor; the lower room in the back building; the whole of the second story of the house, with sufficient room in the Cellar and Vault to hold their fire wood." And the directors "permitted the Presi- dent of this Board, in consideration of his present indisposi- tion, to occupy until the next election of Directors, such rooms in the new building as are not necessary for the accommodation of their office, leaving also a room for then- messenger." Col. Pettit had been so indisposed for some months that at the annual meeting the following month, he declined re-election, and Mr. Joseph Ball was elected president; but Mr. Ball resigned in July, 1799, owing to pressure of private affairs, and Col. Pettit having regained his health, was re-elected, and continued in office until his death in 1806. He had kept his residence in the building, as shown by the city directories, and when the office was removed in 1804, he changed it to the corner of Second and Dock streets, where he died. The back building had been "lately occupied by M. Moreau de St. Mery as a printing office," and this the board proposed "to rent to some Person who will not use it in any hazardous business." In the following May, Dr. James Mease became the tenant, and here his office appears to have remained until 17 June, 1800. His rent for the first year was £50; but in 1799 he claimed this "was much too high, considering the present state of affairs, and the universal diminution of the value of houses in the city, and he had no doubt they will experience a further fall," INSURANCE COMPANY OF NORTH AMERICA. 83 and his offer of $100 for the second year was accepted. The city directory for 1799 records Dr. Mease at Xo. 14 ^Yalnut street. In the years 1797 and 1798, other visitations of yellow fever scattered all who had business in the eastern part of the city. On 25 August, 1797, the president and secretary were "Vested with power to remove the office either to another part of the City or out of it, in case of such an increase of the present disorder as shall lead them to think it expedient." Three days later Mr. Hazard writes to Mr. Ealston "of a proposed removal of the office to Market or Arch street, between ^STinth and Twelfth, but thought they might as well go toWilmington as there"; and on the 31st advises him they have "decided to remove to Arch street, to a handsome, new, neat, airy room, with three windows, chimney piece, &c., in style." They became tenants of Mrs. Mary Kean, but the precise location cannot now be determined. In 1798 the company's books and papers were removed to Germantown, to the old academy on School House Lane, a meeting of the directors being had there on 8 September. In the True American of 14 August, is an advertisement: " The office of the Infurance Company of North America is removed to the School-houfe, near the Market, in Germantown. Orders for infurance left at the South East corner of Arch and Sixth ftreets will be duly forwarded." On 8 January, 1799, there is a minute, "It is left to the President and Secretary to make provision at G-ermantown for the accommodation of the office that there may be a certainty of a suitable Retreat in Case any Contag-ious / 0 84 A HISTORY OF THE Disorder shall make it necessary to remove from the city next summer." And on the 14th, "The Board agreed to take certain rooms in Mr. Samuel Billings' house at G-er- mantown for the next season at $300." This house is the stone dwelling, JSTo. 4804 G-ermantown avenue, adjoining the Grermantown rational Bank building at the corner of School street, and was the building which the United States Bank occupied during the epidemic of 1793; hither Mr. Hazard moved with his family and the company's books when the "Disorder" made its appearance; the front parlor and two large rooms on the second floor were those leased. His letters thence to Col. Pettit, who had just resumed the presidency, and who had remained in the city, are yet on file, covering a period from 19 September to 7 October; there was no meeting of the board from 6 August to 4 November; Mr. Stephens, the bookkeeper, afterwards first clerk and subsequently secretary of the company from 1806 to 1832, remained also in town forwarding all applications and proposals for insurance to Germantown, as doubtless he had done the previous year, as specified in the advertise- ment. On 23 September, Mr. Hazard writes, ""We had heard that the Fever Alarm has encreased, and are sorry to be informed if so much Cause for it as apparently well founded Beports intimate, from what we hear, the prevailing Opinion here is that the Banks will yet be removed." Mr. James Murray, the clerk, who remained with the company until 1806, had accompanied Mr. Hazard, and on 19 Sep- tember, he writes, "The Dysentery has left Mr. Murray very weak, but he is convalescent. I hope Valentine won't share the Fate of his Brother Janitor." On 2 October he INSURANCE COMPANY OF NORTH AMERICA. 85 writes "the information that the Fever is abating, is very pleasing. * * * I hear numbers arguing that it will not be safe to return before there is a smart Frost to render City Air salubrious." The board subsequently testified their appreciation of the labors of those employed in the office during the contagion, by voting Mr. Murray $200, and Messrs. Stephens and Chas. P. Heath (the fire insurance clerk who remained with the company until 1809) $100 each, for their "services and attention," and to Valentine, the Doorkeeper, $60, for "his extraordinary services during the prevalence of the Yellow Fever." This faithful servant of the company, John Valentine Cline, remained on active duty in the office until March, 1828, when he was voted an annuity of $100, he being then, Mr. Stephens records, about eighty-two years old. Before he entered the service of the company he had been twenty years with Col. Pettit, who wrote Mr. :N"esbitt, on 15 December, 1792, endorsing his application, "it is due to his merit that I should say I always found him honest, sober, diligent and attentive to his duty." In January, 1804, a committee was "appointed to make inquiries respecting a suitable house or apartments in the neighbourhood of the Exchange," which w-as at the time on the west side of Second street, between "Walnut street and the City Tavern, as the directors felt they were not, while in Front street, near enough to the centre .of business. Failing to purchase the premises JSTo. 98 (now 204) south Second street from Captain John McKeever, they leased the building, and by the 3d February had moved thither. Adjoining on the north, JSTo. 96, was the Phoenix Insurance 86 A HISTORY OF THE Company, who had purchased that property the previous year, and at No. 94, the corner of "Walnut street, was tlie Philadelphia Insurance Company. Captain McKeevcr's house, built about 1761, by Benjamin Paschall, who in 1777 became one of the Associate Justices of the Orphans Court of Philadelphia County, yet remains in good condi- tion. Here the company continued for five years until they could secure a property by purchase, which they did on 16 November, 1809, by purchasing- for $12,600, Mr. William Meredith's lot and buildings, where that eminent lawyer had lived for some years, on the south side of Walnut street, immediately east of Second street, extending through to Dock street, being Nos. 40 and 42 (now 136 and 138) Walnut street. Hither they moved in January, 1810, renting JSTo. 42 to the Delaware Insurance Company at the sum of $500 per annum, on a three years' lease from 1 Feb- ruary. The remainder of the company's lease of No. 98 south Second street was taken by Mr. John F. "Watson, the author of the Annals of Philadelphia, who moved his residence and book store there on Monday, 5 February, as recorded by Mr. Stephens in his office memorandum book. Besides their neighbor, the Delaware Insurance Com- pany, of which Mr. Thomas Fitzsimons, an early director of the North America, was now president, there were nigh the Philadelphia, Samuel "W. Fisher, president, at the south- west corner of Second and "Walnut streets; the State of Pennsylvania, James S. Cox, president, at the northeast corner of Dock and Second (adjoining the Dock street front of the North America premises); the Phoenix, David Lewis, president, at No. 96 (now 202) south Second street; INSURANCE COMPANY OF NORTH AMERICA. 87 the Union Mutual, Joseph Ball, president, who had been president of the l^orth America from January, 1797 to July, 1798, at 'No. 45 (now 129) Walnut street, opposite; the Marine and Fire, John Leamy, president, who had been a director of the ^orth America from 1792 to 1806, at 'No. 49 (now 133) Walnut street; and the United States, Israel Pleasants, president, at No. 49 (now 133) Walnut street. The Philadelphia Contributionship, was at this period located at No. 99 (now 239) Market street, Caleb Carmalt, treasurer; and the Mutual Assurance Company, John B. Palmer, treasurer, was at this period without a settled habitation, and applications were received at the counting house of Mr. Palmer's partner, Mr. Robert Wharton, on Pine street wharf; its monthly meetings had been for many years held at Hardie's tavern, on the south side of Market street, and in 1809 and later at Heads' Mansion House Hotel, Third street above Spruce, until the office was finally established at 'No. 54 (now 226) Walnut street. It was in February of this year (1810) that was incorporated the American Fire Insurance Company, the first chartered in this State for a general fire insurance business, the Con- tributionship and the Mutual Assurance Company confining themselves to building insurances alone; Captain William Jones was the first president, and Mr. Edward Fox its originator, who was one of the first stockholders of the K"orth America, the first secretary; and its office was open at No. 73 (now 229) Chestnut street, but in a few weeks was removed to the building it purchased of Mr. Moses Levy at 'N0. 101 (now 311) Chestnut street, adjoining the- bank of ^orth America. The first advertisement of the 88 A HISTORY OF THE American commended the operations of the company to the citizens on the grounds of its "not risking its funds bv 0 0 / making any Insurance on marine or other hazardous adven- tures, being confined by law to the sole and single object of insuring against loss by or damage by FIRE." The same year witnessed the creation of the African Insurance Company, which was located at 'No. 159 (now 529) Lombard street, Joseph Randolph, president, Cyrus Porter, treasurer, William Coleman, secretary, with a cash capital of $5,000. "The members of this Company are all colored persons," as stated in the directories for 1811 and 1813. In the latter year it was located at 'So. 155 Lombard street, which appears to have been the residence of its secretary, whose profession was given as "teacher." We find no traces of it after this year; some of its policies are yet preserved in the families of its insured. The Delaware Insurance Company continued to occupy No. 42 Walnut street until the middle of the year 1814, and was succeeded the following April as tenants by Messrs. Pratt and Dundas until 1822, and later by Mr. Thomas Newman, stock and exchange broker, until October, 1831. The Dock street front had contained the office of Mr. Nicholas Biddle, "Attorney at Law," who remained the company's tenant until November, 1811; Mr. William Cramond (who had been a director of the company from its organization to 1800) occupied this office from April, 1816 to April, 1819, and was succeeded by Thomas and John Wharton, insurance brokers. The company remained here for a quarter of a century, with but one intermission of a month during the prevalence of the yellow fever in the INSURANCE COMPANY OF NORTH AMERICA. 89 summer of 1820, when they rented the premises ~No. 240 (now 710) Market street, where the office was maintained from 7 September to 7 October. The directors desiring to keep near the centre of business, which had made another step westward, sought a location opposite the new Merchants' Exchange, then just erected, and entered into an agreement with Mr. Thomas P. Cope (a director of the company from 1829 to 1854), who owned the lot at tlie southwest corner of "Walnut and Dock streets, to rent the westernmost office of the building he was about erecting, and on its completion they moved into it 25 August, 1834. The office was known as on Walnut street one door west of Dock street, and is now 'No. 216, and was taken on a lease of twenty years. The premises, now vacated by them, they sold in 1836 to Mr. John G-arrison for $14,000. But before the expiration of this lease they needed larger accommodations, and again sought quarters of their own in the immediate neighborhood. On 8 January, 1850, they purchased at public sale for $16,000, the premises then owned by the Philadelphia Exchange Company, which had purchased them in 1833, known as Ko. 60 (now 232) Walnut street, extending through to Pear street, being 17 feet 3 inches front by 138 feet deep; there was a four story, rough-cast building on Walnut street, occupied on the first floor by a tailor store, and on the upper floors by Messrs. Draper & Co., the well-known bank-note engravers, and on Pear street front there was a three story brick building. The front building was not adapted to the purposes of their business, and it was removed, and a new structure was 90 A HISTORY OF THE erected by A. Masson, at a cost of $5,350, on plans furnished by Mr. Gervase ^Yheeler, an English architect, temporarily sojourning in Philadelphia, extending about 85 feet in depth, leaving a pleasant garden over 50 feet deep to Pear street, the dwelling on the end being removed. This new building was occupied 11 December, 1851; Messrs. Brown, Jones and ^eft were the building committee; and at the first meeting' of the board held in it, the directors "tendered 0 ' their cordial thanks to them for their valuable services in planning and directing the construction of the beautifully appropriate building in which the Board convenes for the first time this morning." The balance of the company's lease from Mr. Cope for the former office was taken by Mr. Joseph Cowperthwait for his proposed new insurance com- pany, for which a charter was procured at the next Legis- lature, and known as the "Philadelphia," the former of that name having some years before retired from business. The growth of the company's affairs in the next two decades proved these accommodations inadequate, and in 1872 communication was had with the Farquhar building on the east, and two large rooms therein leased for the officers and a directors' room; and in 1874 a three story building was erected on the end of the lot adjoining the main office, and the pleasant garden was no more. But five years after this, a period which showed the greatest advance ever made in the company's business up to that time, the directors looked for yet more commodious quarters, and on 15 January, 1880, purchased for $70,000, from the estate of the late Edward Y. Farquhar, the property adjoining on the east, and known as the Farquhar Buildings, being 35 INSURANCE COMPANY OF NORTH AMERICA. 91 feet front by 138 feet deep. This building had been erected by Mr. Farquhar in 1850, on the site of two buildings then known as ]S"os. 56 and 58 "Walnut street, and had been occupied exclusively for offices. Within two months this building was vacated by its tenants, and plans were adopted for a suitable building to cover both the old and new prem- ises as prepared by Messrs. Cabot and Chandler, architects, of Boston; and temporary quarters were secured in the building owned and formerly occupied by the Philadelphia Saving Fund Society, ISTo. 306 Walnut street, now owned and occupied by the Boyal Insurance Company, into which the company moved 24 May. On 12 July the old office submitted to the first stroke of destruction, and on 16 August, the first foundation-stone of the new building was laid on the Walnut street line. The winter of 1880 and 1881 came early, and proved an exceptionably severe one, and the work was much delayed. The following summer saw the completion of the present handsome and substantial building, and occupancy was finally enjoyed by the company on 6 December, 1881.