Whatever happened to Washington's 1777 HQ in Morristown ???
THE WASHINGTONS' 1777 HOME IN MORRISTOWN, NJ
WAS JACOB ARNOLD'S TAVERN.
IT WAS MOVED AND BECAME A HOSPITAL.

  
ABOVE ... ladies' dresses were displayed outside - and early sidewalk sale!                                   

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE BUILDING?
WHAT HAPPENED TO THIS WASHINGTON'S 1777 HQ?
George and Martha Washington stayed here in early 1777.

The building was used for meetings in 1779 and 1780, too.
As rebels, the Americans had not only cut ties with Royal England, but also with The Grand Masonic Lodge of England, so on St. John's Day, December 27, 1779, a meeting of representatives of all the Masonic lodges encamped at Jockey Hollow, took place at Jacob Arnold's Tavern.  General Mordecai Gist from the American Union Lodge Number 1 of Marietta, Ohio made the petition calling for a General Grand Lodge for all the United States.  With George Washington present, it was agreed upon.  Copies of "the petition" were dispatched to other lodges in the states (over a century later, a painting '60 inches wide and 44 inches tall' was painted in oil by John Ward Dunesmore of this meeting - it is entitled "THE PETITION" - the original painting is now in Ohio).  At about the same time, some of the states had formed Grand Lodges, so the idea of a General Grand Lodge was subsequently set aside.   

This 1777 Washington HQs was moved and eventually burned-down in 1918 !

The original building was built before 1764, probably by Samuel Arnold.  As Jacob Arnold's Tavern, it served as George and Martha's first Morristown lodging during the winter of 1777.  About the time of the Civil War, it was converted for use as retail space.  In the 1880's, the owner planned to replace the Tavern, then being used as general stores, with a new (red) building to be built on the choice location, which was across from the Green.  

Town members fought to preserve the old building.   The Arnold Tavern was purchased by JULIA KEESE COLLES and her husband.  It was moved in 1886 to the southern border of Morristown, on the eastern side of Mount Kemble Avenue.  There, it served as a boarding house until it was offered for sale in 1891.

In 1891, Monsignor Dean Flynn conceived an "all souls" hospital for Morristown.  He approached the Grey Nuns in Montreal, Canada.  They came to see the property.  On November 21, 1891 the nuns accepted the task to start a new hospital. Fund raising to purchase the Arnold Tavern began and the purchase was in September 1892. By 1893 the hospital was in working order,  and became the original All Soul's Hospital to serve all races, colors and creeds.  The second floor ball-room had been turned into a chapel.  The dining room became a hospital ward.  The operating room was gas lighted.  A horse drawn ambulance was provided.  Stables for horses and cows and a steam laundry plant were built.  

In the year 1893, 221 accident cases were treated.  Many were from Wharton mines.  Many  were treated for free as charity cases.  This count jumped to 300 or 400 in subsequent years.  In 1897, expansion was planned.  In 1899 there were new upper floor piazzas, wards and rooms for the Sisters and nurses as the building was widened.  In 1900, X-ray equipment was installed.  See the stories below about the 1904 fire!

      The other hospital in town, Morristown Memorial Hospital - Opened on Oct. 17, 1893 - in the old Parsonage of the Morristown Presbyterian Church located at Morris Street near Spring Street while construction began on a brick building.

                                      

                                    
The Memorial-Hospital in 1905!  The hospital operations later moved to the present main site on Madison Ave. to become part of the Atlantic Health System.

It now has a division on route 202 South at the border of Morris Township and Morristown - now known as "RIMM" for the Rehabilitation Institute of Morristown Memorial or . . . the "REHAB CENTER." 

But RIMM was once known as the second "All Souls Hospital."

The first "All Souls Hospital" was across the street on the site of the present parking lot. It was the final destination of Washington's Headquarters, Jacob Arnold Tavern !!!   It looked like this :

   
Three stories had been Jacob Arnold's Tavern - Washington's 1777 HQ became All Souls Hospital 1894 - 1918

As mentioned above, the old Ball Room used by George and Martha was made into a chapel.

The Arnold's Tavern's first floor became Hospital Wards.

                      

 

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New York Times  October 11, 1904 
                      FIRE IN A HOSPITAL.
  Mysterious Blaze in Dead Room of Morristown Institution.
  Special to the New York Times

    MORRISTOWN, N. J.,   Oct. 10 -- Fire was discovered in the dead room at All Souls Hospital early this morning.  The Sister Superior was awakened at 2 o'clock by smoke which was pouring through the corridors and found that several cots which had been put in the dead room were ablaze.
    The sister aroused several of the nurses, and with their aid succeeded in throwing the burning cots into the yard.  Every means was used to keep the patients in the institution ignorant of the fire, and not until late this morning was anyone aware of what had taken place.
    The hospital is a wooden structure and famous as a Revolutionary building, being known as the "Arnold Tavern," where Gen. Washington resided during the Winter of 1777.  It is not known how the fire started.
                              =========

THE DAILY RECORD  Monday October 10, 1904
                      BLAZE AT ALL SOULS' 
Fire Discovered Before Damage Resulted Except to Bed.

    The Resolute Truck was called to All Souls Hospital at 2 o'clock this morning to extinguish a fire that had started in the morgue.  How it originated is a mystery to the authorities at All Souls.
    The undertaker had been there about 9:30 to take away the body of John Smith, of Wharton, who had died during the morning.  He being the third victim of the molten lead accident at that place.
    The cots upon which the men died were in the morgue saturated with oil and it is believed one of the men, in working about, left a lighted cigar down and it smouldered until it set the bed clothes on fire.  The chemicals soon extinguished the blaze before any damage had been done to the building.
                               --------
    John Smith of Wharton, died at All Souls Hospital yesterday morning from the effects of the burns he received Friday at Wharton.  He leaves a wife and four children in Wharton.
    The only one of the four victims of the horrible accident now living is William George, the engineer, who is in the hospital in a very serious condition.  His wife, who is sick, has not yet been notified of the accident.  The sisters have very little hope of his recovery.
    The funerals of Marchh and Bartle were held yesterday at Wharton and nearly everyone in the borough turned out to attend the last sad rites.

        ************  Thanks ! 
 [The above research: regarding the first fire, done by LYNNE OLVER of the MORRIS COUNTY LIBRARY-April 16, 2004! ]

 

 
ALL SOUL'S HOSPITAL WITH NEW UPPER FLOOR PIAZZAS CONSTRUCTED BY 1899.

1912

 

THE FINAL FIRE !

JACOB ARNOLD'S TAVERN BECAME - WASHINGTON'S HEADQUARTERS - THEN ALL SOULS' HOSPITAL 
THANKS TO THE MORRISTOWN JOINT FREE LIBRARY - FROM THEIR "HOSPITALS" VERTICAL FILE . . .

On Thursday morning APRIL 5, 1918, fire spread in the old hospital when a pan of grease left in an oven overnight, caught fire and spread to woodwork and spread rapidly via a dumbwaiter to other floors. With coolness and courage, House Surgeon Frank A. Wade, Supervisor Viola the five nurses on duty, bravely carried all of the thirty-eight, aged, infirmed, three new-born babies and recently operated-on patients, to safety.  The next shift of nurses from their Nurse's Home opposite the burning building were alerted, too.  The patients were taken to Dr. Mill's house and neighboring houses for later transfer to Morristown Memorial Hospital. 
                                              
                                             MMH about 1916 

A call for help from Miss Brizzette went out to Fire Chief Mitchell, a few minutes before 5 A.M.  He dispatched "the Chemical" and soon William Robshaw, a driver for the Independent Hose Company requested more help.  The Chief called in help from the Resolute Hook and Ladder Company and the Washington Engine Hose Company.  Two general alarms were issued, but too few persons responded.  There was also a shortage of extension ladders to reach to the roof of the fourth story in the rear of the hospital.  The Mount Kemble Fire Department was praised for their early response, rescues and salvage work.  The larger building was mostly gutted, but the first floor was saved.  A third alarm at about 1:30 PM was called to put-out subsequent smoldering.  The loss was estimated as $75,000 and was partially covered by $25,000 insurance.

The citizens of Morristown had provided funds for a new structure across the street.  The construction of that new All Soul's Hospital would be rushed, with special consideration for filling the new building with convalescent soldiers.  

Many persons were especially saddened, when they realized that the gutted building had been the winter 1777 residence of George and Martha Washington.

    

---

ACROSS THE STREET !

Mount St. Michael's. 
In 1907, the management bought the Van Buren property to the west of the original hospital.

                              

 
Mr. Foote of Mt. St. Katherine's near Foote's Pond and James Street, wanted All Soul's new buildings 
to be designed to look like his mansion.  It became the Loyola Retreat House.

  

                         

After the 1918 fire, this new building was to become the next "All Souls Hospital."  
It had a front lawn and was built west of the Mt. Kemble Ave. (rte 202). It became the site of a 
TRAINING SCHOOL FOR NURSES.

Subsequently, a huge multi-story addition was built immediately in front of this "2nd site for 
All Souls Hospital." west of Mount Kemble Avenue (route 202).  The section at the left housed 
the PUMPKIN SHELL NURSING HOME.  
That section and a section in the rear were demolished in the 1990's. 

THE NEW "FRONT BUILDING" ACROSS FROM THE NOW "REMEMBERED" 

ARNOLD'S TAVERN - WASHINGTON'S   H Q

Some pictyures are from the Morris County Historical Society and the Joint Free Morristown - Morris township Library.

(c) Copyright 1998-May, 2008 - etc., Tom j. Collins.  He does not endorse or control third party Web Site(s) contents.
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