Early Tavern
Lower Merion Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania
Marker Inscription
Opened in 1704, this tavern was known in Colonial times as the William Penn Inn, the Tunis Ordinary and Streeper's Tavern. Familiar to Franklin and Washington, the inn was renamed, shortly after the Revolution, in honor of Gen. Wayne, who had lodged here.
Erected by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
The Story
Opened in 1704 and known by a string of colonial names, this roadside inn served travelers on one of the region's key routes for well over a century. It was familiar to Benjamin Franklin and George Washington, and shortly after the Revolution it was renamed to honor General Anthony 'Mad Anthony' Wayne, who had lodged there. Taverns like this were the social and political hubs of colonial and Revolutionary America, where news traveled and plans were laid.
Why it matters
It captures the everyday spaces where the founding generation gathered, making the Revolution feel less like distant grand events and more like the life of a working colonial community.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
Picture the roads of southeastern Pennsylvania in the eighteenth century — not highways but rutted dirt tracks winding out from Philadelphia, the busy capital of a thriving colony. Along those routes, every day's travel was measured by how far a horse could go, and that meant taverns. This inn opened its doors in 1704, when such a roadside stop was less a luxury than a necessity.
A colonial tavern was far more than a place to buy a drink. It was the inn, the restaurant, the post office, the newsroom, and the town hall all at once — the one public room where travelers rested and locals gathered to hear what was happening in the wider world.
That this particular place went by a string of names over the years — the William Penn Inn, the Tunis Ordinary, Streeper's Tavern — is itself a little history lesson. An 'ordinary' was simply the period's word for a tavern serving a fixed meal, and the changing names mark the passing generations of keepers who kept its hearth warm for well over a century.
People & events
What lifts this inn out of the ordinary, so to speak, is the company it kept. The marker tells us it was familiar to Benjamin Franklin and George Washington — two men who, between them, traveled the roads of Pennsylvania as much as anyone of their age, and who surely valued a reliable stop along the way.
It is easy to imagine why. Franklin was forever in motion on the colony's business, and Washington's path crossed Pennsylvania at the most consequential moments of the era. A well-known inn near Philadelphia would have been exactly the sort of place where such men paused, ate, and talked.
The inn's most lasting mark came shortly after the Revolution, when it was renamed to honor General Anthony Wayne, who had lodged there. Wayne — the hard-driving Pennsylvania general whose boldness earned him the nickname 'Mad Anthony' — was a local hero, and renaming a beloved old tavern in his honor was a community's way of keeping its Revolutionary pride close at hand, wrapped around a building everyone already knew.
Its place in the American story
We tend to remember the Revolution through its battles and its great documents, but it was also lived in rooms like this one. Taverns were where newspapers were read aloud, where rumors and resolutions spread, where neighbors argued out loyalty and independence over a shared table.
That is why a place familiar to Franklin and Washington matters beyond its guest list. It stands for the everyday infrastructure of a revolution — the network of inns and roads and meeting places through which news traveled, plans took shape, and a scattered people came to think of themselves as one.
The renaming for General Wayne captures something deeper still. When the fighting ended, communities wanted to fix their memories of it onto the familiar landmarks of daily life. A tavern that had served travelers for generations became, in its new name, a small permanent monument — proof that the Revolution belonged not only to the capital but to every crossroads that had lived through it.
If you visit
Approach this one as a landmark of everyday life rather than a grand monument. Its power is in its age and its continuity: a public house opened in 1704, serving travelers on this route for well over a hundred years. Few places let you stand so directly in the path of ordinary colonial and Revolutionary life.
As you take it in, let your mind run over that roll call of names — the William Penn Inn, the Tunis Ordinary, Streeper's Tavern, and finally the tribute to General Wayne. Each name is a different generation's stamp on the same walls, a reminder that historic places are rarely frozen; they are used, renamed, and loved across time.
This is a wonderful stop for travelers who want the founding era to feel human-scaled. Picture the clatter of arriving horses, the smell of a meal cooking, the talk of politics and war filling the room. If you're tracing the old roads out of Philadelphia, pause here and imagine how many famous and forgotten travelers alike once did exactly the same.
Written by AI to add context, grounded in the marker’s inscription and the historical record. The inscription above is the original, unaltered text.
Plan your visit
NearbyMake a day of it — museums, food, and places to stay near this marker.
Museums & culture
- African American Museum in Philadelphia6.6 mi away · 701 Arch Street, Philadelphia, PA
- National Constitution Center6.7 mi away · 525 Arch Street, Philadelphia, PA
- Independence Visitor Center6.8 mi away · 599 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA
- Bridgette Mayer6.8 mi away · 709 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA
- Liberty Bell Center6.8 mi away · 526 Market Street, Philadelphia
- Congress Hall6.8 mi away · Philadelphia, PA
Attractions
- Discovery Center at East Park Reservoir3.7 mi away
- Pennsylvania Railroad, Connecting Railway Bridge3.9 mi away
- Philadelphia Zoo4.0 mi away
- American Bandstand4.1 mi away
- Rocky Steps4.9 mi away
- The Universal Sphere5.8 mi away
Food & drink
- Burger King6.6 mi away
- Philly Pretzel Factory6.7 mi away
- Munchie’s Cafe6.7 mi away · 728 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA
- Dunkin'6.7 mi away · 634 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA
- El Azteca6.7 mi away
- Lamberti Pizza & Market6.7 mi away · 707 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA
Places to stay
- Days Inn Philadelphia Convention Center - Philadelphia6.1 mi away · 1227 Race Street, Philadelphia, PA
- Four Points by Sheraton Philadelphia City Center6.2 mi away · 1201 Race Street, Philadelphia
- Residence Inn Philadelphia Center City6.2 mi away · 1 East Penn Square, Philadelphia, PA
- The Notary Hotel6.2 mi away · 21 North Juniper Street, Philadelphia
- Home2 Suites by Hilton Philadelphia - Convention Center, PA6.2 mi away · 1200 Arch Street, Philadelphia, PA
- Philadelphia Marriott Downtown6.3 mi away · 1201 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA
Places data © OpenStreetMap contributors. Hours and details change — call ahead.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · Benjamin Franklin
- · George Washington
- · Anthony Wayne
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
John Dickinson (1732-1808)
Lower Merion Township, PA · est. 2001
John Dickinson earned the nickname "Penman of the Revolution" for his influential writings of 1765–74 opposing British taxation, yet he remains one of the founding era's most fascinating contrarians. In the Continental Congress he sought reconciliation and declined to sign the Declaration of Independence, then promptly took up arms as a colonel to serve the patriot cause anyway. He later presided over Pennsylvania's Supreme Executive Council and, as a delegate to the 1787 Constitutional Convention, became a firm champion of the new federal Constitution.
C. Brooke Jones Memorial
Lower Merion Township, PA
In Pennsylvania's larger municipalities, an elected Board of Commissioners has long carried the everyday work of local government — the roads, public works, and neighborhood services that hold a community together. This plaque honors C. Brooke Jones, who gave that kind of service to Lower Merion, one of the historic "Main Line" townships that grew up along the railroad west of Philadelphia. Markers like it commemorate the quiet civic labor, rather than a single dramatic event, that shaped America's towns from the ground up.
Philadelphia & Columbia Railroad
Philadelphia, PA · est. 2001
Authorized by the Pennsylvania legislature in 1828 and completed in 1834, the Philadelphia & Columbia Railroad was among the earliest railroads in America, running 82 miles west to the Susquehanna River. Its cars were first pulled by horses and later by steam locomotives, and it formed part of a state-owned network—including the Pennsylvania canal—built to keep the commonwealth competitive with rival states scrambling for western trade. The Pennsylvania Railroad absorbed the line in 1857, and stone blocks laid for the original track can still be seen here.
Fairmount Milestone (8 Miles)
Philadelphia, PA
This is an old milestone — a roadside stone that once told travelers they had eight miles yet to go to reach Fairmount, the rise above the Schuylkill River that gave its name to Philadelphia's celebrated Water Works and Fairmount Park. In the era of turnpikes and toll roads radiating out of Philadelphia, such stones were the GPS of their day, spaced a mile apart to measure a journey by horse, stagecoach, or wagon. Weathered and easy to overlook, they mark the routes that carried farmers, merchants, and mail into one of early America's greatest cities.