Fourth Ward Hotel and Gunners' Hall

Although details of the depiction are likely to be less than fully reliable, this is the only known representation of the building that housed Gunners' Hall, one of the two buildings roughly indicated by the arrow. In 1849, the address was 44-46 East Lombard Street. In the map shown here, Lombard runs parallel to Granby, although at this portion of the view is mostly obscured by buildings. The area as it stands today has been so heavily rebuilt that few points of reference beyond the streets themselves still remain. Even the streets have not been entirely safe as Gransby no longer runs through the full way as shown here.

Edward Sachse (1804-1873) was a German-born lithographer, who had settled in Baltimore, where he printed the “Bird's Eye view of Baltimore” in 1870. His business in 1869 was at 104 South Charles Street. The full original of this map is printed on 12 sheets.

It is not clear precisely when the building was erected, although it was certainly in existence by 1839. It may be present in a map of the city from 1822. It was initially opened as a tavern, at least as far as we can tell, by Willam Coath and James Sargeant. (“Coath” was apparently pronounced “Cooth,” based on the spelling in Joseph E. Snodgrass's 1867 article in Beadle's Monthly. These two gentlemen may have been related as they are listed as living at the same address, and when Sargeant died in 1859, Thomas J. Coath administered his estate. William Coath was presumably related to Thomas Coath, perhaps brothers.) In an announcement in1852, it was described as a “Tavern and Boarding House, containing 15 rooms, large cellar, and attached to the premises are a Stable and Carriage-House; also, a Ten-Pin Alley, Pump and Hydrant of Water, &c.” (Baltimore Sun, March 9, 1852, p. 4, col. 4). (The Ten-Pin Alley was a single lane bowling alley.) As a three story brick structure (as noted in 1868), it was a substantial building and perhaps built for the purpose. Being close to the harbor area, it would have had a steady and reliable clientele of locals, with perhaps an emphasis on sailors and dock workers. Directly across the street was the Vigilant Fire House, fire house no. 3, which may be the tower seen in the image. (If this is the case, the tower would have been used for the duel practical purposes of an alarm bell for public emergencies, and to dry the hoses.)

It was initially known as Coath & Sargeant's Tavern, or Gunners’ Hall, or the Fifth Ward Hotel. (In May 1841, the designation of election wards was modified, and it became the Fourth Ward Hotel.) At the time that Poe was found or taken there, the establishment was run by Cornelius Ryan. There were several people of the name Cornelius Ryan, in Baltimore about the same time, so that we know very little about Ryan beyond his connection to Gunners’ Hall. (One set of Cornelius Ryans appear to be a father and son.) Being likely of Irish descent, it would be reasonable to presume that he was Catholic and attended services at St. Vincent de Paul Church, which is nearby and was established in 1841. Their cemetery was originally at St. James Church, on Harford Road, but that cemetery was closed in 1853, and a new one opened just outside of the eastern boundaries of the city, on property that had been a portion of a summer estate of Johns Hopkins. What was the newer cemetery is now part of the Lake Clifton Golf Course, and has suffered much from neglect and vandalism. If the headstones and records were in better order, we might well find our Cornelius Ryan there. (There is a record of a Cornelius Ryan, with the dates 1788-1872, having been buried there.) He may be the same Cornelius Ryan who opened a grocery store very nearby, at 127 Front Street. (He is listed as a grocer at that address in Wood's Baltimore City Directory for 1860. The 1860 census for ward 4 shows a Cornelius Ryan, aged 60, born in Ireland, with the occupation of grocer.)

The name Fifth or Fourth Ward Hotel is obvious enough. The name of Gunners’ Hall may have been coined due to the lotteries for guns of various types. Early in the history of the country, a gunner was chiefly a military designation, but by the 1830s, with the country no longer at war, a gunner was more likely to be a hunter.

As was typical of the era, the tavern served many purposes in the community, a meeting place, but with a strong political inclination and an emphasis on the Whigs. This emphasis is obvious with the early meeting of the “Tippecanoe Club,” which supported the ticket for president William Henry Harrison, who was known as “Old Tippecanoe” for his involvement with the battle of Tippecanoe, and vice-president John Tyler. (The motto for the campaign was “Tippecanoe and Tyler too!”) Harrison and Tyler were Whigs. This political association should be kept in mind when thinking of elections in Baltimore during this period. While it was the official voting place for the defined area, set at the discretion of officially appointed election judges, it was a very partisan participant. On the other hand, we also see regular announcements of Gunners’ Hall as a well-known building and the proprietors serving the role as a center of local civic activity --- supporting the Fire House, raising funds for various charitable objects, functioning somewhat like a secular church, one that might cut through the divisions of various religious sects.

It appears to have ceased operation as a tavern in 1864, with the death of Thomas Coath. By 1868, it was owned by Mr. Moses Moses, who may have primarily had an interest in the stables behind the main structure. (According to a Baltimore Sun notice of January 17, 1884, p. 4, Mr. Moses Moses was “a well-known horse-dealer” and associated with the Eden Street Synagogue.) The building had a fire in that year, and was noted as unoccupied, at least the portion affected by the fire. Thomas Coath's widow, Maria, appears to have remained in the building until her death in 1891.