Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts, Tim Hortons — today there are coffee shops everywhere. Back in the 1870s, however, such establishments were rarely heard of.
Long ago, a good friend sent me a reprint of the very first Farm Journal from March, 1877. The Farm Journal was a monthly agricultural magazine that was “Devoted to the Farm, Orchard, Garden, and Rural Economy.” Wilmer Atkinson, the first publisher, was a Quaker, farmer and journalist and made sure the magazine contained useful information for farmers and their wives. The Farm Journal, which has been published ever since, was originally sent to “farmers and other rural residents within a day’s ride of Philadelphia,” where the corporate offices are still located.
The issue contained a story titled: “The Model Coffee House,” that was started in Philadelphia by Joshua L. Baily, a dry goods merchant. The reporter wrote:
“Mr. Baily conceived the idea, that if we ask men to abandon their beer and whiskey, we must furnish them a substitute every way better. Hence he determined to establish a coffee house and supply all applicants with a cup of coffee and a roll at the mere price of a glass of beer. In October, 1874, he opened a small store at 15th and Market Streets, and placed in charge thereof a woman as cook and waitress.
“A full pint of the best Java coffee was served, together with a roll, for five cents. Customers flowed in with marvelous rapidity until three more stores were added, and in place of one woman, a score were employed to serve the increasing number of patrons.
“Now there are 1,400 persons who daily lunch at this place, not simply on a roll and coffee, but a dozen other dishes are prepared and served in the best manner. This was called the ‘Workingmen’s Coffee House.'”
Being an astute business man and recognizing a good thing when he saw it led Mr. Baily to expand even further. Before long, “Mr. Baily erected a new building on South Fourth Street and fitted it up in an admirable manner for its intended purpose. In June of last year this building was opened to the public and called the “Model Coffee House.”
“The main hall seats 218 persons, and about 2,400 people lunch here daily. Although originally intended to provide only a cup of coffee and a roll, the bill of fare now is greatly extended, and a hungry man for five or ten cents can feast to his satisfaction. No article costs more than five cents and one may order Irish stew, a dish of baked beans, a bowl of oatmeal or wheat mush with milk, dumplings, corned beef, custards, pies, soups, fruit in season, each five cents.
“Nothing is handed out in meager quantities, and it must be a famishing man, indeed, if ten or fifteen cent’s worth does not more than satisfy his cravings. The cooking is admirably done, and served by cleanly and obliging waitresses, and with exemplary dispatch. The ‘Model’ is often thronged during the day with all classes of people — merchants, bankers, editors, clerks, mechanics, working men, bootblacks — the throng is always a genteel one, and rude or unbecoming behavior is unusual.
“Mr. Baily has been apprised of many cases where his ‘Coffee Houses’ have been the means of rescuing from the drinking saloons persons who had been lured thereto and were on the rapid road to destruction, and we have no doubt he is doing a wonderful amount of good to the community. He says that he has received scores of letters from those who acknowledge themselves to have been benefited, and fathers, mothers, and sisters have called to express their gratitude for the restoration of sons and brothers. We understand that the receipts at the counters cover all running expenses — a gratifying fact.
“Our country friends, when in the city, may find no small amount of pleasure in calling and satisfying themselves of the merit of the bill of fare, and of the good work being done by Mr. Baily’s ‘Model Coffee Houses.'”
On another note, Horace Greeley, who was editor of the New York Tribune during the mid-1800s is often credited with the advice “Go West, young man, go West,” although he often denied ever saying it. In any event, the advice was often quoted, and the 1877 Farm Journal repeated it in the following paragraph, which gives us some idea of the prices of goods in those days (at least in Kansas).
“Go West! Yes, go to Kansas. If the grasshoppers do not overrun your farm, the prairie soil will yield a good crop; then you can send it to market and pocket the proceeds. You can get for butter — choice, 16 to 18 cents per pound; butter, medium, 12 to 14 cents; eggs, per dozen, 18 to 20 cents; corn, per bushel, 25 cents; oats, 17 to 20 cents; wheat, $1.05 to $1.25; rye, 50 cents; sweet potatoes, 50 cents; hay, per ton, $3.50 to $4.50; chickens, per dozen, $2 to 2.25; chickens, dressed, 4 to 5 cents per pound; turkeys, per pound, 8 to 8 ½ cents; cabbage, per head, 10 cents; cheese, per pound, 12 to 15 cents; wood, per cord, $4.50 to $5.
“Go West, young man, go West!”
Just to compare those prices, here are the market rates for a few of the same crops “back East” in Philadelphia as given in the same paper. Prime Pennsylvania red and amber wheat, 52 cents to $1.56; Corn, 56 to 56 ½ cents per bushel; rye, 75 to 80 cents; oats, 37 to 38 cents; prime timothy hay, $1.05 to $1.17 per ton and mixed, 90 cents to $1.05 per ton.”
Farm land in Chester County, PA, averaged $96.75 per acre at that time, while that in Kansas was probably free under the Homestead Act of 1862.
Interesting piece of history.
Sam Moore
