Tavern Hall Preservation Society
Encyclopedia
Kingston, Rhode Island
Kingston is a village and a census-designated place in the town of South Kingstown, Rhode Island, United States, and the site of the main campus of the University of Rhode Island. Much of the village center is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as Kingston Village Historic...
. The society was originally founded as the Tavern Hall Club in 1911 to foster understanding and cooperation between the people of the Village of Kingston
Kingston, Rhode Island
Kingston is a village and a census-designated place in the town of South Kingstown, Rhode Island, United States, and the site of the main campus of the University of Rhode Island. Much of the village center is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as Kingston Village Historic...
and the nearby Rhode Island State College
University of Rhode Island
The University of Rhode Island is the principal public research university in the U.S. state of Rhode Island. Its main campus is located in Kingston. Additional campuses include the Feinstein Campus in Providence, the Narragansett Bay Campus in Narragansett, and the W. Alton Jones Campus in West...
community.
Organizational history
The Tavern Hall Preservation Society was founded in 1911 as the Tavern Hall Club by Robert A. Lichtenthaeler and four other professors from Rhode Island State CollegeUniversity of Rhode Island
The University of Rhode Island is the principal public research university in the U.S. state of Rhode Island. Its main campus is located in Kingston. Additional campuses include the Feinstein Campus in Providence, the Narragansett Bay Campus in Narragansett, and the W. Alton Jones Campus in West...
to foster understanding and cooperation between the people of the Village of Kingston
Kingston, Rhode Island
Kingston is a village and a census-designated place in the town of South Kingstown, Rhode Island, United States, and the site of the main campus of the University of Rhode Island. Much of the village center is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as Kingston Village Historic...
and the community of students, faculty, administrators and staff at the college. The name of the club was derived from the fact that from 1911 to 1919 club met at the no longer existent Joseph Runnell's tavern in the west end of the Caleb Wescott House 41.480302°N 71.5241705°W in Kingston. The club was first registered as a corporation with the Secretary of State of Rhode Island on March 23, 1914 with its charter president, Robert A. Lichtenthaeler and the charter board of directors Frank H. Bills, Wilbur E. Dove, George E. Merkle, Lawrence S. Crosby, and Roy B. Cooley as signatories.
The Tavern Hall Club has been the institutional sponsor of Boy Scout
Boy Scouts of America
The Boy Scouts of America is one of the largest youth organizations in the United States, with over 4.5 million youth members in its age-related divisions...
Troop 1, Kingston, since its founding in 1923. Troop 1 is now one of the oldest continuously operating boy scout troops in America. From its earliest days, the Tavern Hall Club has served the community by providing educational programs and social activities for residents of Kingston.
Beginning in 2004, the Tavern Hall Club was superseded by the Tavern Hall Preservation Society through incorporation as a 501-(c)3 not-for-profit corporation dedicated to the preservation of its meeting house, built in 1738 by Elisha Reynolds (1706-1791), who served as a colonel in the French and Indian War
French and Indian War
The French and Indian War is the common American name for the war between Great Britain and France in North America from 1754 to 1763. In 1756, the war erupted into the world-wide conflict known as the Seven Years' War and thus came to be regarded as the North American theater of that war...
, and was a signatory on the Charter of Brown University
Brown University
Brown University is a private, Ivy League university located in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1764 prior to American independence from the British Empire as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations early in the reign of King George III ,...
in 1768. The Reynolds House is one of the oldest continuously occupied buildings in the village.
Elisha Reynolds House (1738)
The Tavern Hall Club purchased the Elisha Reynolds House 41.479796°N 71.523325°W on 15 March 1919 to serve as as its meetinghouse, located on the corner of South Road and Kingstown Road (Route 138Rhode Island Route 138
Route 138 is a numbered State Highway running in Rhode Island. It runs from the Connecticut state line to the Massachusetts state line and is the only state-numbered route that traverses the entire state.-Route description:...
). Over the years, the house served as the home of Elisha Reynolds Potter
Elisha Reynolds Potter
Elisha Reynolds Potter was a statesman in the Federalist Party from Kingston, Rhode Island, who served several times as the Speaker in the Rhode Island State Assembly. Potter ran against Peleg Arnold in a special election for the U.S House of Representatives in 1796 caused by Benjamin Bourne's...
(1764–1835) the grandson of Elisha Reynolds, who served as the Speaker of the Rhode Island House of Representatives
Rhode Island House of Representatives
The Rhode Island House of Representatives is the lower house of the Rhode Island General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. State of Rhode Island. It is composed of 75 members, elected to two year terms from 75 districts of equal population. The Rhode Island General Assembly does not have...
and became a U.S. Congressman. It was also the home of Potter's son Elisha Reynolds Potter, Jr.
Elisha R. Potter
Elisha Reynolds Potter was a statesman and jurist from Kingston, Rhode Island. He was a justice of the Rhode Island Supreme Court, and served one term in the United States House of Representatives. His father, Elisha Reynolds Potter, also served in the US Congress. He was a member of the...
(1811–1882) who was a Justice on the Rhode Island Supreme Court
Rhode Island Supreme Court
The Rhode Island Supreme Court, founded in 1747, is the court of last resort in the U.S. State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. The Court consists of a chief justice and four associate justices. The current Justices of the Rhode Island Supreme Court are:*Chief Justice Paul A...
, and a U.S. Congressman like his father.
The house served as the home of South Kingstown's
South Kingstown, Rhode Island
South Kingstown is a town in Washington County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 30,639 at the 2010 census.South Kingstown includes the villages of Kingston, West Kingston, Wakefield, Peace Dale, Snug Harbor, Tuckertown, East Matunuck, Matunuck, Green Hill, and Perryville. Peace...
first newspaper The Rhode Island Advocate published by James Brenton in 1832. It was succeeded in 1854 by the South County Journal, which was renamed to become the Narragansett Times in 1864. For a short time from 1838-42, the house was owned by the Kingston Boot and Shoe Company, but the house was reacquired by Justice Potter in payment for outstanding debts on the mortgage. The house was then transferred to Justice Potter's brother Thomas Mawney Potter in 1843, and it remained in the Potter family until its 1919 sale to the Tavern Hall Club. In the summers of 1872 and 1873, the house was rented to Austrian opera star Pauline Lucca
Pauline Lucca
Pauline Lucca was a prominent operatic soprano, born in the Austrian capital of Vienna.As a child she showed a remarkable talent for singing and at eight years old became a voice student of M. Walter. Not too long after her parents lost all their property, forcing her to abandon her studies...
and her retinue during her two-year stay in the United States.
In 1882, Dr. Thomas Mawney Potter established a boarding house for women in the building, and in 1885, sisters Orpha and Elizabeth Rose established a millinery
Millinery
Hatmaking is the manufacture of hats and headwear, millinery is the designing and manufacture of ladies’ hats.-Notable hatters:* Gerard Albouy , often known by the name Ouy, a French milliner...
and womens' clothing store famous for its worsted
Worsted
Worsted , is the name of a yarn, the cloth made from this yarn, and a yarn weight category. The name derives from the village of Worstead in the English county of Norfolk...
goods in a room on the ground floor. At the same time, the Rose sisters served as librarians for books held at the house that eventually became the nucleus of the book collection of the Kingston Free Library, which was later established in the mid-1890s at the Old King's County Courthouse
Country Party (Rhode Island)
The Country Party, Rhode Island's anti-federalist political party, controlled the Rhode Island General Assembly from 1786 and 1790 and opposed the Federalist Party, which supported the U.S. Constitution. The Federalists were largely from the "town," Providence, Rhode Island, while the Country...
in Kingston after the Washington County Courthouse was built in 1892. Upon the sale of the Reynolds House to the Tavern Hall Club in 1919 until the present, the building was used to house male members of the club, and later, visitors to Kingston, including students attending the state agricultural school (now the University of Rhode Island
University of Rhode Island
The University of Rhode Island is the principal public research university in the U.S. state of Rhode Island. Its main campus is located in Kingston. Additional campuses include the Feinstein Campus in Providence, the Narragansett Bay Campus in Narragansett, and the W. Alton Jones Campus in West...
). Additionally, in the 19th Century and early decades of the 20th Century it was used as a meeting place for the volunteer fire brigade of the village. The parlor and billiard room of the Reynolds House have been used since 1919 as the meeting place for the club and the boy scout troop since 1923.