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1823 per marker · licensed 1824
Founded: 1823 per the Barr-and-Columbia marker inscription ("North East — Suttenfield Tavern 1823") — The firm record underneath it: the first tavern licence in organised Allen County was granted to William Suttonfield on 10 August 1824 (fee $12.50, circuit court having acted on the application) — quoted from the county record in "The First Things in Fort Wayne — The First Taverns," Fort Wayne News, Saturday 9 March 1907, transcribed by ACGSI. The licence is known from a contemporaneous county record quoted in a 1907 newspaper compilation; the record itself has not been sighted. Spelling varies by source — Suttenfield (marker, later local writing), Suttonfield (1907 transcription) — and is flagged, not silently standardised.
Founder: William Suttenfield (later styled Colonel Suttenfield), a garrison-era figure remembered as master of ceremonies for affairs of honour and as the taker of the first Maumee mail-carrying contract (1907 "First Mails" companion piece, same ACGSI page).
What it did: One of the city's first two taverns, on the northeast corner of Barr and Columbia streets (lot 33) — directly opposite Ewing's Washington Hall. Tavern rates were fixed by the county board (preserved 1824 bill: day 60¢; meals 25¢ each; lodging 12½¢; whiskey 12½¢/quart). The early county's business ran through the taverns: the third term of the circuit court was convened at the house of William Suttenfield on 21 November 1825 (county history, Genealogy Trails transcription).
Course / fate: No course beyond the 1824 licence and the 1825 court sitting was found, and no closure date. Next evidence route: the 1858–59 Williams' directory and ACGSI tavern/hotel files, to establish whether the house continued, renamed, or vanished.
Sources:
- HMdb, Barr-and-Columbia intersection marker — https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=197325
- ACGSI, "The First Things in Fort Wayne" (transcribing Fort Wayne News, 9 Mar 1907, p.4) — http://www.acgsi.org/genweb/fort-wayne/first-things-fort-wayne-indiana.html
- ACGSI, 1820–1829 Timeline of Allen County (the two first taverns at Barr and Columbia; county business in both) — https://www.acgsi.org/genweb/county/timeline/1820s-timeline-of-allen-county-indiana.html
- Genealogy Trails, Early Allen County History (1824 tavern rates; court at Suttenfield's house, 21 Nov 1825) — http://genealogytrails.com/ind/allen/allenearly.html