Suttenfield's Tavern

Tavern · William Suttenfield (also spelled Suttonfield)

• 1823 per marker — as a marker claim, thin
• First tavern licence in organised Allen County: 10 August 1824
• Northeast corner of Barr & Columbia (lot 33)
• No closure date found — THIN

On the record

Founded 1823 per the Barr-and-Columbia marker inscription (“North East — Suttenfield Tavern 1823”) — as a marker claim, thin. 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, 9 March 1907, transcribed by ACGSI. The licence is documented: a contemporaneous county record quoted in a 1907 newspaper compilation; the record itself not yet 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.

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.

Course and fate: THIN. 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.

Find them on this page

• § 05 — business

Sources: HMdb Barr-and-Columbia marker (hmdb.org/m.asp?m=197325); ACGSI, “The First Things in Fort Wayne” (Fort Wayne News, 9 Mar 1907); ACGSI 1820–1829 Timeline of Allen County; Genealogy Trails, Early Allen County History. Sources as cited in the profile.