Ephemera

Overview In South Philadelphia, at the corner of Washington Avenue and Swanson Street, a neighborhood grocer named Barzilai Brown began distributing food to soldiers traveling to and from the nearby Navy Yard and railroads. This operation, originally referred to as “Brown’s,” became the Union Volunteer Refreshment Saloon on May 27, 1861. The establishment grew and became a place of rest, relaxation, and, of course, refreshment for travel-weary soldiers, whom the saloon provided with food, drink, paper,...