Glassboro’s very first tavern was built on the corner of Main Street and Mullica Hill Road at the approximate map Coordinates:
(39.706737, -75.110807) as a private residence to Soloman Stanger in 1776.[1] Going through numerous name changes and passing through the hands of many owners, the tavern known as The Franklin House remained in the same location, open for continuous operation for nearly 200 years. It provided for glass industry visitors and community member gatherings until it was demolished on Feb. 12, 2003 and replaced by the Landmark Americana Tap & Grill.[2] With so many years serving the community’s members, the Franklin House has played a major role in the establishment of Glassboro as a thriving industrial town. Although the original building no longer stands, the area remains a beacon of community, entertainment, and gathering for those who live in Glassboro today.

Stanger built the house from nothing after purchasing 200-acres of forest for his glassworks enterprise,[3] clearing the area and using its logs to construct the home.[4] Seeing a vital need for a place to accommodate the visitors to the town’s growing glass industry, Stanger petitioned for a license to convert his lodge to an inn and publick house in 1781.[5] The petition was signed and a license was granted for Stanger and his wife, Gwin, to begin operating the tavern. They operated the tavern for 6 years.[6] Meanwhile, Colonel Thomas Heston, the nephew by marriage of Thomas Carpenter, had taken interests in the Stanger glassworks. Together, the two formed a partnership and Gloucester County's first glassworks became known as "Carpenter and Heston."[7] Stanger and his family operated  the inn until 1786[8], when Heston and Carpenter bought the inn, enlarging it to make it “more commodious”[9] by moving the building east on the lot, utilizing the original kitchen but adding on to the tavern.[10] Under Heston and Carpenter, not only did the building’s structure undergo physical changes, but its reputation, along with the reputation of the town, underwent a transformation. Heston’s broad

Later a company store was added on the corner again across the street from the glass factory on the other side. In nearby Carpenters Landing, a tavern, a store, and lumber business were also maintained and carried on by Thomas Carpenter. Carpenter's Landing (named after Thomas Carpenter) was located at the furthest inland navigable point on the Mantua Creek from the Delaware River. Supplies were unloaded and goods were loaded for sale from the glass works which were delivered by Horse and carriage from nearby Glassboro.

Colonel Heston, who served under George Washington in Revolution, was a member of the Gloucester Fox-hunting Club which was formed in October, 1766. The club met once a week for hunting prior to the Revolutionary War, and after the war, the club was reorganized.[11] As a member of the old Gloucester County Fox Hunting Club, Heston arranged their meetings at his tavern. It was their custom to get meal here on eve of fox hunt.[12]

This tradition caught on, and community gatherings here became the norm, as one article states, “The tavern was also the social, political, and military headquarters of the village…This old inn was apparently the nucleus around which our community began to grow.”[13] A symbol that grew and changed alongside the growing, changing town, The Franklin Inn also made significant contributions to the town’s development. Samuel Morris, a member of the fox hunting club, is the one who suggested the name “Glassborough” for the town which had previously been known as many different names, including Glass Works, Glass Town, Stanger Glass House, Heston Glass Works, and Glassville.[14] Even Glassboro’s name had its beginnings at the Franklin house!

The many changes in ownership and management of the property contributed to so many different people from all walks of life using Tavern as a community center. Its most influential owners were able to use the Tavern as a means to bring new people into the town or host notable guests. One article attributes Heston’s “broad acquaintances” to be “responsible for many new faces in the community.”[15] By 1799, however, Colonel Heston committed more time to operating the Glassworks, handing over operation of the Inn to Andrew Crawford,[16] a friend of the Colonels who’d served in the military with him[17] and shared many military contacts that Heston had, keeping the local militia’s connection to the Inn strong. In 1801, management was handed to Terrance Levi Campbell, the former bookkeeper for the Glassworks,[18] whose connections to the glass factory likely made the Tavern feel more accessible to the locals who worked alongside him. Although one source cites Colonel
Heston’s death in 1802 “a blow to the community,”[19] his widow Hanna took back the management position of the Inn.[20] Hanna didn’t let her husband’s death limit the Tavern’s role in the community. She was involved in her own social areas in town like her church, and during her
time operating the Inn, “County Surveyors meet there to lay out new roads; it is a regular stage and post stop; the meeting place for various groups of the town and the home for the journeying glass blowers. The widow Heston was active in all branches of community life, active in her church and her counsil was sought by many.”[21] Hanna wasn’t the only Heston woman who made great contributions to the town through the tavern. Bathsheba Heston, Hanna’s daughter, fell in love with Ebeneezer Whitney while he was stopped to rest at her family's tavern. It is said that Ebeneezer was shipwrecked off the coast of Cape May and was seeking medical attention in Philadelphia but was too beat up to make it all that way. He befriended Bathsheba as she cared for him at Heston's tavern.[22] They got married in 1807, and the two built a home across from the Tavern this same year after their marriage.[23] Although Whitney became the proprietor of the Tavern in 1817,[24] and was never engaged in glassmaking, three of his sons were.[25] Lewis Stanger, a descendant of Soloman Stanger, the original builder of the Franklin Inn, sold his share of the Harmony works to Ebenezer’s son Thomas H. Whitney in 1834. In 1838 T.H. Whitney bought out all other interests and became sole owner. His two sons Thomas and Samuel joined him and renamed the Harmony Glass Works, Whitney and Brothers.[26] Without the Franklin inn, Ebenezer would not have settled in Glassboro and has children who transformed the Harmony (Whitney) lassworks into the enormous operation which put Glassboro on the map.

As Ebenezer’s interests expanded and he began operating a ferry and tavern in Camden, in 1820, the Franklin tavern was rented to Edward Middleton[27] until 1822, when Johnson Beckett assumed control and renamed it “The Friendship Tavern.”[28] This was a transformative year for the tavern as well as for Glassboro. Glassboro got its first U.S. Post Office and general store located directly next to the tavern, confirming the area as the town center.[29] The Friendship Tavern got a “facelift,” installing new windows and getting two expansions (in 1824 and 1825).[30] As one article states, “by 1827, all roads met at the Tavern.”[31] At this point, there were 2 Glassworks in operation[32] and the town had over 200 residents,[33] it was booming and the tavern was in the center of all of the activity.

There was then another series of owners/operators to the inn. William Pickels was the proprietor of the Inn from 1824 through 1832, when Mary Wood took over operation. She ran the Inn until 1836, when a descendant of the Hestons, Mary Paul, took over operation of the Inn[34] until 1843, when Mrs. Heston passed away and the tavern went up for auction. Thomas Whitney, owner of Whitney Glassworks, bought the Inn, then sold it to Thomas Paul, who renamed it Paul’s Hotel.[35] Around 1849[36] or 1850, Paul remodeled the building, moving it to the corner of the lot while adding on a sandstone addition to the building.[37] 

Paul operated the Inn successfully until 1872, when John H. Coles took over as innkeeper.[38] To cater to the largely German glassblowing population, Coles renamed the Inn “The Bismarck House.”[39] Soloman Stanger, who founded the glass industry in Glassboro, had German roots, dating back to his glass artisan ancestors in Germany.[40] According to one online source, “the name Stenger [German spelling of Stanger] is synonymous with the Glassmakers of Germany, Bavaria and later the American Colonies.”[41] This suggests that although the glassworks had changed hands to owners of non-German descent, German immigrants were still regarded as the most trusted and renowned glass blowers for their time.

The next owner, Jesse Reeves, changed the inn’s name once again to “Reeves Hotel” in 1875[42] and installed the first running water, put up a windmill on the property, added a new 2nd story, upgraded to new furnishings, a new bar, gave the Inn a fresh coat of paint, and even added new stables.[43] This was a time of transformation for the inn, especially since the invention of the automatic bottle machine in 1903 began to slow the momentum of the hand-blown glass factory in Glassboro, eventually putting them out of work for good.[44] The inn had to start catering to a new clientele, no longer able to rely on the local glassblowers or visitors to the glassworks.

In 1907, William Davis became manager, renaming the building “The Franklin House.” More additions were put on in 1908 and 1909. The inn was operational until the 1980s[45], and the ownership was kept in the same family.[46] Davis passed the inn to his son Franklin, who retired in the 60s and passed on management to his daughter and her husband, Celia Davis-Risner, and her husband Ernst Risner, who ran the hotel until selling it in 1972.[47] Just as Colonel Heston’s community connections made the Franklin House a community landmark, Risner’s involvement in Glassboro’s Rotary Club allowed the Inn to be integrated into the lives of many locals: “Glassboro Rotary was chartered March 21, 1924 at the borough's historic old stagecoach stop, "The Franklin House," and 65 years later it still meets there on Thursday evenings.”[48] At this time, the Franklin House was a family home, owners had their own suites, in addition to the twenty-two guest rooms.[49] According to records, the Inn was used by the Glassboro State College Faculty Association, who held dinner meetings and parties there, as well as groups like the Wednesday Club (Glassboro's Women's Club), the Glassboro State College Faculty Wives, and other groups, who held luncheon meetings there.[50]

In early 2001, The Franklin House was threatened by demolition and about to be sold to the Wawa corporation for construction of a Super Wawa, complete with 36 gas pumps and overnight parking for 18- wheelers. Glassboro locals rallied citizens and the press to petition Glassboro
hall to save the site, if not the building. This location had been a licensed tavern and inn in the borough since 1771 and they did not want to lose this integral space in Glassboro. The borough agreed to purchase the building and to seek bids for renovation or reconstruction of a similar facility on the site.[51] On Feb. 12, 2003, the historic Franklin House was demolished and was replaced by the Landmark Americana Tap & Grill.[52] The new Landmark Restaurant, run by the Cammarota brothers, continues a Glassboro tradition of dining hospitality at this historic site.[53]

Although the glass industry in Glassboro has since died and the town’s most defining feature is the public university that resides here, this area in Glassboro continues to serve the purpose it did 200 years ago. The exact site of Franklin House no longer serves as an overnight guesthouse, but it is currently located across from newly constructed Rowan University residence halls which cater to students who come from all walks of life to stay temporarily in Glassboro to study at Rowan University. Where glass workers once gathered, students, parents, teachers and towns people gather for a bite and exchange the tidings of the day-as of days of old.