04/15/2024
The bar room at Munroe Tavern in Lexington, Mass, around 1940 and 2023. It was here in this room on April 19, 1775 that wounded British redcoats received medical treatment during their retreat to Boston after the battles of Lexington and Concord. They also shot and killed the tavern’s caretaker, helped themselves to the food and drinks, and started a fire when they left. However, the fire was quickly extinguished and the building was saved.
The photo on the left was taken around 1940, shortly after the Lexington Historical Society restored the building. Today, the building is still owned by the organization, and it is open to the public seasonally for tours. The bar room is less cluttered than it was in the 1940 photo, but otherwise has been largely unchanged since then.
Historic image courtesy of Phillips Library, Peabody Essex Museum, Samuel Chamberlain Photograph Negatives Collection.
