On Sunday, Marine veteran Patrick Dailey will shovel dirt at a Philadelphia site where his nonprofit plans to build a replica of the Marine Corps’ birthplace: Tun Tavern.

The groundbreaking is a ceremonial step toward Dailey’s dream of seeing Marines hoisting tankards of beer there by the 250th anniversary of the Marine Corps in 2025, if his group can raise $8 million in the coming months.

Such a place would bring Marines to a replica of their hometown.

Captain Samuel Nicholas started the Marines at Tun Tavern on November 10, 1775 when he signed up the first volunteers who began a legacy that would later include Iwo Jima, Chosin, Hue and Fallujah, along with nicknames like “Devil Dog” and “Leatherneck.”

Tun Tavern is also reportedly the location where John Adams and the Naval Committee met in 1775 to write the documents that structured what would become the U.S. Navy, foundation research shows.

Once the new Tun Tavern and restaurant are up and running, proceeds will go to charities associated with the organizations associated with Tun Tavern, Dailey said.

About a decade ago, Dailey was at Cookie’s Tavern in Philadelphia, where the owner, a Marine Vietnam veteran, for years hosted a street party for the Marine Corps’ anniversary, with 2,000 to 3,000 people showing up in front of a hole-in-the-wall. bar that could seat perhaps a dozen drinkers.

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Dailey thought: If thousands of Marines from all over the country travel to this bar on their birthday, what would they do if Philly had its own Tun Tavern?

That thought led Dailey to create the nonprofit Tun Tavern Legacy Foundation, naming the future location “The Tun,” a replica of the tavern serving drinks, with an adjacent building called “Peg Mulligan’s Red Hot Beefsteak Club” where food is served that is common to the 18th era of Tun history.

The location is located at 19 South 2nd Street in Philadelphia’s Old City neighborhood, approximately 800 feet from the original Tun Tavern location.

The project also has the support of a key figure in Marine circles, retired Marine Corps Association president and CEO Lt. Gen. Charles Chiarotti, who previously said a new Tun Tavern would mean “Marines past, present and future will have their rightful have a staging area in the city where the Marine Corps was formed.”

Dailey grew up in the suburbs of Philadelphia, driving a truck for his father’s company near the Delaware River, not far from Tun Tavern’s original home.

But he didn’t learn of the famous watering hole and its place in Corps history until 1981, when a barrel-chested sergeant spouted Marine Corps history and facts as Dailey navigated the first weeks of Officer Candidate School at the Marine Corps Base Quantico spat. ,Virginia.

In all his years around Philly, he had never heard of this place.

“I thought, this guy doesn’t know what he’s talking about,” Dailey told Marine Corps Times. “But you don’t correct a gunnery sergeant at Officer Candidate School.”

Dailey would serve in the 1st Marine Aircraft Wing and the 3rd Marine Division from 1981 to 1985 before rejoining civilian life. The former officer worked in accounting and pharmaceutical industries for nearly 40 years, gradually becoming involved in maritime and community-based nonprofits.

For the past twenty years, he has operated a small Japanese restaurant and market location in Ardmore, Pennsylvania, less than 10 miles from Philadelphia.

Dailey and his partners, including Rob Brink, foundation board chairman and deputy grand master of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania Free and Accepted Masons, acquired the land first. They have since received all the proper zoning, permits and permissions from the city to begin construction once they raise nearly $12 million.

That’s just over half of the total $21 million price tag. The foundation has raised $6.5 million to date. If they can get another $8 million, they can start construction, Dailey said.

The foundation has received that money from board members and private donations from private individuals, federal and state grants. Dailey said he hopes a corporate sponsor with ties to the Marine Corps could help with a larger donation.

The foundation recently received a $1 million challenge grant from a Navy veteran and an anonymous donor that will contribute $500,000 once the challenge reaches $1 million, and another $500,000 when the challenge reaches $4.5 million, according to the foundation website.

The Freemason Society in the board has its own history.

Historical records show that Tun Tavern first received a business license in 1686 and likely opened in 1693 as a brewery that served beer to customers, Dailey said.

The establishment was likely the first bar visitors saw when they stepped off their boats on the Delaware River, the main waterway for ship traffic to Philadelphia.

In colonial times, taverns were centers of commerce, politics, community events and more.

The tavern is the birthplace of Freemasonry in Pennsylvania, Dailey said. According to the foundation, the St. George, St. Andrew and Friendly Sons of St. Patrick societies were formed or held meetings at the inn.