Chicago's Love Affair with Live Oysters Began in 1835.

New Englanders settled in Chicago, bringing with them a taste for oysters. Chicago had become a huge oyster town, with sizeable multilevel oyster houses. These houses would have a dance hall, lunchroom, formal dining, and taprooms in one massive building.

Shell Oysters.

Delivered by sleigh from New Haven, Connecticut, the first fresh oysters in Chicago were served in 1835 at the Lake House Hotel on Kinzie Street. The Lake House Hotel establishment was our city's first foray into (5-Star) fine dining and offered these East Coast imports to their well-heeled clientele. It was the first restaurant to use white tablecloths, napkins, menu cards, and toothpicks. 

This spurred Chicago's earliest love affair with the oyster. By 1857, there were seven "Oyster Depots" and four "Oyster Saloons" in the city. 

Chicago's population in 1860 was 109,000. Peaking in the Gilded Age of the 1890s, with a population of just over a million people and waning with Prohibition, oyster consumption was plentiful in old Chicago.

The Boston Oyster House in Chicago offered no fewer than 42 oyster selections, divided among "Select," "New York Counts," and "Shell Oysters." In 1893, a dozen raw oysters were 25¢; if you ordered the same dozen fried, the price doubled to 50¢. The most expensive was broiled oysters (60¢ a dozen with celery sauce or 75¢ with mushrooms).

Oysters Six Ways.

Believe it or not, Ice Cream parlors also served oysters because they had all that ice.

In the 1890s, express-service refrigerated train cars shipped oysters and other perishable foods nationwide. The vehicles did not come into general use until the turn of the 20th century.

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The oysters were kept alive on ice while being transported. If an oyster's shell opens, they die. Dead oysters carry some very dangerous bacteria for humans.

Compiled by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D.