by Nancy Armitage
The San Francisco Examiner on April 24, 1892, tells us of the “The Huntington Dinner”; a Spectacular Spread at the Palace Hotel”. The event was for the Annual Banquet Dinner for the Central Pacific & Southern Pacific Railroads Company ; 100 dinner guests were top executives of the company, with Collis P. Huntington hosting the event.
In 1892, Collis P. Huntington, was the President of the Southern Pacific Co. & Central Pacific Railroads. He was hosting the grandest of all of his annual banquets in San Francisco, California. These companies were bi-coastal, offices in New York City & San Francisco, CA. Since the early 1880’s, these annual banquets were in springtime & located at the Palace Hotel. Mr. & Mrs. Collis P. Huntington (Arabella) actually stayed at the Palace Hotel; while “In-Residence” in San Francisco for their 1-2 month stay. This was before they bought their Nob Hill mansion & renovated it.
Though New York City was the center of Huntington’s business interests, he had a West Coast headquarters. It was located directly across the Montgomery Street from the sophisticated & glamorous Palace Hotel in San Francisco. His concept for these gatherings was to meet his employees, the businessmen in whose abilities Huntington’s interests rested. During these gatherings Huntington was accessible to all of his employees.
In the late 1890’s in American High Society, it was unusual for someone of Huntington’s class to mingle with employees as freely as he did during these gatherings. It must be noted that “C. P .” Huntington made no distinction between family, political affiliates, or employees in his lavish entertaining. All guests were treated equally with no expense spare for the entertaining. Huntington highly believed & praised the American values of hard work & a job well done.
In the 1840’s, he himself started his career as a merchant who sold tools & supplies to the California gold miners. His work ethic is what helped him build his fortune. Huntington considered entertaining his employees on a grand scale, a privilege. For Huntington, these banquets were a expression of gratitude for his employee’s loyalty, dedication & hard work.
I found three dinner menus for this annual banquets in various places at the Huntington Library; they had detailed descriptions of the lavish 12-16 course Gilded Age dinners. Layers of amazing lavish & sumptuous food served on elegant porcelain plates was served to all the guests. If Delmonicos (Southern Pacific Co. banquets caterer) provided the plateware – they used French Limoges gold & off-white “Snowflake” or “Medallion” . There was a snowflake-looking medallion in the middle of the plates. These plates were exclusively made for Delmonicos (1890-1910) created by Wm. Guerin & Co. Serving the best French wine (like Bordeaux red) & French champagne paired with each of the courses in crystal glasses. Also, seating charts show that the guest lists ranged from 90 to 110 dinner guests.
The 2 seating charts I found in the Huntington’s archives for the Huntington banquets where in the years 1898 (above)& 1897. Both held at the Huntington’s Nob Hill Mansion in San Francisco CA. They show that the diners were seated at a horseshoe-shaped table with C. P. Huntington at the helm. The tablescapes were handsomely put together with green leaves & lots of red roses & beautiful flowers & candles. Also, the table was adorned with sparkling crystal glass, sterling silver flatware (Gorham), & most-likely Sevres or Limoges Haviland French porcelain plates. Background music was provided at the banquets but since the evening was a gentlemen’s only affair, it is doubtful there was any dancing.
When the banquets were held at the Palace Hotel, in San Francisco, California. Mr. Collis Huntington used his favorite caterers, Victoire & Prosper Reiter from uptown Delmonico’s in New York City. I have recently found out there was another Delmonico’s in San Francisco & they served French food, also.
The grandest of all of these annual dinners, was held on April 23, 1892. This dinner was called “The Huntington Dinner” (being that Collis P. Huntington was the host) in the San Francisco Examiner, It was a very lengthy article that described both the food & beverages & Mr. Huntington’s motivational speech.
The famous Delmonico’s Restaurant/Caterer made this dinner a total spectacular event! Only a upscale restaurant/caterer could handle an large event like this. If one calculates 100 guests & eight (8) wine & champagne glasses per guest, a astounding figure of 800 crystal stemware glasses were used for this meal. Also, with 100 guests eating 16 courses, they would have used 1,600 plates for the evening event. This is not including the finger bowls, bread & butter plates, & the numerous silver flatware.
“The Huntington Dinner” Menu: Gilded Age
This elaborate meal was described, as “The Huntington Dinner” by the San Francisco Examiner. The Dinner was a 16-course extravaganza beginning with California Oysters on the Half Shell. The 1st course was served with a Chablis white wine. A Consommé des Sportsmen (a earthy game soup with barley is my guess) served with Jerezquo (a Spanish sherry wine).
During that time period, it was common to have hors d’oeuvres serves after the soup course & before the fish course. Sometimes, called a “Amuse Bouche” which was a special surprise from the gourmet chef. A little tasty treat to what is to come. “Savories” were listed alongside Cromesques of Liver with truffles. Which is a type of Duck Liver Mousse probably served with water crackers or freshly baked French Bread Baguette. Also, accompanied with White Sauterne wine. The 4th Course (the Fish course) was Brook Trout a la Arc en Ciel was served with Potatoes a la Parisienne (sliced potatoes, shallots & cream). Claret red wine was poured with this course. Claret is a Victorian red wine, very similar to delicious red French Bordeaux wine.
The elaborate dinner included a multitude of entrees. They served Burgundy red wine with Braised Capons a la Ambassadrice (the Chicken course). Capons, a small delicious chicken was usually served with a mushroom sauce. Cassolet of Frogs a la Presidente was the next course. Considering Mr. Huntington was the President of both the SPRR Company & CPRR, Frogs Legs must have been a special treat and delicacy for him & they named it after him. Frogs legs taste like chicken, very good with lemon squeezed on them. Spring a la Nancy (a Roasted lamb was often listed as the favorite entrée on the Huntington family menus).
In the middle of most of these Gilded Age society meals, the mid-point would be 1 hour into the dinner. This pause gave the guests a chance to leave the table or smoke a cigar. At this mid-point, they often served a Roman Punch (sometimes a frozen libation). On this particular night, Mr. Huntington served a Sorbet de Champagne. It’s interesting to note that French Champagne, Pommery & Greno Sec. was served with the Sorbet de Champagne. Most likely during the 2nd half of the banquet dinner, President Collis “C.P.” Huntington got up to make his moving motivation speech to his employees. These were the top senior executives of his company of trains, ships & ferries across America. A note in 1900, Collis P. Huntington, President of Southern Pacific Co. had 50,000 employees.
Once the guests had cleared their palates with sorbet, the next course – a game course was Roast Squab was served with a Medley of vegetables, dressed artichokes & Jelly a la Italienne & Asparagus- Sauce Mousseline. A second Champagne, Heldsieck & Co. Dry Mono Pole, completed this tasty course.
To finish off this opulent feast, Sandeman’s Port was served & enhanced the Pudding a la Conde & Fancy Mikado Ices. Coffee was poured at the elaborate meals conclusion.
Bibliography:
HEH Coll. MS Box 198 uncat ( Mr. H. E. Huntington’s papers & newspaper articles, and dinner menus)
Newspaper Article: San Francisco Examiner, Monday April 24, 1892, the title of the article: “the Huntington Dinner”, a Delmonico Banquet in San Francisco.
Newspaper Article: New York Times Article 1891, Ward McAllister’s dinner in honor of C.P. Huntington.
Documents;
Document: HEH Collection HEH Box 198-199 at Huntington Library, San Marino, CA (1900 Train pass of Southern Pacific Co. 1900 issued to Mrs. H. S. Huntington (who was HEH’s mother and CPH’s sister in law)
Document: HEH Collection HEH 38/6 uncat (H.E. Huntington Mansion Inventory at the San Marino Ranch-Huntington Library San Marino, CA Limoges Haviland “Diplomate” plates of Mrs. Arabella D. Huntington)
Inside the Huntington's Story 