Union Stockyard Inn Matador Restaurant 1930\'s to 1940\'s Era Hotel China Service For Sale

Union Stockyard Inn Matador Restaurant 1930\'s to 1940\'s Era Hotel China Service

Union Stockyard Inn - Matador Restaurant - 1930\'s to 1940\'s Era - Very Rare – Hotel China Service Plate
Offered for your consideration is an extremely rare 1930’s era 10 1/2\" wide hotel china service plate made for The Matador restaurant that was located at the Union Stockyard Co. famous and upscale Stockyard Inn hotel in Chicago, Illinois.
This pattern does not surface much; specially, in this all solid black service plate for the Matador.It has also been claimed by some Chicago historians and observers that when the Stock Yard Inn was destroyed in 1977, most of the remaining furnishings, artifacts, hotel and restaurant silver and china (such as this plate), were left in the hotel and demolished along with the building.
Historicallyin 1854, a large six story elaborate hotel named the Hough House was built near the grounds of what would became the Union ock Yards (in 1865) that would go on to become owned by the Union Stock Yard Co. and renamed the Transit House. This hotel provided luxurious hotel rooms and meeting places for all of the cattlemen, ranchers, livestock owners, and businessmen and executives that would arrive in Chicago to conduct business at the stockyards. In addition, the hotel provided a fine upscale restaurant complete with professionally trained chefs and waiters that offered exceptional service. This was a hotel were many men of wealth would stay.
For many years throughout the 19th and into the early part of the 20th Century the Transit House operated. But onJanuary 5, 1912, a fire broke out at the hotel the Transit House Hotel resulting in its destruction, but with all guest and staff being able to be rescued by the Chicago Fire Department. However, the building, its furnishing, and all of its contents were considered a total loss.
However, this was not the end of an upscale hotel at the stockyards for the multitude of wealthy cattlemen arriving in the city. The Union Stock Yards company almost immediately started worked on an even more upscale hotel (though smaller) to replace the original Transit House hotel. This new hotel was to be called the Stock Yard Inn.
In 1913, the new 175 room hotel opened and was designed in a most beautiful English Tudor architectural style that was very impressive. \"It was designed originally for the accommodation of stockmen having business in the Chicago market—the world\'s largest center of livestock trade. It was of authentic Tudor architecture, rated the finest example of that type of construction in the Midwest.\"The then new hotel was located at Halsted and 42nd Street; just outside the Union Stock Yards\' limestone gates. In addition to hotel rooms, the new hotel offered several restaurants, private dining rooms, meeting rooms, and even a ballroom / event room.
Throughout the years of operation, some of the restaurants at the Stock Yard Inn were named the Sirloin Room, the Saddle & Sirloin Club, and the Matador Room. Each restaurant was decorated with paintings, artifacts, and furnishing related to the style of the restaurant. As was the case of the Matador Room, the design on the front of this service plate also graced the menus and some other dining items. The Matador Room had a special focus on Mexican and South Western bullfighting as the decoration.
But not only where cattlemen the only guests at the Stock Yard Inn hotel, it was considered as one of the finest restaurants and hotel in all of the greater Chicago area. Over the years of operations, important guest included United States President Teddy Roosevelt, Calvin Coolidge, Hubert Hoover, Harry S. Truman, General Dwight D. Eisenhower, and even President John F. Kennedy. Many famous celebrities, important non-food service industry giants, politicians, and persons of wealth dined and even stayed at the hotel. So important was the hotel and its amphitheater, that in 1968, the Democratic National Convention was held at the Stock Yard Inn. Who knows what famous person may have dined with this plate while at The Matador.
But all was not meant to be for much longer. At Midnight on Friday, July 30th, 1971, the Union Stockyards closed. This was due to the many years of moving meatpacking from centralized areas, along with, having livestock and processed meats transported by refrigerated semi-trucks over the interstate highway system in place of railroad fright transportation. This too, along with, the need for tightened safety and health regulations, ended the operations.
Though owned by the Union Stockyards Company, but always just outside the grounds of the actual livestock operation, The Stock Yard Inn remained opened. But as business started to fade away, the historic hotel and restaurant closed sometime in 1976. In January of 1977, the famous hotel was demolished and became part of Chicago\'s lost history. Again, it is been claimed that when the stockyard Inn closed, most of its restaurant china, hotel silver, etc., stayed stayed with it and was destroyed when the demolition occurred; save for some items over the years that were given as gifts to patrons by staff, the management, and so forth.
This 11\" service plate would have been used as the first thing you would see when you were seated at the table. It would have either been removed when the first courses of lunch or dinner were brought out by the waiter, or other serving items would have been placed upon it. But due to its ornate nature and design, it was not meant to be eaten from directly. There were also much fewer of these service or chop plates made in comparison to a dinner plate, lunch plate, and so on.
It would have been used in connection with the Stock Yard Inn\'s hotel silver soldered - silver plate and glassware for actual table service. It is the heavyweight type steamship, diner / cafe, and railroad china. It was made by the Scammell China Co. of Trenton, New Jersey, and is their Lamberton marked such restaurant ware. It is marked as such \"Made Expressly for - Matador Room - Union Stock Yards - Chicago, ILL. - Furnished by American China & Glassware Co.
Again, these service plate (or any of this china or silver) does not surface much from the Matador or the Stockyard Inn. But, this is the first such solid color plate vs. the ones that are just black to the front and have the white base on the back. It features a bull fighter on the front with the the wording \"The Matador\", which is done is red and white colors to outside a bullfighter with the red muleta. The plate has no cracks, no chips, and only very light usage.
A very rare addition to your Union Stockyards, Stockyard Inn, historic Chicago, or vintage restaurant ware collection.You may wish to consider adding this lovely piece of historyto your hotel silver, silver soldered, heavyweight type steamship, hotel silver, or restaurant ware collection.