Located on the northeast corner of Randolph and Wells Streets, Briggs House may have served clientele with business dealings at the city's Courthouse (just east of the hotel) or perhaps those attending performances at the nearby McVicker's Theater. Most mid-nineteenth-century hotel menus, including the New Year's Day bill of fare from the Briggs House, followed a seventeenth-century French model. Meals began with items like oysters or terrapin soup, before moving on to fish, meat, and finally dessert. Due to the relative popularity of such meals, the city sustained at least three wholesale oyster dealers in 1859.

Creator: Briggs House
Source: Chicago Historical Society (ICHi-50801)