The Willard Hotel in Louisville, Kentucky, was originally known as the Croghan House in the 1850s and 1860s. Located at 516-20 W. Jefferson Street, it was a five-storey building whose entrance was flanked by street lamps with globed lanterns. We found a description of guests arriving in ‘town carriages’ hauled by mules.

Benjamin Harris was the 23rd President at the time this menu would have been in service.

It features a handsome owl, finely drawn, and wearing spectacles and some kind of sash. As you will see, the menu offering was extensive.

Owls would have had significant cultural symbolism in 1892, the date of this menu.  Its appearance on the front cover was probably to attract businessmen to the restaurant since owls can symbolize wisdom, intuition and good luck – all necessary qualities for entrepreneurs.

We don’t believe this Willard was connected to the historic Willard Hotel in Washington DC, visited by many Presidents. It may have been named after Orasmus Willard, one of the first ‘celebrity’ bartenders who mixed drinks in New York and other big cities in the early 1800s.

We believe the Willard was demolished in 1972.