An iconic Boston landmark, the Union Oyster House has been doing continuous business since 1826, with the same stalls and oyster bar in their original positions.

Patronized by the great and the good for decades, former president John F Kennedy was a regular at this restaurant and still has a booth here that is dedicated to his memory.

More than half a million guests come through the doors every year to dine on hearty New England seafood and to consume thousands of gallons of chowder, nearly 40,000 lobsters and about a million and a half oysters.

Before 1826, the location was a dry goods store operated by local businessman Thomas Capen who sold imported silks and other items for the upper classes.

Louis Philippe I, the King of France from 1830 to 1845, who spent  20 years as an exiled prince after the outbreak of the French Revolution, briefly lived above what would later become the Union Oyster House in 1797. Here, he taught the French language to many prominent Bostonians of the period.

Remarkably, this historic restaurant has had only three owners since 1826 and is currently owned and managed by the Milano family.

This menu was taken from the restaurant on the 17th of September 1947. Diners were feasting on oysters advertised as ‘easily digested - nourishing but non-fattening.’