A Hotel Lafayette Dinner Event
The grand hotels of Lake Minnetonka’s Golden Era were well known for serving some of the best food anywhere west of the Mississippi. Standing among the very pinnacle of them was the Hotel Lafayette.
Lafayette, built by railroad baron James J. Hill, opened its doors in 1882 and was quickly regarded as one of the most luxurious hotels anywhere west of New York City. The titanic building spanned almost 750 feet in length and housed some 300 rooms. For the most part, produce and meat were sourced hyper-locally, with farms and fishermen nearby supplying the mammoth operation. Though, it seems local staples didn’t exclusively dominate the menu.
See below an 1891 invitation to Hotel Lafayete for a fine dining event. The central feature—a salt water clam bake! The card, measuring only 7 inches by 3.5 inches, details the event, musical accompaniment, and a comical depiction of a man before and after enjoying the Hotel Lafayette’s bake. Overall, this is a fantastic representation of the era’s art style, typesetting, and more.
We are happy to display, for the first time on the internet, this vintage piece. To our knowledge, this is the only remaining documentation for this event.
Scroll through the gallery by using arrows on the left or right side of each image!
Bibliography of Sources:
Hotel Lafayette clam bake pamphlet is sourced from and held in the private Minnetonka Minute collection.
Lake Minnetonka’s Historic Hotels, Meyer, 1997, pg. 48 - 52
