Dec 12 2023 50 mins
In 1855, in the springtime, John B. Drake came to Chicago from Cincinnati. Having saved enough money prior to his arrival in Chicago, he purchased a quarter interest in the Tremont House in 1855. He became the sole owner in 1868.
What better way to harness the local resources and build his reputation in a new city, Drake thought, than by hosting an elaborate game-dinner party for elite guests? The menu would feature the region’s finest game, in quantities and variety unavailable anywhere else. Each year, his cooks would boil, broil, and roast wild game, especially waterfowl, which represented a significant part of the wildlife that inhabited the region.
The first game dinner at the Tremont House, September 5, 1855, drew less than 50 people, attended by the leading men of the city and county. Wildfowl delicacies served, whether broiled or roasted, included blue-winged teal, wild pigeons, prairie chickens, grouse, sandhill cranes, woodcock, plover, and reed birds.
But what started as a relatively modest affair grew quickly in both popularity and culinary ambition and into a must-attend annual event, nearly as much an institutional part of Chicago as was the stock yards.
In the days of the stagecoach and muzzle-loading flintlocks, no small number of persons in and about Chicago shot game for the market, all excellent shots with their long fowling pieces. When breechloaders came available, they frequently graduated into champion marksmen. The Kleinman brothers, in the order of their age, John, Abe, Henry, and George, were successful market hunters, for the most part using decoys and duck calls for mallard shooting, and they were excellent live-bird trap shooters. Henry, was one of the best shots that ever faced the traps. As a duck and field shot, the four brothers had no superiors and few equals. It was uncommon for one of the Kleinmans in good ducking weather to shoot less than 100, and many of them were canvasbacks on the Calumet in the early days.