Originally published to Facebook.com/NorthPlattePL on November 26, 2020.
What has a Thanksgiving looked like and cost over the years in North Platte Nebraska? Well, please enjoy walking down memory lane when looking at the advertising from local newspapers from 1922 through 1962.
Starting with the 1920’s Burke’s Cash Grocery listed a few ingredients for a thanksgiving menu, including 3 pounds of sweet potato’s for 25 cents!
From the 1930’s through the 1950’s, many local restaurants served complete turkey dinners with all the trimmings.
The DeLuxe Café (1931) didn’t list their menu but gave you a choice of turkey or goose with all the trimmings for .75 cents.
And the Blue Goose Cafe (1931) listed their menu, which included: Oyster cocktail, Consume ala Royale, Waldorf salad, Filet of Halibut, Club Steak with a rasher of bacon, Fried Chicken Southern Style, Chicken ala King, Roast young turkey with cranberry sauce, Grilled lamb chops on toast, breaded veal cutlet with tomato sauce, stuffed duck with baked apples, asparagus tips omelet, boiled chicken lettuce tomato salad, mashed potatoes, and stewed corn. And for dessert, ice cream and wafers, Mince pie, Pumpkin pie with whipped cream, or English plum pudding with a hard sauce.
The City Café (1939) advertised their Thanksgiving feast menu in the local paper in 1939. The menu called for a roasted young Tom Turkey, yams, potatoes, a choice of brussels sprouts or peas, and rolls. For dessert you could choose from pumpkin pie, minced pie, fruit Jell-o, cheese and crackers or an ice cream dessert. All of that would cost you .50 cents. On
November 22, 1955, Ace’s Towne House printed their Thanksgiving menu and invitation as an article in the newspaper.
In that same newspaper (1955), the Pawnee Hotel offered an exclusive Thanksgiving dinner that cost $1.85 per person, as well as many other options, up to a New York Strip Sirloin entrée with mushrooms for $3.00!
And, since we started with a grocery ad, I thought I would end with a full page grocery advertisement from Maxwell’s IGA from 1962.
We hope that you have enjoyed this trip down memory lane. We wish everyone, A Happy Thanksgiving — please stay safe and healthy.
Check in tomorrow for more Throwback Friday History, where we explore more advertising from Thanksgiving edition newspapers!
