Union Oyster House
Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox NRHP
Union Oyster House is a restaurant at 41–43 Union Street in Downtown Boston, Massachusetts. Open to diners since 1826, it is among the oldest operating restaurants in the United States and the oldest known to have been continuously operating. The building, which is part of the Blackstone Block Historic District, was listed as a National Historic Landmark in 2003.
History
The building itself was built around 1716.[1] In 1742,[1] before it became a restaurant, Hopestill Capen's dress goods business, At the Sign of the Cornfields, occupied the property. In 1771, printer Isaiah Thomas published his newspaper, the Massachusetts Spy, on the second floor.[1] The restaurant originally opened as the Atwood & Bacon Oyster House on August 3, 1826.[2]
The Union Oyster House has had several famous people in history as regular diners, including the Kennedy family, John F. Kerry, and Daniel Webster.[3] Webster was known for regularly consuming at least six plates of oysters.[4] In 1796, Louis Philippe was living in exile on the second floor.[1][5] He earned his living by teaching French to young women. Labor economist and Haverford College president John Royston Coleman worked here incognito as a "salad-and-sandwich man" for a time in the 1970s and documented the experience in his book The Blue Collar Journal.[6]
Template:As of, the restaurant was selling an estimated 60,000 plates of oysters each year (or 164 plates daily).[1]
Expansions
The business has expanded into the adjacent buildings on either side of the original central section.[1] The bar expansion is on the left, facing Bell in Hand Tavern; its Union Goods merchandise store is on the right, next to the Yankee Publishing Building at 33 Union Street.
Owners
Between 1826 and 1913, the Atwood family owned the business. They sold it to the Fitzgerald family, who changed the name of the business to Union Oyster House. In 1940, the Greaves brothers became the new owners. Thirty years later, they sold it to the Milano family, who own it as of 2025.[1]
Gallery
-
Signage
-
1945 view
-
First-floor plan and details
See also
Script error: No such module "Portal".
- List of the oldest restaurants in the United States
- Cuisine of New England
- List of National Historic Landmarks in Boston
- List of seafood restaurants
- National Register of Historic Places listings in northern Boston, Massachusetts
- Ebenezer Clough, mason, who is believed to have worked on the building's construction
References
External links
Template:Restaurants in Boston Template:National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts Template:Authority control
- Pages with broken file links
- Pages with script errors
- Houses completed in 1716
- National Historic Landmarks in Boston
- Oyster bars in the United States
- Restaurants in Boston
- Seafood restaurants in Massachusetts
- Restaurants on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts
- Houses in Boston
- 1826 establishments in Massachusetts
- American companies established in 1826
- Restaurants established in 1826
- Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Suffolk County, Massachusetts
- Historic district contributing properties in Massachusetts
- National Register of Historic Places in Boston
- Louis Philippe I