New York was already a rapidly growing city by 1800, with its 60,000 residents concentrated in Lower Manhattan. By the close of the century, the population had surged to 3.4 million, distributed across the city’s newly consolidated boroughs. This rapid growth, coupled with increasing business activity, fueled the demand for hotels and restaurants, establishing Lower Manhattan as one of the birthplaces of the American hospitality industry. Sixteen surviving menus from the 19th century, beginning in the early 1840s when menus first came into general use, provide a glimpse into these early establishments and the types of venues that remained as society migrated uptown and the area transitioned into a financial district.
