In a few days, families will be sitting down to the traditional Thanksgiving dinner. And traditional it is, if you compare it to the holiday activities that took place in the Twin Cities more than a century ago.

“It Was An Old-Fashioned Thanksgiving Day” said the Lewiston Evening Journal headline on Friday, Nov. 25, 1904.

Thanksgiving services at local churches had been well-attended. There was an afternoon football game at Garcelon Field at Bates College in Lewiston between community teams from Biddeford and Lewiston. The Lewiston team won 35-6, but there were few spectators. It was a cold and snowy day.

At the college, the students were about to dive into a “Jack Horner Pie.” Most likely that “tradition” needs some explanation these days.

The news account said, “Cheney hall, the headquarters of some 50 of the girls for their meals, became the center of attraction at noon, for each of these girls, in the name of Miss Libby, dean of the woman’s department, invited a young gentleman to be her guest at dinner. A hundred young people ate turkey together under this roof and a merrier throng would be hard to find in the vicinity.”

At the freshman table there were souvenirs for each guest, neatly folded, which proved to be Quaker bonnets that were at once used as head decoration during the meal. At the seniors’ table the centerpiece was a huge “Jack Horner Pie” from which the male guests from Parker Hall drew their favors … toys of amusing character.

Although a nursery rhyme may seem out of place at a college dinner, most of those nonsense poems were meant to teach lessons. There was no indication that students at that Bates College party knew the origin of the Little Jack Horner story, but research for these columns often turns up some interesting information.

There was a Thomas Horner in the 1700s whose political chicanery with public funds was legendary. His double-dealing lives on with the rhyme’s reference to pulling “a plum” out of his Christmas pie. 

Throughout L-A, families had lots of choices for holiday entertainment. Lewiston City Hall was the location of an evening dance under the auspices of the Catholic Temperance Society and its auxiliary. Gifford’s Orchestra played, and the stage was filled with tables where people could play whist.

The Knights of Pythias held its Thanksgiving Ball at Auburn Hall and it was said that “nearly 100 couples were present, besides about 200 in the galleries.”

The Twin Cities had many choices for people who decided to dine out.

“It was an elegant dinner that the new proprietors of the Elm House, Auburn, served on Thursday,” the newspaper said. “It was a welcome sight to see that old hotel veteran, Albert Young, behind its counter.”

The news story went on to say, “The people of Auburn had got wind that the Elm was going to do something entirely out of the ordinary and many of the leading citizens came in there to eat instead of trying to get up a dinner at home. The tables were full and so were the guests before the meal had ended.”

The head waiter at the Elm was described in the news story as “that star performer, Wm. A. Radcliffe, well-known to traveling men all over New England, and especially popular with Auburn people. He wore an immaculate white shirt and dress suit and received the guests with all the courtly grace and dignity of a Chesterfield” (a British aristocrat).

As the guests took their seats they were handed an elegant menu, on the front page of which was emblazoned a big bronze turkey.

The Lewiston Evening Journal of 112 years ago printed the entire menu.
It began with Alphabet Consommé, spiced pears, baked chicken and halibut with Madeira sauce, and Julienne potatoes. Entrée choices included braised beef, breaded lamb cutlets, petit pois, pineapple fritters with fruit sauce, young native turkey, chicken, Long Island duck, sirloin of beef, Yorkshire pudding, lamb with mint or brown sauce, and pork sparerib.

Desserts were pumpkin pie, mince pie, apple pie, English plum pudding, Metropolitan pudding or vanilla ice cream. Beverages were tea, hot chocolate, cocoa, café noir and Poland water.

Dave Sargent is a freelance writer and a native of Auburn. He can be reached by sending email to [email protected].