The dinner at Wayne’s Bellevue Hotel given in September, 1881, by George W. Childs in honor of the Aztec Club and his distinguished English guest, John Walter, member of Parliament and owner of the London “Times”, was indeed a banquet.

The place of each guest was designated by an envelope bearing his name and containing a list of guests as well as a card, printed in blue and gold, witth the following menu:

Raw Oysters
Green Turtle Soup
Fish
Head of Lamb, sauce with herbs
Potatoes dutchess–Cucumbers
Bouchees a la Financiere
Filet of beef with Mushrooms
Potato casserole, with peas
Entrees
Lamp chop with Sauce
Wild Fowl
Orange Ice
Lettuce and Tomato Salad
Roquefort and Neufchatel cheese
Desserts

Ice Creams   Meringue

Fruit   Coffee

This elaborate dinner was served at three in the afternoon. As it ended “the last rays of the setting sun flooded the rooms with crimson light . . . and cognac and cigars took the place of fruit and cafe noir.” General Grant, vice-president of the Aztec Club, who, according to the account of the affair as given in the “Record”, “with in the past four years has developed from the silent man into a graceful speaker of easy flow and considerable humor, seemed to enjoy his position yesterday as toastmaster.” The memorial adopted by the Aztecs in tribute to their recently deceased president, General Patterson, was read by Professor Henry Copper, secretary of the organization. A toast to Mr. Childs, host of the occasion, was heartily drunk. There were a number of speeches, among them one by General William T. Sherman, Commander-in-Chief of the United States Army, who spoke in response to a toast to the Army.

General William Preston, of Kentucky, told of the advancement of civilizations in Mexico since the War, and then of the growth of the press, “the most powerful agent in carrying civilization to the western prairies.” And then, turning to Mr. Walter, he called for a speech from the “Chief Director of the mightiest press in the world, the London Times”. In replying, Mr. Walter said that it always seemed to be a matter of surprise to his fellow countrymen when an Englishman decided to visit the United States. his first reason for coming, he said, was the number of warm friends in the United States who he “was obliged to cross the ocean to see because they would not cross the ocean to see me”. His second reason was that he wished the younger members of his family who were accompanying him “to gain by their own observation the knowledge of this wonderful country that I gained five years ago”. And his final reason was to enjoy the complete rest and pleasurable vacation that only America could give him.

And then as Mr. Walter finished “the gas was lighted – and the three hours’ sitting was at an end.” When they arrived at Wayne station to catch the seven o’clock train for Philadelphia, Mr. Childs’ guests “filled two of the new Eastlake coaches reserved for them.” And thus ended “the most distinguished party ever assembled in honor of the Aztec Club”.

The first name on the original register of the old Bellevue Hotel, which is still carefully preserved by Dr. Arms, is that of U. S. Grant written in a scrawling hand that half covers the page. Many other signatures of the distinguished guests of that banquet follow. And then come page after page of names of those who were guests at the Bellevue in the years through 1884. Most of them list their home address as Philadelphia although there is an occasional New York, Camde, Riverton (N.J.,) Pottsville (Penna.), Pittsburgh, Fllushing (L. I.), Columbus (Ohio) and even England in the entries. “And maid” or “and nurse” often follows the names of the guests. One Philadelphia couple who were at the Bellevue in 1884 added to their names in the old register, “four children, 2 maids”. Summer life at the hotel must indeed have been a real family affair!

Of the man who built the Bellevue and afterwards remained its owner for several years, Mrs. Davis reminisces in a delightfully personal vein. her grandmother, Mary Berrell Field, bought the hotel from George W. Childs in 1885, enlarging it to such an extent that it accommodated some 200 guests. Mr. Childs had a leading part in the development of Wayne as it emerged from a small settlement on the old Lancaster Turnpike into a Main Line suburb. he was also “a well known Philadelphia figure”, to quote Mrs. Davis who adds:

“He was a leading philanthropist and the owner of the Philadelphia Public Ledger. When he walked down Chestnut street to his office, which he seldom did since his carriage usually met him at Broad Street Station, people recognized the small fat man with white side whiskers. . . he was a very dignified and vain man, always faultless in appearance. He had three wigs, one of which was quite short in length, the second slightly longer and the other longer yet. He wore them in this order, giving the appearance of natural hair, and when he got a ‘haircut’ he would start all over again by wearing the short wig.

“His office in the Ledger building was unique. Being a collector of after-dinner coffee cups, he had cases of them lining the walls of his private office. Mrs. Field would quite often visit him in his elegant office. After the business was over, the servant in livery would come in, go to the cupboard, put a few after dinner coffee cups on a tray and pass them to her so that she could select one.”

Of traffic on the Lancaster Pike, dotted as it then was with toll gates, Mrs. Davis says that one of the most beautiful sights was the tally-ho driven by its owner, A. J. Cassatt, at that time president of the Pennsylvania Railroad. One afternoon each week, he drove the tally-ho with is four horses from Philadelphia to the Devon Inn in Devon, at that time as fashionable a summer hotel as the Bellevue itself. The tally-ho was “a smart and glittering turnout . . . the driver with his long whip and top hat of grey felt and the ladies gaily dressed and carrying little lace carriage parasols . . . on the two back steps, on either side of the tally-ho, stood two lackies with long brass bugles. In passing the Bellevue they would always blast the bugles and the people then would wave. All along the long drive from Philadelphia to Devon the bugles would blow every so often so that the folks would know the tally-ho was passing.”

(To be concluded)

One of the most distinguished guests that Wayne has ever had was General Ulysses S. Grant, when he came here on September 14, 1881, to preside at the Aztec Club banquet, the opening function of the Bellevue Hotel after its completion by George W. Childs and A. J. Drexel in the summer of that year. General Grant was but one of the many notables assembled for that occasion, the guest list for which included not only the most distinguished military men of that era, but some of its most famous financiers and newspaper men as well.

Mr. Childs’ special personal guest was Mr. John Walter, the publisher of the London “Times”, “the recognized exponent of English opinion” to quote from an article which appeared in “The Record” on the following day.

The Aztec Club was founded in Mexico City on October 13, 1847, in the course of the United States’ war with Mexico. Its original purpose had been to give young officers a social center within their means, since living costs in Mexico City were high. Its original quarters were in the mansion on “The Street of the Silversmiths”, belonging to Senor Bocanagra, former Mexican Minister to the United States.

As the club membership grew to some 166 young army officers, Grant, then a lieutenant of 25 in General Scott’s army, spent much of his time there. The war over, the Aztec Club continued in existence for many years, with General Robert Patterson as its president from 1847 until his death in 1880.

During these years the Club made its headquarters at his home at the corner of 13th and Locust streets, in Philadelphia. An interesting old picture shown to your columnist by Dr. Arms is that of a group of members of the club assembled on the second floor porch of this stately stone mansion. The photograph is by F. Gutekunst, of 712 Arch street, Philadelphia.

This affair at the Bellevue was the first annual banquet of the Aztec Club for many years to be held anywhere but in General Patterson’s home, the latter having been “its leading spirit and binding it together from year to year by the force of his geniality and personal influence.”

With his beautiful hotel on Lancaster avenue in Wayne, completed only the summer before, it was a gracious gesture on the part of George W. Childs to offer the hospitality of the Bellevue to “a company of celebrities such as had seldom been gathered under one roof.” Besides, it provided opportunity for him to bring his distinguished English guest, Mr. Walter, “into social contact with the most distinguished of the nation’s military celebrities”.

Mr. Walter, it seems, had been visiting Mr. Childs at Long Branch until the morning of the banquet, when accompanied by his host and General Grant, he arrived in Philadelphia.

Special trains, leaving Philadelphia early on the afternoon of September 14, took Mr. Childs and his guests to Wayne station. From there they were driven in carriages to the Bellevue Hotel, where the business session of the Aztec Club was already under way, in order that club members might be ready to join other guests at the dinner, scheduled for three o’clock. In describing the scene that met the eyes of the visitor as they alighted from their carriages, the Philadelphia “Press” of the following day says:

“A more desirable site could hardly have been chosen. Finished in Queen Anne style, the broad verandas overlook many miles of fruitful valley. Flags fluttered from every window yesterday, and among foreign ensigns the British colors predominated in honor of one of the guests of the day, John Walter, member of parliament and the proprietor of the London “Times’.” The “Record” adds still further color to this picture in a description which states that “flags were flying from every peak and corner of the unique structure, while over the main entrance was a display of Mexican and American flags.”

At the business meeting of the Aztec Club which had preceded the dinner General W. S. Hancock was elected President to succeed the late General Patterson. In General Hancock’s absence on this auspicious occasion, General Grant, the vice-president, stat at the head of the table. On his right were General Hoyt and General William T. Sherman, then head of the army. On his left were General Joseph E. Johnson, of Virginia; Mr. A. J. Drexel, the Philadelphia banker; General Preston, of Kentucky, and Mr. John Walter, of London. Mr. Childs was seated by Mr. Walter.

In addition to many famous members of the Aztec Club, there were a number of celebrities among the invited guests, including George B. Roberts, president of the Pennsylvania Railroad and A. J. Cassatt, its first vice-president; Colonel A. Louden Snowden, Director of the United States Mint; Frank S. Bond, president of the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad; J. Pierpont Morgan, of New York; William Henry Hariburt, Editor of the New York “World”; Colonel W. C. Church, editor of the “Army and Navy Journal”; Joseph Patterson, president, Western National Bank of Philadelphia; Colonel A. K. McClure, editor of the “Times”; Colonel Clayton McMichael, editor of the “North American”; Charles E. Warburton, editor of the “Evening Telegraph” and Charles E. Smith, editor of “The Press.”

Never before nor since has Wayne seen such a gathering of well-known and famous men as these who gathered at the Bellevue Hotel on September 14, 1881.

(To be continued)