24 November 1910: Thanksgiving at the Athenaeum Cafe

On this day in 1910, the Athenaeum Cafe downtown offered the following reprieve from cooking at home: 

(click image to enlarge)

The price of 50 cents would be equal today to a charge of $11.80.

The Athenaeum Cafe was next door to the Athenaeum pool hall, and both were below the two floors of the Athenaeum Hotel, owned by Victor Petropol. In the 1909 Athens city directory, some travelling salesmen and the hotel's clerk, W. G. McNair, list the hotel as their residence.

Today, the space where the hotel was located has been divided. The pool hall is occupied by Frontier, and the cafe is occupied by Native America Gallery.

Learn More:

• Athens Banner, July 1910 - Dec. 1910 on Microfilm in the Heritage collection.
• Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps for Athens, Georgia via the Digital Library of Georgia.
• 1909 Athens City Directory on Microfilm (1889 - 1927) in the Heritage collection.
• Measuring Worth website.
• Thanksgiving: An American Holiday, An American History by Diana Karter Appelbaum in the general collection.
• Thanksgiving Dinner by Kathryn K. Blue in the general collection.
• The Southern Heritage Pies and Pastry Cookbook by Southern Living in the general collection.
• The Thanksgiving Cookbook by Holly Garrison in the general collection.
• Wild Turkeys: Hunting and Watching by John J. Mettler in the general collection.
• The Pie and Pastry Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum in the general collection. 
• Holiday Feasts: Festive Cooking for Family and Friends by Lou Seibert Pappas in the general collection.
• Turkey Monster Thanksgiving by Anne Warren Smith in the children's fiction collection.
• A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving by Charles Schulz in the children's DVD collection.