Willard

Historical Citations

Transatlantic Sketches, Comprising Visits to the Most Interesting Scenes in North and South, by Sir James Edward Alexander, 1833

"Third, Apple-toddy, says Mr. Willard, the bar-keeper of the City Hotel, who never forgets the face of a customer, is thus made:..."

The Atlantic Club-book, 1834

"I occupy a sky parlor in the city hotel, celebrated for its Willard of immortal memory, and its accommodations of inexhaustible capacity"

Travels in North America, by Charles Augustus Murray, 1839

"This delicious compound (which is sometimes in the Southern and Western States denominated "hail storm") is usually made with wine, madiera or claret, mingled in a tumbler with a soupcon of French brandy, lime, or lemon, ice pulverised by attrition, and a small portion of sugar, the whole being crowned with a bunch of fresh mint, through which the liquor percolates before it reaches the drinker's lips and laps him in Elysium." This beverage is supposed to be of Southern origin, and the methods of preparing it vary in the different States; some Carolinians will assert that it can only be found in perfection at Charleston; but I believe that, by common consent, the immortal Willard (who kept the bar of the City-hotel in New York for many years) was allowed to be the first master of this art in the known world. The name of this remarkable personage is familiar to every American, and to every foreigner who has visited the States during the thirty years; I have heard many calculations of the number of mint juleps that he has been known to compound in one day, and of the immense profits resulting to the hotel from his celebrity; but not having written them down at the moment, I will not venture on a vague statement here. His memory was yet more surprising than his skill at concoction; of the hundreds and thousands who went in to enjoy practical demonstration of the latter, he never forgot a face, or a name if once mentioned; even although the individual were absent for years, he could at once address him as though he had been introduced but yesterday."

Wealth and Pedigree of the Wealthy Citizens of New York City, 1842

Jennings Chester ----100,000

"Came a poor boy, a stage driver, from New England, and entering the door of the City Hotel with whip in hand, asked for work, was hired as a waiter, and by good conduct rose successively to the rank of head waiter, and afterwards, with his equally enterprising and famous fellow-waiter, Willard, to co-partnership in that ancient establishment, where his fortune was thus honestly and honorably made."

The Life and Times of Martin Van Buren, by William Lyon Mackenzie, 1846

"Please to let Willard of the City Hotel be apprised that I want two flannel shirts, and as many pairs of drawers, to be had of Tryon for a trifle alias, credit."