Restaurant and Bar Privileges

 

Louisville Courier-Journal. 27 Apr 1875.

Almost 150 years ago, the Louisville Jockey Club posted a call for proposals to manage the restaurant and bar booths behind the stands for a six day meeting of the club. The winner of the privileges would supply the saloons that would satisfy patrons of the horse races. This became the first running of the Kentucky Derby.

The winning bidder for the restaurant and bar privileges for the fall of 1875 and spring 1876 meeting of the Jockey Club was Robert Cain. This would have been incredibly lucrative for Robert, supplying food and beverage during the running of the Kentucky Derby and related races. 

Daily Louisville Commercial. 9 Jun 1875.

Louisville Courier-Journal. 13 May 1876.

To put this into context, Robert won a bid for $3060 to run the food and beverage for all of the races at the the six day events for both the fall 1875 and spring 1876 races hosted by the Louisville Jockey Club, including the second running of the Kentucky Derby. He was also running two saloons at the time, at 236 Main Street (Louisville Hotel) and 126 Lafayette. It is a really cool find and amazing to think we may have a direct family connection to the running of the early days of the Derby.

This brings me back to my other family connection to the Derby on a different branch of the tree, from the undated photos taken by my Gumpy at Churchill Downs.

One last note, as this year is the 149th running of the Kentucky Derby, there is a fascinating article out this week on the search for the burial ground of the first winner of the Derby, Aristides. It's worth a read.