John Trower: Once America's Most Famous Caterer -- Talk and Luncheon

2 North Main Street,Yardley PA 19067

19 March, 2022

Description

Learn more about John Trower, once America's most famous caterer based in Philadelphia who feed the city's elite Food historican and author Becky Diamond will talk about the history of John Trower, once America's most famous caterer who was based in the Germantown section of Philadelphia but who was the preferred party caterer of Philadelphia society. He was Philadelphia’s most successful 19th-century caterer and philanthropist. He was born in Northampton County, Virginia, in 1849 to free-born Eastern shore black farmers Luke and Anna Trower, who were of white, Native American and African American heritage. He went to Baltimore in 1870 and worked his way up in the restaurant industry, eventually heading to Philadelphia. There he worked and saved enough to start a catering business in the city’s Germantown section where he catered to elite from all over the Northeast region, including Philadelphia department store merchant John Wanamaker and U.S. Presidents Benjamin Harrison and Grover Cleveland. In 1896 he expanded his business by opening an ice cream parlor and bakery in Ocean City, N.J. He was also a generous philanthropist and savvy businessman. He financed the building of a new location for the Cherry Street Baptist Church and built 20 rental houses nearby, offering mortgages and loans to his employees and church members. At the time of his death in 1911, he was reputed to be worth more than one million dollars and considered the richest African American in Pennsylvania and one of the wealthiest African Americans in the U.S. Today the building that served as Trower’s business headquarters from 1877 to 1911 is home to the Crab House Bar & Grill restaurant, a popular local business in Germantown. On October 3, 2021 (what would have been Trower’s 172nd birthday), the building was added to the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places with a marker dedication and celebration. Learn more about John Trower and some of his specialties, including chicken croquettes, Charlotte Russe, Gateaux Allemanda and Sponge Cake.