Who He Was
In early 1800s Philadelphia, Robert Bogle was the man to call for life’s biggest occasions, from christenings to funerals. Bogle had been enslaved earlier in his life. He worked as a public waiter, hired by wealthy families such as banker Nicholas Biddle’s to serve in their homes, and he began hiring other waiters to work with him as their head waiter. In the early 1810s, he opened an elegant eating place of his own on South Eighth Street, where his meat pies were a hit. He became famous for presiding over grand weddings, funerals, and banquets for wealthy clients, and Biddle is credited with writing a playful poem about him called “Ode to Bogle.”
Why He Matters
The scholar W.E.B. Du Bois later wrote that Bogle “virtually created the business of catering” in Philadelphia. For much of the 1800s, Black caterers led the city’s fashionable catering trade. Du Bois also wrote that Peter Augustin, a West Indian immigrant who started out in 1818, “made Philadelphia catering famous all over the country,” and that several versions of the Augustin family’s chicken croquette recipe still survive. These caterers ran their own businesses, and some, like Thomas Dorsey, became respected community leaders. A state historical marker at 112 South Eighth Street now tells Bogle’s story.
