Manufacturers: Maddock Pottery, Scammell China, Syracuse China, Buffalo Pottery
Name of user: Locke-Ober, Winter Place, Boston, Massachusetts
Distributors: Maddock Lamberton: French Mitchell Woodbury Co.
Date of examples: Circa 1902 – 1980s

Locke-Ober Restaurant Scammell cream

Locke-Ober Restaurant - Maddock

Locke-Ober Restaurant butter pat - Maddock

Locke-Ober Restaurant Syracuse cup and saucer

Locke-Ober Restaurant Syracuse plate

Locke-Ober Restaurant-1948 menu

Locke-Ober Restaurant matchbook

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Notes: Louis Ober was born in 1837 in Alsace, France. In 1851, at age 14, he arrived in New York City. He worked in several cities as a barber, book seller and an importer of French goods. Then he moved to Boston and began working in a restaurant. By 1875, Ober was owner of a restaurant on Winter Place. He renamed it Ober's Restaurant Parisien.

In 1891, Frank Locke opened his restaurant, that served basic Maine cooking and vintage wines, next door to Ober's fancier menu restaurant.

The two men were rivals who never entered into partnership. In 1894, Wood and Pollard, a wholesale liquor firm, bought both restaurants and called the merged space Winter Place Tavern. When Emil Camus took over the restaurant in 1901, he created the Locke-Ober name. The Locke-Ober had a seating capacity of 375. It served up to 250 lunches and 350 dinners per day. As late as 1966, the first-floor restaurant was for men only. Women could dine only on the second floor. Lock-Ober closed in 2012.

The china is crested with a three-part shield in red and black, with three tan feathers atop the shield. A red border line is the only other decoration.

Over the restaurant's long history, at least three companies have produced this pattern. The Lamberton Works first made it under Maddock Pottery ownership, then Scammell China.  Syracuse China produced it after Scammell closed, as did Buffalo Pottery. The pattern was probably created around 1901 when the Locke-Ober name was introduced. Some Maddock Lamberton pieces contain a "French Mitchell Woodbury Co" backstamp, a name that was only used between 1902 and 1906.

Sources:
Boston Evening Transcript – Nov. 21,1884, advertisement
Boston Globe – March 13, 1888, advertisement
Boston Globe – Sept. 26, 1966, History & Ladies dining
Boston Globe – Dec. 26, 1990, capacity and meals served info
Boston Herald – Oct. 22, 2012, closing and exterior photograph

Contributor:
Larry Paul: author