Mark Twain Hotel, Hannibal, MO, 1940s Henry Voigt The enterprising restaurateur later opened

The enterprising restaurateur later opened two Rene’s Restaurants

a spontaneous

pate de foie gras honest to goodness pate de foie gras

This 1906 menu image of an ostrich balancing a foaming glass of beer on its left leg was created by the French illustrator and watercolor artist Auguste Vimar

After falling on hard times it was eventually bought by Conrad Hilton in 1945 and renamed The Conrad Hilton Hotel in 1951

Mark Twain Hotel, Hannibal, MO, 1940s Henry Voigt The enterprising restaurateur later openedSamuel Clemens, otherwise known as the writer and adventurer Mark Twain, was born in 1835 and spent his childhood in Hannibal, Missouri. The author of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was only four years old when he moved with his family to the bustling town on the Mississippi River and he stayed there till his late teens. The town inspired several of Twins fictional settings, including the town of St Petersburg, in his