Like many other common condiments on our tables today, commercial salad dressing was invented and widely marketed during the late 19th and early 20th century to a public that had previously been accustomed to making their own at home. Because the products were unfamiliar, and there was such a flood of new options, food companies needed to inform home cooks of how to make use of them.
Bottle embossed “Yacht Club Salad Dressing”
According to blogger Didi “This salad dressing was made by the Tildesley Co of Chicago, which according to my research tools was around from the late 1800s until the early 1900s. It was started and owned by John S and Sarah A Tildesley and that a Mr. William H Leech was an investor in the company. In 1890, Leech sued Mr and Mrs Tildesley for trying to cheat him out of the business after investing over a thousand dollars.”
Excerpt from “The Oxford Companion to American Food and Drink” by Andrew F. Smith, 2007
Excerpt from “The Business of Food: Encyclopedia of the Food and Drink Industries” by Gary Allen and Ken Albala, 2007
Selected pages from “Helps for Housewife and Hostess: Being a Collection of Recipes for Salads, Sauces, Sandwiches, Deviled Dishes” by Janet McKenzie Hill. Published by Tildesley & Company, 1904
Cover of “Yacht Club Manual of Salads: a Book of Practical Suggestions for the Use of Yacht Club Food Products” by Agnes Carroll Hayward, Published by Tildesley & Co. 1914
Excerpt from “Yacht Club Manual of Salads: a Book of Practical Suggestions for the Use of Yacht Club Food Products” by Agnes Carroll Hayward, Published by Tildesley & Co. 1914
Back cover from “Yacht Club Manual of Salads: a Book of Practical Suggestions for the Use of Yacht Club Food Products” by Agnes Carroll Hayward, Published by Tildesley & Co. 1914
1903 Ad for Tildesley Yacht Club Salad Dressing
Ad from Life magazine, January – June 1904.
1904 Ad for Tildesley Yacht Club Salad Dressing
1914 Ad for Yacht Club Salad Dressing
Old Main Artifacts 
I have a Luncheon Salad Recipes book by Janet Mckenzie Hill using the Yacht Club Salad Dressing copyright 1904 seventh edition 1911. The last four pages list the experiences of others reviews with person’s names and city. This small book was my grandmother’s and she received it from J. Cornwell & Sons Millers & Grocer’s located in Cadillac, Mi.
I have a Manual of Salads recipes book by Agnes Carroll Hayward Copyright 1914 published by Tildesley & Co. Fourth Edition 1918 – good condition, it was my grandmother’s (born 1919) and it was acquired from her Father, owner of a neighborhood grocery in Gadsden, Alabama in the early 1900’s. Thank you for the great info on “salad dressings”.
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Have a bottle .just like that.a little dirty on in side.havent clean it yet.