[6] Within that region, one common version of the dressing's origin says that a fishing guide's wife, Sophia LaLonde, made the condiment as part of her husband George's shore dinner.

In another version of the story, George Boldt, who summered in the Thousand Islands, built Boldt Castle between 1900 and 1904, and was proprietor of the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, instructed the hotel's maître d'hôtel, Oscar Tschirky, to put the dressing on the menu in 1894 after he forgot dressing on salads and improvised with ingredients on hand at the time.

"[10] Despite claims that he was involved in the introduction of the salad dressing at the Waldorf, Tschirky did not mention it in his cookbook published during that period.

[7][12][13] According to Food & Wine magazine, the dressing was a traditional sauce from the late 19th century in the Thousand Islands region.

[14] Some food writers claim that Theo Rooms, a chef at the Blackstone Hotel in Chicago, invented the dressing during the same period.