| 1911 | “S.R. Maxson Has the ONLY place to get a nice cup of coffee or hot hamburger sandwich.”—The Argos Reflector (Argos, Indiana) |
| 1911 | “Perhaps the oddest bit of evidence ever filed in a Court of Justice was a hamburger sandwich, turned over today to Prosecutor Burns from the Justice’s Court of Harry Hughes, in the case of the State of Ohio against Tom Buzanik, recently fined thirty-five dollars for the alleged mixing of salt of sulphur in this hamburger meat, in order to give it a rich appearance. Buzanik appealed the case. The hamburger sandwich is now several weeks old, and its odor is strengthening with age.”—The Cincinnati Enquirer (Cincinnati, Ohio) |
| 1918 | “Hot Hamburger Steak Sandwich with Brown Gravy from Statler’s Lunch—twenty cents”—The Buffalo Times (Buffalo, New York) |
| 1919 | “Hamburger Steak Sandwich from Kresge’s five and ten Store—five cents”—St. Louis Post-Dispatch (St. Louis Missouri) |
Did You Know?
In 1918, “Liberty Steak” would become a common replacement for the word hamburger steak. Americans were getting out of World War I, and with patriotism on a high, the use of a German word was not going to fly. Later on, during World War II at the 1941 National Association of Retail Meat Merchants, butchers agreed to change the name of hamburgers to “defense steak.” Much like liberty steak before it, defense steak was in use for a few years before it disappeared altogether.
Who Made the First Hamburger?
There are many claims to the creation of the first hamburger. Here are four that I believe are the best of the bunch.
Hamburger Charlie
In 1885, Charles “Hamburger Charlie” Nagreen traveled to Seymour, Wisconsin, in his ox-driven cart with 1,500 feet of lumber inside to build a meatball stand at the Outagamie County Fair. He was only fifteen years old at the time. He realized the attendees weren’t going to be able to walk around, enjoy the exhibits, and eat a meatball all at the same time, making his original idea a bust. So Nagreen smashed a meatball and sandwiched it between two pieces of bread. This was a success, and he returned to sell hamburgers at this fair every year. He passed away on June 5, 1951.
On August 6, 2005, a fourteen-foot tall statue of Hamburger Charlie was unveiled at the seventeenth annual Burger Fest in Seymour. There is a plaque with “Charlie’s Chant” located at the base of the statue:
“Hamburger, hamburger, hamburger hot, with an onion in the middle and a pickle on top, makes your lips go flippity-flop, come on over, try an order, fried in butter, listen to it sputter.”
A few years later, the Wisconsin Legislature proclaimed Charles Nagreen as the inventor of the hamburger and Seymour as the “Home of the Hamburger.”
The Menches Family
Frank and Charles Menches were traveling concessionaires in 1885–1892. They customarily sold ground sausage sandwiches but were running low on product. After a trip to the butcher showed they only had ground beef available, they changed the protein in their sandwich. It tasted bland, so they added brown sugar, coffee, and a few other ingredients to liven it up.
In an October 4, 1951, obituary in the Akron Beacon Journal titled, “Frank Menches Dies, Invented Hamburger,” it states that this all happened on the opening day of the Summit County Fair in 1892. The article also mentions that two years later at the Elyria Fair, Frank named it the hamburger.
But the Menches family maintains that this all took place in 1885 at the Erie County Fair in Hamburg, New York. They said that when someone asked what the sandwich was called, Frank looked up and saw the banner for the festival and said, “This is the hamburger.” In this version, the name for the sandwich is derived from the city in which it was first served, not Hamburg, Germany.
In 1991, the great-grandchildren of Charles Menches discovered a copy of the original recipe. They followed the path set forth by their burger ancestors by selling the hamburgers at fairs, and this eventually led to the opening of the first Menches Brother restaurant in Green, Ohio, on March 7, 1994. It has since closed. Currently, the family owns restaurants in Canton, Massillon, and Uniontown, Ohio.
The brothers also lay claim to inventing the ice cream cone at the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair.
Louis’ Lunch
Louis’ Lunch in New Haven, Connecticut, claims that Louis Lassen is not only responsible for the hamburger, but the steak sandwich, too.
What we do know is that in 1900, Louis took some of the leftover trimmings used for his steak sandwich, ground them up, and placed them between two slices of toast. He served this hamburger sandwich from his lunch cart to a customer who was on the go. Years later, the legendary meat wagon was retired when he moved into a space with indoor seating.
In July 2000, the Library of Congress acknowledged Louis Lassen as the creator of the hamburger and Louis’ Lunch as the location where the first hamburger was served. The first steak sandwich was also acknowledged as a Louis’ Lunch first.
The documentation submitted to the Library of Congress included a history of Louis’ Lunch, magazine and newspaper articles, photographs, and a personal account written by Kenneth Lassen, Louis’ grandson.
You can still enjoy one of Louis’ famous hamburgers; the fifth generation of Lassens now runs Louis’ Lunch. The burgers come with cheese spread, tomato, and onion.
Fletcher Davis
Texas historian Frank X. Tolbert said in 1979 that Fletcher “Uncle Fletch” Davis was the inventor of the hamburger. He even hosted a contest to celebrate its seventy-fifth anniversary, claiming that the hamburger was introduced at the World’s Fair in 1904. The original burger, said Tolbert, was a half-pound beef patty on a toasted bun with mustard, lettuce, tomato, and onions.
In November, 2006, Texas state representative Betty Brown asked the Texas Legislature to “formally designate” Athens, Texas, as the “Original Home of the Hamburger.” This designation is based on Fletcher Davis’s lunch counter, where he sold meat sandwiches in Athens sometime in the late 1800s. On March 22, 2007, the resolution was passed.
We will probably never know exactly who came up with the hamburger that we all love so much. I do have a quote from the Indianapolis Star in November of 1964 that is a perfect segue to the next chapter.
For many years a so-called hamburger sandwich had been sold at fairs, amusement parks, carnivals, and in some restaurants. These sandwiches were prepared by placing a thick patty of ground beef on a griddle or skillet, allowing it to cook over a slow fire for an indefinite time, and placing it in a cold bun. The meat in this sandwich was practically tasteless, as most of the valuable juices and nutriment had been cooked out of it.
—Billy Ingram, Cofounder of White Castle
Who would have thought that a five-stool burger stand in Wichita, Kansas, would be responsible for changing the course of hamburger history?
Walter Anderson, who had owned and operated many restaurants, got the ball rolling. He created a unique method of preparing the hamburger. It involved smashing the beef patty, along with some shredded onions, with a spatula, then turning it over and placing both halves of the bun on the meat to pick up the steam and flavors. Across the street from the hamburger stand where he worked was a remodeled street car, now home to a shoe shop.
On October 16, 1916, after purchasing the street car for sixty dollars (almost $1,500 today), he installed three stools and a counter that he built, along with an icebox. His small budget left him with enough money to buy a flat piece of iron that would act as a flat-top. It wasn’t the ideal situation for cooking hamburgers because the grease would drip