Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Louis' Lunch
The 埶�rst hamburgers in U.S. history were served in New Haven, Connecticut, at Louis' Lunch sandwich shop in 1895. Louis Lassen, founder
of Louis' Lunch, ran a small lunch wagon selling steak sandwiches to local factory workers. Because he didn't like to waste the excess beef
from his daily lunch rush, he ground it up, grilled it, and served it between two slices of bread -- and America's 埶�rst hamburger was
created.
The small Crown Street luncheonette is still owned and operated by third and fourth generations of the Lassen family. Hamburgers are
still the specialty of the house, where steak is ground fresh each day and hand molded, slow cooked, broiled vertically, and served between
two slices of toast with your choice of only three "acceptable" garnishes: cheese, tomato, and onion.
Want ketchup or mustard? Forget it. You will be told "no" in no uncertain terms. This is the home of the greatest hamburger in the world,
claim the owners, who are perhaps best known for allowing their customers to have a burger the Lassen way or not at all.
Charlie Nagreen
One of the earliest claims comes from Charlie Nagreen, who in 1885 sold a meatball between two slices of bread at the Seymour Fair, now
sometimes called the Outagamie County Fair.The Seymour Community Historical Society of Seymour, Wisconsin, credits Nagreen, now
known as "Hamburger Charlie", with the invention. Nagreen was 埶�fteen when he was reportedly selling pork sandwiches at the 1885
Seymour Fair, made so customers could eat while walking. The Historical Society explains that Nagreen named the hamburger after the
Hamburg steak with which local German immigrants were familiar.
Otto Kuase
According to White Castle, Otto Kuase was the inventor of the hamburger. In 1891 he created a beef patty cooked in butter and topped
with a fried egg. German sailors would later omit the fried egg.
Oscar Weber Bilby
The family of Oscar Weber Bilby claim the 埶�rst-known hamburger on a bun was served on July 4, 1891 on Grandpa Oscar's farm. The bun
was a yeast bun.In 1995, Governor Frank Keating proclaimed that the 埶�rst true hamburger on a bun was created and consumed in Tulsa,
Oklahoma in 1891, calling Tulsa, "The Real Birthplace of the Hamburger."
Fletcher Davis
Fletcher Davis of Athens, Texas claimed to have invented the hamburger. According to oral histories, in the 1880s he opened a lunch
counter in Athens and served a 'burger' of fried ground beef patties with mustard and Bermuda onion between two slices of bread, with a
pickle on the side. The story is that in 1904, Davis and his wife Ciddy ran a sandwich stand at the St. Louis World's Fair. Historian Frank X.
Tolbert, noted that Athen's resident Clint Murchison said his grandfather dated the hamburger to the 1880s with 'Old Dave' a.k.a. Fletcher
Davis. A photo of "Old Dave's Hamburger Stand" from 1904 was sent to Tolbert as evidence of the claim. Also the New York Tribune,
without giving names, attributed the innovation of the hamburger to the stand on the pike.
2. Governor Frank Keating proclaimed that Tulsa is the real house of the hamburguer.