Who Made the first US Hamburger?

We all know that like most foods in the United States, the origins of them can easily be traced overseas. Most people know that the concept of the Hamburger originated in Europe, but who exactly was the first to start dishing out delectable patties of meat on buns on U.S. soil? There are really only 5 known sources of where the first Hamburger (not cheeseburger) was created.

Fletcher Davis of Athens, TX – 1880′s

Fletcher Davis is believed to have been slanging patties from his cafe in Athens in the late 1880′s. In 1904 he brought the burgers to the St. Louis World Fair. Both McDonalds and Dairy Queen have stated that the founder of the burger came from an unknown food vendor at the 1904 St. Louis World Fair leading many to believe that Davis is the father of the burger.

Frank and Charles Menches of Ohio – 1885

Residents of Hamburg, New York claim that the Menches brothers were the first to come up with America’s favorite food. They are believed to have been serving hamburgers at the Buffalo Fair in 1885 after they ran out of sausage meat for their sandwiches and used beef instead. Their creation was then named after the city that the fair took place in. The major inconsistency here is that Frank Menches obituary states that rather than taking place at the Buffalo Fair in 1885, the creation of the Hamburger was at a fair in Akron, Ohio in 1892.

Charlie “Hamburger Charlie” Nagreen of Seymour, WI – 1885

I personally want to believe that anyone with the nickname “Hamburger Charlie” is the undisputed inventor the burger except the story seems a bit shaky. At the young age of fifteen, Nagreen was selling sandwiches made out of meatballs at the 1885 Seymour County Fair so people would be able to eat their food on the go. He named his sandwich after the Hamburg steak that the local German’s were familiar with.

Louis Lassen of New Haven, CT – 1895

The Library of Congress states that Louis Lassen was the first to sell hamburgers from his lunch wagon in 1895 in New Haven, Connecticut. The sandwich didn’t have a name for years until a group of sailors reportedly named the sandwich after themselves which would mean that they probably came from Germany. This however has never been confirmed.

Oscar Bilby of Tulsa, OK -1891

Perhaps the most probable inventor of the hamburger is Oscar Bilby of Tulsa, Oklahoma. Michael Wallis, author of “Route 66, The Mother Road”, discovered that Oscar Bilby was the very first person to serve a REAL hamburger meaning a patty in between two buns rather than slices of bread. On the 4th of July of 1891, Bilby was serving ground beef on homemade buns made my his wife. The party took place on Bilby’s farm close to Tulsa. Before this date, ground beef had been served in Athens, Texas but on simple slices of bread which is better known as a patty melt. This would therefore make Tulsa, Oklahama the birthplace of the American Hamburger.

While nobody will ever be able to say with total certainty who invented the American Hamburger each of the individuals above did their part in helping the sandwich become one of America’s favorite foods.