Burger Timeline

1800s
German immigrants who settled along the Ohio River brought along their recipes for beef cooked in the style of Hamburg, Germany's largest seaport. Chopped beef in the form of steak tartare had arrived in Hamburg via sailors returning from Russia perhaps as early as the 14th century. Hamburg cooks experimented with variations on the Russian dish, but their broiled version of beef cooked with onions became the favorite preparation.

Stands along the New York City harbor that were frequented by German sailors offered "steak cooked in the Hamburg style."

1834
"Hamburger Steak" was listed at 10 cents, one of the costliest items on the menu, at Delmonico's in New York.

1884
The Boston Journal quoted a local chef's reference to chopped "Hamburg steak," the first published reference to the beef patty.

1885
Local legend of Seymour, Wisconsin, maintains that 15-year-old Charlie Nagreen invented the hamburger sandwich when he sold hamburger steaks from an ox-drawn wagon at the Outgamie County Fair, placing them between slices of white bread so that diners could eat while they strolled the fairgrounds. He continued to sell his creation at the county fair for the next 65 years.

Late 1880s
Oral histories credit Fletcher Davis, known as "Old Dave," with creating an unnamed sandwich of hamburger steak between slices of warm home-baked bread at his lunch counter in Athens, Texas. Davis spread a mixture of ground mustard and mayonnaise on the sandwich and topped the beef with a slice of Bermuda onion and cucumber pickles.

1889
The Walla Walla (Washington) Union referred to "hamburger steak" on the menu of a local restaurant, confirming that the chopped beefsteak had spread from coast to coast.

1897
Fanny Farmer's Boston Cooking School Cook Book published the first recipe for hamburger steak.

1900
The family of Louis Lassen maintains that he invented the hamburger at his tiny Louis Lunch counter in New Haven, Connecticut, when he formed sandwiches of thinly sliced steak trimmings and served them between white bread slices. The Library of Congress accepted this local legend, but eyewitnesses identified the sandwich as thinly sliced steak on bread.

1904
The hamburger makes its official debut at The St. Louis World's Fair (The Louisiana Purchase Exposition). The New York Tribune reported that the new sandwich was "the innovation of a food vendor on the pike (midway)." McDonald's research center, Hamburger University, concluded that an anonymous food vendor at the fair was the first to introduce the sandwich to the public. Recent research and a photograph of "Old Dave's Hamburger Stand" located across from a living exhibit of Geronimo and other aging Native American warriors indicate that the unnamed vendor was most likely Fletcher Davis from Athens, Texas. Local legend there suggests that his customers raised money to send Davis and his wife to St. Louis for the fair.

Following the fair, the hamburger spread quickly throughout America, popularized at portable lunch wagons and carts, diners, soda fountains, luncheonettes, and greasy spoons that popped up everywhere to serve the rapidly expanding work force.

1916
J. Walter Anderson, a cook in Wichita, Kansas, flattened the traditional hamburger steak into a thinner patty that could be cooked quickly and created individual buns to substitute for sliced bread. He opened a hamburger stand in a converted trolley-car diner, where he sold small, square burgers for a nickel each and encouraged customers to "buy ‘em by the sack."

During World War I, the politically incorrect German name of hamburger was generally replaced with "Salisbury steak" (see 1897) for the duration of the war.

1917
Full-sized hamburgers served on buns appeared on the menu of Drexel's Pure Food Restaurant in Chicago.

1921
J. Walter Anderson, in partnership with Billy Ingram, opened his fourth 5-cent hamburger outlet and named it White Castle, which became America's first fast-food hamburger chain, offering a standardized look, menu and service. White Castle pioneered the use of advertising to sell hamburgers and was the birthplace of the disposable paper hat for food servers. White Castle's success led to scores of imitators, including White Clocks, White Diamonds, White Domes, White Huts, White Manas, White Towers, Royal Castles, King's Castles and The Krystal.

The Pig Stand, America's first drive-in restaurant, opened in Dallas, Texas, delivering hamburgers and other sandwiches by servers dubbed "carhops" from their practice of hopping onto auto running boards to take orders and delivering them on trays that hung over the windows.

1924
The first cheeseburger may have been prepared at Rite Spot in Pasadena, California.

1929
J. Wellington Wimpy appeared in Popeye comic strips, stating "I would gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today." The character was so popular that hamburgers became known as wimpy burgers, possibly the first use of the shortened term "burger" for the sandwiches. A burger chain named for Wimpy soon followed.

1930s
Streamlined drive-ins with large overhangs to protect the carhops were perfected in California. Roller skates, used first by gas station attendants, speeded up carhop service in many drive-ins.

1933
White Castle introduced the first frozen hamburger patties.

1934
Steak and Shake carried the drive-in concept to the East Coast.

1935
Louis Ballast of Humpty-Dumpty Drive-In in Denver, Colorado, applied unsuccessfully to trademark the name "cheeseburger" after cheese was first used on hamburgers.

1936
Bob Wian opened Bob's Pantry, a hamburger lunch counter, in Glendale, California.

1937
The double-decker burger was created by Bob Wian, who named it "Big Boy" after a rather large lad who cleaned the restaurant in exchange for burgers. The sandwich proved so popular that Wian changed the restaurant's name to Bob's Big Boy, and he soon became the nation's first hamburger-franchising mogul.

Brothers Richard and Maurice McDonald opened a drive-in in Arcadia, California, first selling hot dogs and orange juice, and quickly added hamburgers to the menu.

1938
Hamburger Heaven opened on East 51st Street in New York City and became a favorite hangout of the rich and famous, who were fans of the prime beef burgers and the one-person booths.

1940
The McDonald brothers moved their drive-in building to San Bernardino, California.

1941
The California Supreme Court ruled that a "hamburger sandwich is the type of food frequently offered for sale to and desired by persons who wish to each something while walking about. It is not the type of food generally ordered by a person who patronizes a hotel, restaurant, or other public eating establishment with the intention of securing a ‘meal.' It may not be said that one has ‘served' a meal who merely prepares a sandwich for consumption, wraps it in a paper napkin, and hands it to a purchaser without offering any facilities for its consumption on the premises…"

With America's entry into World War II, women became carhops and counter servers to fill the jobs that had been exclusively men's work. Sexy uniforms were introduced a bit later.

1948
The McDonald brothers eliminated carhop service, dishes, glasses, flatware, and a varied menu, and converted their drive-in into the world's first self-service burger bar, pioneering the concept of prepackaged burgers with no condiment choices and with ready-cooked fries and drinks in a hurry.

Harry and Esther Snyder opened In-N-Out Burger in Baldwin Park, California, the first drive-through burger stand.

1949
Googies in Los Angeles introduced modernistic architecture that inspired numerous imitators and shifted the emphasis from car service to indoor dining known as Coffee Shop Modern.

1950s
The hamburger became symbolic of America around the world.

Backyard burger cookouts developed into a favorite pastime, and magazines and cookbooks offered numerous recipes for making burgers at home.

Drive-ins introduced electronic ordering devices.

1951
Jack-in-the-Box opened its first location in San Diego, California.

1952
Weber introduces the first kettle grill for backyard cookouts.

George Reed patented the Insta-Burger Broiler in Hollywood, California, which made it possible to quickly cook large quantities of burgers.

1953
First McDonald brother's franchise featuring a modern red-and-white building with gigantic golden arches opened in Phoenix, Arizona. The chain's success quickly spawned countless imitators.

1954
McDonald brothers granted exclusive U.S. franchise rights to Ray Kroc.

James McLamore and David Edgerton opened the first Burger King in Miami.

1955
Ray Kroc opened his first McDonald's franchise in Des Plains, Illinois.

1957
White Castle introduced holes in burger patties for faster cooking.

Burger King introduced the Whopper®.

Burger King was first chain to offer dining room seating.

1959
Troy Smith opened Sonic Drive-In in Shawnee, Oklahoma (still operating as the largest chain of drive-ins with carhops and America's 5th largest burger chain).

1961
Ray Kroc bought out the McDonald brothers for $2.7 million.

1963
McDonald's served the chain's one-billionth burger on "The Art Linkletter Show."

1965
McDonald's Corporation went public. It's "You deserve a break today" theme song ranked second only to the national anthem in public recognition.

Prime Burger took over the Hamburger Heaven site in New York City.

1967
General Foods purchased the Burger Chefs chain, Pillsbury bought Burger King, and Ralston Purina acquired Jack in the Box.

1968
McDonalds introduced the Big Mac®.

1969
Dave Thomas opens first Wendy's, named after his daughter, in Columbus, Ohio, offering made-to-order square burgers.

1970
Wendy's introduced the drive-through window with its separate cooking area.

1974
Burger King introduced their "Have it your way" slogan.

1981
Paul Wenner of Gresham, Oregon, created the vegetarian Gardenburger.

1982
The big three -- McDonalds, Burger King, and Wendy's -- launched the media burger wars.

1984
Restaurant trade journals hailed "gourmet burgers" as the year's biggest trend. Creative chefs added burgers made from protein other than beef to their menus, or created gourmet beef burgers.

Wendy's introduced it's "Where's the Beef?" advertising campaign.

1990
Sutter Home Winery created the Build a Better Burger® recipe contest. Jim Pleasants of Williamsburg, Virginia, won the Grand Prize in the first national cook-off with his Napa Valley Basil-Smoked Burgers.

1992
James McNair's Burgers (Chronicle Books) featured recipes from the first two Build a Better Burger® cook-offs and from celebrity chefs, including Michael Chiarello, Cindy Pawlcyn, Paul Prudhomme, Judy Rodgers, Jeremiah Tower, and Alice Waters.

2002
Expensive, luxury-ingredients burger wars among New York chefs made big news, with prices soaring to $41 at Mark Sherry's Old Homestead and $50 for a truffled burger at Daniel Boulud's DB Bistro Moderne.

2003
Americans ate an average of 47 burgers a year.  Burgers were named the most popular food for the grill and it was estimated that one out of every five times Americans fire up the grill, it's to cook a burger. (Source: NPD Foodworld CREST and NPD National Eating Trends Research Estimate)

2004
Sutter Home's Build a Better Burger® contest celebrated 100 years of burgers in America and increased the cook-off Grand Prize to $50,000, making it one of the five highest-paying cooking contests in the USA.

2005
Food Network broadcast its first coverage of Sutter Home’s Build a Better Burger Cook-off with the airing of the 2004 event on the network’s Challenge show and returned to shoot the 2005 event.

Build a Better Burger by James McNair, a cookbook celebrating the 15th anniversary of the contest, made its debut just in time for the annual cook-off.

2006
Retail burger prices hit a new high in Las Vegas. At $5,000, the Kobe beef burger (topped with a slab of foie gras and black truffles and served on a truffled brioche bun with a sauce containing even more truffles) on the menu at Fleur de Lys in the Mandalay Bay Hotel made news as the most expensive burger in the world. Chef Hubert Keller’s rich indulgence included a bottle of 1990 Chateau Petrus Pomerol, served in a wine glass crafted by the Italian crystal manufacturer Ichendorf, which the high-rolling customer got to keep as a souvenir of the over-the-top meal.

The Palms casino added a $6,000 burger to the hotel's room service and coffee shop menu. The burgers get picked up by hotel staff from Carl’s Jr. and delivered to the patron along with a bottle of 24-year-old Bordeaux.

2007
TV personality Rachael Ray introduced a burger recipe competition for home cooks and hosted the debut of “Burger Bash” at Miami’s South Beach Food and Wine Festival, where burgers from professional chefs competed for bragging rights.

2008
Two Build a Better Burger Grand Prize Winners, Jamie Miller (2000) and Kristine Snyder (2001), were chosen to compete on Food Network’s Ultimate Recipe Showdown: Burgers, arguably making these two women the undisputed “Burger Queens” of America. Kristine captured the top prize on the URS show.

Jamie Miller, Grand Prize Winner of the 2000 Build a Better Burger competition, won top prize in Rachael Ray’s Burger Bash contest and appeared on Rachael’s show to make her burger.

The declining American economy made burgers more popular than ever on restaurant menus from coast to coast.