The Birth Of The Burger

The summer grilling season may be coming to and end but not the fall tailgate season is just getting started. So in celebration of everyone’s GO TO GRILLER the Erie County Fair in Hamburg has officially designated Monday, September 18th as National ‘BIRTH OF THE BURGER’ Day. 

The day commemorates the invention of the hamburger sandwich that took place during the 1885 Erie County Fair by Frank and Charles Menches of Canton, Ohio.

 Why September 18th?

According to The Hamburg Fair

Until the early 1920s, the Erie County Fair was held mid to late September or as late as early October as the event celebrated the agricultural harvest. The 1885 Erie County Fair, which saw the invention of the hamburger, was held September 16th-18th, 1885.

The Fair also states: “Birth of the Hamburger in Hamburg” Canton, Ohio natives Frank and Charles Menches were food vendors at the 1885 Erie County Fair, also known as the Hamburg Fair.

Legend has it that during the course of the Fair, the Menches ran out of their signature menu item of pork sausage sandwiches. Their local supplier, Hamburg butcher Andrew Klein, was reluctant to butcher more hogs during a period of unseasonable late summer heat and suggested to substitute the use of ground beef. 

The brothers fired some up, but both found it dry and bland. They added coffee, brown sugar and other ingredients to create a unique taste. The original sandwiches were sold with just ketchup and sliced onions.

With new found success with their beef sandwich, they christened it the “hamburger” after the Erie County Fair’s home town of Hamburg, New York.

For the past few year's one vendor at the fair, Weidner's Chicken Stand, sold this creation with the original recipe and I realized as soon as I tasted it that the Menches brothers were HAMBURGER HEROES!

So when you bite that burger, no matter what you put in it or on it. Think off and thank a reluctant butcher and two creative brothers who gathered at the 'Hamburg Fair' in late September-