Charles R. Nagreen (2 May 1870 – 5 June 1951), known as "Hamburger Charlie", was an American claimant to the title of inventor of the

hamburger A hamburger, or simply burger, is a food consisting of fillings—usually a patty of ground meat, typically Ground beef, beef—placed inside a sliced bun or bread roll. Hamburgers are often served with cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles ...

Career

Born in

Hortonville, Wisconsin Hortonville is a village in Outagamie County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 2,711 at the 2010 census. Hortonville is located in the Fox Cities region and the Appleton-Oshkosh-Neenah, WI CSA, the third largest metropolitan area in ...

, Nagreen was a 15-year-old vendor at the 1885 Seymour Fair. After not experiencing success selling

meatball A meatball is ground meat rolled into a ball, sometimes along with other ingredients, such as bread crumbs, minced onion, egg (food), eggs, butter, and seasoning. Meatballs are cooked by frying, baking, steaming, or braising in sauce. There are ...

s, he had an idea. Knowing that the visitors to the fair would be hungry after gazing at the exhibits but wouldn't be able to walk and eat, he smashed a

and placed it between two slices of bread. His idea was a success, and he returned every year until his death in

Appleton, Wisconsin Appleton ( mez, Ahkōnemeh) is a city in Outagamie, Calumet, and Winnebago counties in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. One of the Fox Cities, it is situated on the Fox River, southwest of Green Bay and north of Milwaukee. Appleton is the c ...

, in 1951.

Controversy

The name of the hamburger came from the idea of "Hamburg steak", or ground beef. Since this was a popular item in Seymour at the time of the 1885 fair, Nagreen decided to call the sandwich the "Hamburger". This version of events is supported by local history organizations.''e.g.'' Home of the Hamburger, Seymour, Wisconsin
/ref>

References

External links

Charles Nagreen
at

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. 1870 births 1951 deaths People from Hortonville, Wisconsin Hamburgers (food) American chefs American male chefs {{Chef-bio-stub