There seems to be a hall of fame for everything baseball,
football, rock ‘n’ roll, country music, you name it.
But down the road about 15 miles from the Green Bay Packers
Hall of Fame, just past the Oneida tribes casino, in tiny Seymour, Wis.
is the Hamburger Hall of Fame . . . really. I saw it this past summer.
In 1885, at the age of 15, Charlie Nagreen came to the
fair at Seymour, Wis. and set up a food stand selling meatballs.
Nagreen soon learned that his meatballs were of little
value to his customers, simply because they were difficult to eat while
trying to enjoy the fair. So Nagreen flattened the beef and placed it between
two slices of bread. And that was the first hamburger.
His idea was a success and soon he was known to many as
“Hamburger Charlie.” Charlie returned to the fair every year until
his death in 1951.
As a tribute to Charlie Nagreen and the legacy he left
behind, the community of Seymour built the Hamburger Hall of Fame.
You may ask, what in the world would you find in a hall
of fame for a hamburger? Artifacts, paraphernalia, records and books relating
to the history of the hamburger.
Jeffrey Tennyson, author of “Hamburger Heaven”
has been collecting hamburger memorabilia for over a 20-year period and
has chosen Seymour’s Hamburger Hall of Fame to display his extensive collection.
Outside, in the back, is the grill which cooked the world’s
largest hamburger at Seymour’s 1989 Burger Fest. The burger was recorded
in the Guiness Book of World Records at 5,520 pounds and enjoyed by over
13,000 visitors. Burger Fest is held on the first Saturday of August each
year. In order to season the giant burger someone swung on a rope, and a
forklift was used to top it with 750 pounds of cheddar. Other events during
Burger Fest include a hamburger bun tossing contest, and a ketchup slide,
in which contestants run full speed and then belly-flop onto a ketchup-covered
surface. Sounds like fun.
Back inside the hall of fame, you’ll find place mats, and
uniforms and advertising from restaurants throughout the world. There are
cookbooks and items honoring Popeye’s hungry friend, Wimpy (I’ll gladly
pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today.”) Also a tribute to Clara, who
became very famous toward the end of her life by shouting on TV commercials,
“Where the beef?”
You may ask, “If the hamburger was invented in Seymour,
Wis., why isn’t it called ‘Seymourburger’ instead of hamburger after Hamburg,
Germany?” It seems that the term “Hamburg steak” was already
used to describe ground beef. It seemed only natural, then, to call a sandwich
made from it a hamburger.
All over Seymour, there are signs proclaiming “Home
of the Hamburger.” But I noticed something on the way into town. One
restaurant on the highway had a sign proclaiming the special of the day
as chicken ala king. The special at another restaurant was pork tenderloin.
Could be that they were suffering from a hamburger overdose as it was just
a week after Burger Fest when we were there.
**********
Now the latest – a couple of guys have a bratwurst eatery
in the Watertown, Wis. area. The guys, who call themselves the Wurst brothers,
say they plan to build a brat hall of fame in Watertown.
Loading Comments