Hamburgers, a history: How a small Wisconsin town got credit for birth of the burger

Less than a half-hour west of Lambeau Field, where the Green Bay Packers play, Charlie Nagreen’s name is equally well known as those of legends like Vince Lombardi, Bart Starr and Brett Favre.

In downtown Seymour, a 14-foot statue of Nagreen towers above Depot Street. But that’s not a football he’s holding in his left hand — it’s a hamburger. By most accounts, Nagreen made his mark on history as the first person to sell a simple sandwich of a ground beef patty, onions and pickle between two slices of bread.

These days, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Americans eat about 50 billion burgers each year. And while warmer weather has home chefs firing up their grills for Memorial Day weekend, few know the humble hamburger’s origins are right here in the Midwest.

In the summer of 1885, Charlie Nagreen was just 15 years old when he drove his ox cart 24 miles — from Hortonville to Seymour — to erect a wooden stand at the Outagamie County Fair. From that stall, he intended to sell meatballs on sticks to fairgoers. But the meatballs weren’t selling very well; people said they were too difficult to eat on the go. The youthful entrepreneur then decided to smash the meatballs into patties and add bread, making them much more convenient to munch on while moving from exhibit to exhibit.

The hamburger was born.

“There’s no need to search, there’s no need to roam. You’re in Seymour. It’s the hamburger’s home,” Bill Collar, president of the Seymour Community Historical Society, says with pride. A trip to Seymour, about four hours north of Chicago, offers visitors an intriguing museum, much of it devoted to hamburgers. Top that off with Burger Fest each August, plus several taverns at which to enjoy a beer and a burger, and you’ve got a perfect summer escape.

Seymour isn’t the only town that lays claim to inventing the hamburger. But history favors the Wisconsin burg, since it’s well documented that Nagreen, who was known for decades as “Hamburger Charlie,” sold his first burgers in 1885, at least a few years before they appeared elsewhere.

Dressed in a white shirt, pants, apron and hat, with red suspenders and tie, Charlie was a popular fixture at county fairs in northeast Wisconsin. He peddled his burgers in Seymour for 66 years, until 1950, the summer before he died.

For years, locals including Collar have donned the same outfit to mingle with visitors to this town of 3,200 and recite Nagreen’s famous chant.

“Hamburger, hamburger, hamburger hot. With an onion in the middle and a pickle on top. Makes your lips go flippity-flop. Come on over, try an order. Fried in butter, listen to it sputter,” he would begin, then add, “It’s a big pat of beef packed in a bun. And you can eat it on the run.”

Guests to the Seymour Community Museum (133 Depot St., Seymour; 920-833-9835; seymourhistory.org) are often greeted by Collar, who’s only too happy to share the history of the hamburger, from its 19th century roots to modern-day kitsch.

Museum-goers find themselves surrounded by glass cases full of Nagreen artifacts, and hamburger memorabilia from the collection of Jeffrey Tennyson, an artist and author of “Hamburger Heaven: The Illustrated History of the Hamburger.”

“Never mind apple pie. Forget about hot dogs,” he wrote in the preface to his book. “The hamburger is our all-time favorite food.”

When Tennyson died in 2006, he left his collection to the Seymour museum. As The New York Times noted, it included “hamburger juggling sets, hamburger teapots, hamburger cookie jars and hamburger salt-and-pepper shakers, along with the predictable posters and photographs of hamburgers.” Roughly 500 to 600 of his nearly 2,000 mementos are on display at any given time.

The list of items goes on and on. There’s a hamburger-shaped, push-button telephone — “it actually works,” Collar notes — and a local craftsman’s gift to the museum: a hand-sculpted wooden whopper of a cheeseburger. Nearly a foot in diameter, it’s replete with lettuce, tomato and mayo, all realistically carved and painted.

Half a block from the museum is the statue of Hamburger Charlie. Just across the street, topped with a giant burger, is the actual grill used to cook the world’s largest hamburger at the 2001 Burger Fest. Rectangular in shape, it weighs 8,266 pounds.

A 2007 proclamation from the Wisconsin legislature deemed Seymour the “original home of the hamburger.” One year earlier, the town pleaded its case in a mock trial destined to determine which American community deserved those bragging rights.

The trial was held on the infield of a minor-league baseball park in Akron, Ohio, one of the cities claiming it had invented the hamburger. New Haven, Connecticut; Athens, Texas; and, of course, Seymour presented evidence before a retired judge and a mock jury.

“They deliberated for about 20 or 30 minutes and it was a hung jury. They could not make a decision,” says Collar, who appeared at the trial dressed as Hamburger Charlie.

“They decided to turn it over to the Internet and have a vote,” he continues. “Seymour won the vote overwhelmingly.”

While the museum is open Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from Memorial Day to Labor Day (and other times by appointment), Seymour really sizzles during Burger Fest (920-833-6688; homeofthehamburger.org) each summer. All the fixings will beckon Aug. 12-14, with activities including a hot-air balloon launch, a 5K “bun run,” a big parade and — what else? — a burger-eating contest. In an ode to a popular condiment, guests can also test their athletic skills on the “ketchup slide,” a long sheet of plastic coated with a mixture of ketchup and water.

“The current record is (a slide of) 220 feet,” Collar says.

The local historian also pointed out that, for the festival, the “authentic Charlie hamburger,” prepared simply with onions and pickle, is served.

That Charlie Burger is on the menu year-round at Foreman’s Bar and Grill (239 N. Main St., Seymour; 920-504-4080). However, in an ode to one of Wisconsin’s best-known products, a slice of American cheese is added. It’s served with a side of fries for $10. Collar says in 1855, Nagreen sold his burger for 10 cents, but without the fries.

Between bites at Foreman’s, Collar continues to recite more of what he calls “all kinds of evidence” that Seymour is justifiably number one in hamburgers, making it unlikely anywhere else will be stealing the burger king’s crown.

To make an appointment to visit the museum, call Bill Collar at 920-833-6064. While admission is free, a donation of $5 per family is encouraged.

Jay Jones is a freelance writer.