Charlie Nagreen

Charles "Hamburger Charlie" Nagreen (1870-1951) was an American claimant to the title of inventor of the hamburger.^[1]

This claim is supported by various local history organizations^[2], but not widely accepted; see History of the hamburger in the United States.

The Seymour story goes like this:

Born in Hortonville, Wisconsin, at 15 Nagreen was a vendor at the 1885 Seymour Fair.^[3] After not experiencing success selling meatballs, he had an idea.^[3][4] 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 meatball and placed it between two slices of bread.^[3] His idea was a success and he returned every year until his death in 1951.^[3]

The name of the Hamburger came from the idea of "Hamburg steak", or ground beef.^[3] Since this was a popular item in Seymour at the time of the 1885 fair, Nagreen decided to call the sandwich the "Hamburger".^[3]

References

1. ^ http://www.seymourhistory.org/news/?id=35
2. ^ e.g. Home of the Hamburger, Seymour, Wisconsin [1]
3. ^ ^{a b c d e f} Heuer, Myron (1999-10-12). "The real home of the hamburger". Herald & Journal. http://www.herald-journal.com/archives/1998/columns/mh101298.html. Retrieved 2008-03-24. 
4. ^ http://www.seymour-pd.com/hamburger.html

See also

• Meatball

Persondata
Name	Nagreen, Charlie
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1870
Place of birth
Date of death	1951
Place of death