The Origin of the Hamburger Is in Erie County, NY!
Where the hamburger got its name and where it originated was honestly a mystery to me until today!
You can't spell "hamburger" without Hamburg! It's true. The favorite American Classic food originated here in Western New York in 1885!
The story is a funny one. Wikipedia explains two brothers from Ohio, Frank and Charles Menches owned a vendor booth at the Erie County Fair. They sold sausages. Unfortunately, they ran out of pork for their sausages.
The story goes that Charles was forced to buy ground beef because the local butcher shop also ran out of pork and it was too hot to slaughter any more. He took the ground beef back, rolled it into a patty, and tossed it on a cast-iron stove. Here's where it gets interesting: he started mixing together things like coffee, brown sugar and common household ingredients.
The brothers placed the patty between two pieces of bread and served it to a customer who took a bite and said, “This is good!! What do you call it?” Frank then looked up at a banner at the fair and responded, "It's called a hamburg."
Meanwhile an article from ChrisCarosa.com via GreaterWesternNewYork.com, cites an edition of the Buffalo Express from the 1880s which refers to the 'invention' of the hamburger sandwich, named for the city of Hamburg and site of the Erie Fair where is was allegedly invented a few years earlier.
ChrisCarosa.com also references WhatsCookingAmerica.net, which also cites Frank and Charles Menches of Akron, Ohio, as creating the hamburger at a stop at the Erie County Fair in WNY when they ran out of pork.