Hamburg, New York: Where the Hamburger Was Invented

The Town of Hamburg, in Erie County just south of Buffalo, was created by the New York State Legislature on March twentieth, eighteen twelve. Its earliest settler of record was John Cummings, who arrived in eighteen oh three and built the first grist mill south of Buffalo by eighteen oh six. The Erie County Fair has been held here since eighteen sixty-eight, when it moved from the city to the Hamburg Driving Park grounds after a close vote , eighteen to seventeen in favor.

Hamburg's most colorful historical claim is culinary. Food vendors Frank and Charles Menches say they ran out of pork at the eighteen eighty-five Erie County Fair and improvised a sandwich using ground beef seasoned with coffee, brown sugar, and condiments , and that the crowd at the Hamburg Fair gave the resulting sandwich its name. The claim is disputed by at least two other towns, but Hamburg has embraced it wholeheartedly. The Erie County Fair still runs every August, one of the largest county fairs in the United States, drawing around one million visitors.