| |
| |
|
|
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
|
|
|
WHEREAS, Athens, Texas, boasts a strong claim to being the |
|
|
original home of one of the nation's favorite foods, the hamburger; |
|
|
and |
|
|
WHEREAS, Although accounts differ as to the origins of this |
|
|
American classic, the staff at McDonald's management training |
|
|
center has traced its beginnings back to the 1904 St. Louis World's |
|
|
Fair, where it was sold by a vendor on the midway; a reporter for the |
|
|
New York Tribune, writing about the fair, made note of the new |
|
|
sandwich in an article and commented that it was the vendor's own |
|
|
creation; and |
|
|
WHEREAS, The vendor, Fletcher Davis, had moved from Missouri |
|
|
to Athens in the 1880s to take a job at the Miller pottery works; |
|
|
Mr. Davis had a flair for preparing food and usually served as chef |
|
|
at his employer's picnics; when the business slowed down in the late |
|
|
1800s, he opened a lunch counter on the courthouse square, where he |
|
|
sold the sandwich that would become such a staple of the U.S. diet; |
|
|
and |
|
|
WHEREAS, Although it was served with slices of fresh-baked |
|
|
bread instead of a bun, this early version of the hamburger was then |
|
|
much like it is today and contained ground beef, ground mustard |
|
|
mixed with mayonnaise, a large slice of Bermuda onion, and sliced |
|
|
cucumber pickles; customers could also enjoy fried potatoes, served |
|
|
with a thick tomato sauce; when the journalist from the Tribune was |
|
|
told that Mr. Davis had learned to fix potatoes in that manner from |
|
|
a friend in Paris, Texas, he misunderstood and described the item to |
|
|
his readers as french-fried potatoes; and |
|
|
WHEREAS, According to a nephew of Mr. Davis's, the new |
|
|
sandwich acquired its name during the potter's sojourn in |
|
|
St. Louis; one theory holds that local residents of German descent |
|
|
may have named the sandwich after the city of Hamburg, whose |
|
|
citizens had a special affinity for ground meat; each June, |
|
|
residents of Athens celebrate the hamburger's origins in their |
|
|
community with Uncle Fletch's Burger and Bar-B-Q Cook-Off; and |
|
|
WHEREAS, A century after the hamburger debuted on the |
|
|
national stage, it has become one of the best-loved foods in |
|
|
America; its economic impact is no less evident than its |
|
|
popularity: the immense volume of the burger business helps to |
|
|
drive the beef and grain industries and supports the employment of a |
|
|
substantial workforce; and |
|
|
WHEREAS, The connection between Athens, Fletcher Davis, and |
|
|
the famed hamburger of the St. Louis World's Fair has been well |
|
|
documented, and it is fitting that the town's role in the history of |
|
|
that all-American sandwich be appropriately recognized; now, |
|
|
therefore, be it |
|
|
RESOLVED, That the 80th Legislature of the State of Texas |
|
|
hereby formally designate Athens, Texas, as the Original Home of |
|
|
the Hamburger. |