---
title: "Which came first, the Ford Motor Company or the hamburger?"
description: "the Ford Motor Company vs the hamburger: the hamburger came first, by 3 years — 1900 against 1903. What happened in each case."
url: https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/ford-vs-hamburger/
site: "At One Place"
---

# Which came first, the Ford Motor Company or the hamburger?

**Which came first, the Ford Motor Company or the hamburger?: the hamburger**

1900 — 3 years before the Ford Motor Company

the hamburger came first, by 3 years. Competing American claims put the first burger between 1885 and 1904.

## Side by side

|  | the Ford Motor Company | the hamburger |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Year | 1903 | 1900 |
| Date | 1903-06-16 | — |
| Category | company | food |
| What happened | Ford Motor Company was incorporated in Detroit. | Competing American claims put the first burger between 1885 and 1904. |

## the Ford Motor Company

Ford was incorporated in June 1903, fourteen years after Nintendo and six months before the Wright brothers flew. The Model T followed in 1908 and the moving assembly line in 1913, which cut the time to build a car from twelve hours to about ninety minutes. Ford was Henry Ford's third attempt at a car company; the first two failed.

## the hamburger

At least four places claim it. Charlie Nagreen said he flattened a meatball between bread at the Seymour Fair in Wisconsin in 1885; the Menches brothers claimed the same year at the Erie County Fair; Louis' Lunch in New Haven claims 1900; and Fletcher Davis of Athens, Texas is credited with introducing it at the 1904 St Louis World's Fair. No contemporary document settles it. What is documented is the Hamburg steak — chopped beef, no bun — on American menus from the 1870s.

## Common questions

### Which came first, the Ford Motor Company or the hamburger?

the hamburger, by 3 years — 1900 against 1903.

### When did the Ford Motor Company start?

1903. Ford Motor Company was incorporated in Detroit.

### When did the hamburger start?

1900. Competing American claims put the first burger between 1885 and 1904.

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## Sources

- Wikidata — Wikimedia Foundation (https://www.wikidata.org/) [CC0 1.0]
- Typical range compiled from manufacturer specifications — At One Place (/about/)