Which came first, the hamburger or the Statue of Liberty?

the Statue of Liberty came first, by 14 years. The statue was dedicated in New York Harbor.

Side by side

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.

the Statue of Liberty

Dedicated in October 1886, the statue predates the Eiffel Tower by two and a half years — and its internal iron framework was designed by Gustave Eiffel, who went on to use what he learned on the tower. It arrived from France in 214 crates and the American side had to raise the money for the pedestal by public subscription, which nearly failed. The copper skin is about 2.4 mm thick, roughly the thickness of two pennies.