---
title: "Which came first, the hamburger or the telephone?"
description: "the hamburger vs the telephone: the telephone came first, by 24 years — 1876 against 1900. What happened in each case, and why the dates are often given differently."
url: https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/hamburger-vs-telephone/
site: "At One Place"
---

# Which came first, the hamburger or the telephone?

**Which came first, the hamburger or the telephone?: the telephone**

1876 — 24 years before the hamburger

the telephone came first, by 24 years. Bell was granted US patent 174,465.

## Side by side

|  | the hamburger | the telephone |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Year | 1900 | 1876 |
| Date | — | 1876-03-07 |
| Category | food | invention |
| What happened | Competing American claims put the first burger between 1885 and 1904. | Bell was granted US patent 174,465. |

## 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 telephone

Bell's patent was granted on 7 March 1876 and he made the famous call to Watson three days later. Elisha Gray filed a caveat for a similar device on the same day in February that Bell filed his application, and the priority dispute has never entirely gone away. Antonio Meucci had demonstrated a working voice telegraph in New York in 1860 but could not afford to renew his caveat.

## Common questions

### Which came first, the hamburger or the telephone?

the telephone, by 24 years — 1876 against 1900.

### When did the hamburger start?

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

### When did the telephone start?

1876. Bell was granted US patent 174,465.

## Related pages

- [Big Ben or the telephone?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/big-ben-vs-telephone/)
- [the Statue of Liberty or the telephone?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/statue-of-liberty-vs-telephone/)
- [the Eiffel Tower or the hamburger?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/eiffel-tower-vs-hamburger/)
- [the Eiffel Tower or the telephone?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/eiffel-tower-vs-telephone/)
- [Germany or the telephone?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/germany-vs-telephone/)
- [the hamburger or the Statue of Liberty?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/hamburger-vs-statue-of-liberty/)
- [the hamburger or pizza?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/hamburger-vs-pizza/)
- [the hamburger or the lightbulb?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/hamburger-vs-lightbulb/)
- [the hamburger or television?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/hamburger-vs-television/)
- [the hamburger or Nintendo?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/hamburger-vs-nintendo/)
- [the hamburger or Monopoly?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/hamburger-vs-monopoly/)
- [Fanta or the hamburger?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/fanta-vs-hamburger/)

## Sources

- Typical range compiled from manufacturer specifications — At One Place (/about/)
- Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History — Smithsonian Institution (https://naturalhistory.si.edu/)