Was the hamburger invented in Tulsa?

Recently, the Tulsa World newspaper published a series of articles that sought to verify or debunk a slew of local urban legends that have persisted in that Oklahoma city for years.

One of urban legends oft-told: The hamburger was invented in more than 120 years ago in the Tulsa area, and the family that started it still is serving them up at the landmark Weber’s Root Beer stand in the city’s Brookside region.

The Tulsa World’s verdict on the historical burger claim: inconclusive. Not an outright debunking, at least.

Here’s the background on the Tulsa-hamburger link, via the World:

Oscar Weber Bilby staged a Fourth of July bash in 1891 at his ranch near the community of Bowden, located 4 miles north of Sapulpa. Oscar cooked burger patties on a self-constructed grill. The patties were placed inside buns baked by his wife, Fanny. And the hamburger was born, according to author and historian Michael Wallis.

That same grill made its way to Tulsa when the Bilby family opened Weber’s Root Beer Stand in 1933. To this day, the grill is used to cook burgers at the beloved Brookside eatery. Who wants a hot burger, a frosted root beer and a side order of history?

And, yes, that Michael Wallis is the same one who wrote the best-selling and seminal “Route 66: The Mother Road” and other well-researched history books, including recent ones on Billy the Kid and the Donner Party.

Other places pronounce themselves as the hamburger’s birthplace, including in Ohio, Wisconsin, Texas and Connecticut. Athens, Texas, rolls out an Uncle Fletch Hamburger Festival each year to back the claim, but the newspaper notes the hamburger patty there originally was served on bread.

Wallis said he believes the Weber family indeed invented the modern hamburger:

“To be precise, he was the first one to make and serve the first hamburger on a bun,” Wallis said. “The bun part is important. The other claimants who say they beat Bilby to the punch did not use buns. To be a real hamburger, the beef patty must be grilled and served on a bun, not sandwich bread.”

Wallis added he wasn’t positive beyond a shadow of a doubt. But he seemed comfortable enough with his position that “I would bet a bag of burgers on it,”

Although Weber’s remains well-regarded for its hamburgers, it’s held in higher esteem by its homemade root beer, a concoction of 14 ingredients that dates to 1884 — again created by Oscar Weber Bilby. It’s so popular, a number of grocery stores and other retail outlets in Tulsa carry the bottled version on their shelves.

Weber’s isn’t on Route 66. It sits about a mile north of Interstate 44 (modern-day Oklahoma Highway 66) and less than three miles south of the 11th Street alignment of Route 66 in Tulsa. It’s worth a short side trip.

But Tulsa deserves to be known as a great town for hamburgers (an opinion seconded by the creators of Roadfood.com). And plenty of such mom-and-pop stands sit on or very near Route 66:

• Hank’s Hamburgers
• Bill’s Jumbo Burgers
• Fat Guy’s Burger Bar
• Freddie’s Hamburgers
• Lot-A-Burger (several locations)
• Hatfield’s Burgers and BBQ
• Harden’s Burgers
• McNellie’s

(Image of Weber’s Root Beer stand in Tulsa and a Weber’s hamburger via Facebook)