Invention of the Cheeseburger

Denver, Colorado claims to be home to the world’s first cheeseburger in 1935, although two competing claims go back as far as 1926. A trademark for the name "cheeseburger" was awarded to Louis Ballast of the Humpty Dumpty Drive-In in Denver, Colorado. Louis Ballast first registered the “cheeseburger” trademark on March 5, 1935. Before settling on cheese, he experimented with Hershey bars and peanut butter as burger toppings. On the northwest side of downtown Denver is a stone marker that claims to be the site of the creation of the cheeseburger.