The Story Behind Colorado’s Claim to the Cheeseburger

Colorado is home to a number of inventions that have become household names. These include Crocs, Otterbox phone cases, Rocky Mountain Oysters, and Chipotle restaurants.

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While all of these can be easily attributed to the Centennial State, it has also been said that the cheeseburger, a food item almost as American as apple pie, originated in Colorado as well. However, this claim has been challenged numerous times over the years.

Colorado’s Cheeseburger Origin Story

Back in the 1920s, a restaurant called the Humpty Dumpty Barrel served as Colorado’s first drive-thru at its location at 2776 North Speer Boulevard in Denver.

In 1932, after gaining a considerable amount of popularity, Louis Ballast purchased the restaurant where, according to him, he invented what we now revere as the cheeseburger.

As a restaurateur, Ballast also experimented with his burgers by melting chocolate bars onto them and adding peanut butter, but these concoctions didn’t take off the way his cheeseburger did.

Ballast attempted to trademark the name of his most famous food item, though the process wasn’t completed by the time he passed away.

Evidence Shows that Colorado Likely Isn’t Home to the Original Cheeseburger

While it’s fun to imagine, evidence shows that the cheeseburger dates back further than Ballast claims, as it has been documented that 16-year-old Lionel Sternberger offered up the food item at his father’s restaurant in Pasadena, California in 1924, and a similar chili cheeseburger was a menu item at a Los Angeles restaurant known as “O’Dell’s” as early as 1928.

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Today, a marble monument commemorating Ballast’s claim as the creator of the cheeseburger stands at the Denver restaurant’s former location.