Denver, Colorado: Birthplace of the Cheeseburger

RoadsideAmerica.com Team Field Report

Key Bank

Address:: 2776 N. Speer Blvd., Denver, CO
Directions:: I-25 exit 212A. Drive west on Speer Blvd for two blocks. The tiny stone is on the right (north) side, behind some bushes in front of the Key Bank, where the building meets its parking lot, just past Firth Court.

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Monument.

A small, engraved hunk of granite spells it out in no uncertain terms: this site was once occupied by Colorado's first drive-in fast food joint, and it was here in 1935 that the cheeseburger was created.

Roadsideamerica.com Report... [03/16/2013]

Visitor Tips and News About Birthplace of the Cheeseburger

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Cheeseburger monument.

Birthplace of the Cheeseburger

On the northwest side of downtown Denver is a stone marker that claims to be the site of the creation of the cheeseburger. I have heard stories of other places that make this claim in Wisconsin and in Kentucky, but until now have never seen a marker proclaiming this.

[bryan andrews, 10/20/2006]

The 1987 marker indicates where the Humpty Dumpty Barrel restaurant, "Colorado's first drive-in," once stood. It's owner, Louis E. Ballast, supposedly created the cheeseburger on this site in 1935. To bolster the claim legally the monument notes: "The Cheeseburger trademark was registered by Mr. Ballast on March 5, 1935." Tipster Mark Turner reminds us that Louisville, KY's Kaelin's has a "1934 menu to substantiate their claim as the birthplace of the cheeseburger." But do they have a stone marker?