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ABATE of Florida Inc SOUTHWEST CHAPTER
Hot Dog, Weiner, and Frankfurter History
Sports and hot dogs go together like cookies
and milk, a truly American institution with a
rich and interesting history. Whether you call
them hot dogs, red hots, weiners, franks or
frankfurters, learn the good, the bad and the
ugly, and try some.
Hot Dog History
Although the history of sausage goes back a long way, hot dogs are as American as
apple pie. There is no certain etiology of the term hot dog, but two theories are the most
prominent.
The popularity of the term hot dog is generally attributed to sports cartoonist T. A. "Tad"
Dorgan, who caricatured German figures as dachshund dogs just after the turn of the
19th century. His talking sausage cartoons generally denigrated the cheap wieners sold
at Coney Island, crassly suggesting they contained dog meat. It was such bad publicity
that in 1913, the Chamber of Commerce actually banned use of the term "hog dog" from
signs on Coney Island. The term actually first appeared in print in the Oxford English
Dictionary in 1900.
German Americans brought us weinerwurst, German for
Vienna sausage, which eventually became shortened to
wiener. Other German immigrants referred to smoked
sausages as bundewurst, which is German for dog sausage.
By the late 1920's, weinie roasts became the rage, with
guests bringing their own hot dogs to roast over an open fire.
Credit for putting the hot dog into a warm bun and topping it
with various condiments goes to Harry Magely, catering
director of New York City's Polo Grounds, who reportedly
instructed his vendors to cry out, "Red hots! Get your red
hots!"
Also credited for the idea of warm buns is Charles Feltman, of
Feltman's Gardens in Coney Island amusement park.
Corn dogs were introduced in 1942 at the Texas State Fair, created by Texan Neil
Fletcher.
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