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Charles Feltman, a German butcher, opened up
the first Coney Island hot dog stand in Brooklyn, New York. According to the
article Coney Island -Food & Dining by Jeffrey Stanton:
In 1867 Charles
Feltman owned a pie-wagon that delivered his freshly baked pies to the inns
and lager-beer saloons that lined Coney Island's beaches. His clients also
wanted hot sandwiches to serve to their customers. But his wagon was small and
he knew that it would be hard to manage making a variety of sandwiches in a
confined space. He thought that perhaps something simple like a hot sausage
served on a roll might be the solution. He presented his problem to Donovan,
the wheel-wright on East New York and Howard Street in Brooklyn, who had built
his pie-wagon. The man saw no problem in building a tin-lined chest to keep
the rolls fresh and rigging a small charcoal stove inside to boil sausages.
When the wheel-wright finished the installation they fired up the stove for a
test run. Donovan thought that the sausage sandwich was a strange idea but he
was willing to try it as Feltman boiled the succulent pork sausage and placed
between a roll. The wheel-wright tasted the it and liked it. Thus the hot-dog
was born.
He sold 3,684 sausages in a roll during his
first year in business. He is also credited with the idea of the warm bun. The
hard-working Feltman built a mini-empire with a hotel, beer gardens,
restaurants, food stands, and various rides to amuse his customers. The
Depression in the 1930's began the decline of Feltman's business. Visitors to
Coney Island could barely afford the subway ride yet alone a sit down meal at
Feltman's. At his death in 1910, he left a business worth over one million
dollars which all started with selling hot dogs.
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