Misplaced Pages

Harry M. Stevens

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.
English-American food concessionaire Not to be confused with Harry Steevens.

Harry M. Stevens
Born(1855-06-14)June 14, 1855
Derby, England, U.K.
DiedMay 3, 1934(1934-05-03) (aged 78)
Manhattan, New York, U.S.
Resting placeUnion Cemetery,
Niles, Ohio, U.S.
OccupationFood concessionaire
Known forBallpark food, creation of baseball scorecard, purported inventor of the hot dog
Children5

Harry Mozley Stevens (June 14, 1855 – May 3, 1934) was a food concessionaire from England credited with being America's foremost ballpark concessionaire. He is also attributed by various sources as being the inventor of the hot dog.

Biography

Stevens was born in Derby, England, in 1855 and had connections to Litchurch there. He emigrated to Niles, Ohio, in the United States in 1882. He was first employed as an ironworker, then as a traveling book salesman.

In the late 1880s, Stevens traveled to Columbus, Ohio, and attended a baseball game. He found the scorecard he was sold to be deficient, and quickly made his mark by designing and selling a version with a illustration on the cover, player names and positions listed inside, and an advertisement on the back, a design still in use. He sold his scorecards to fans using the phrase "You can't tell the players without a scorecard." Over time, he expanded to Toledo, Milwaukee, and Pittsburgh, and also founded Harry M. Stevens Inc., a stadium concessions company. In the mid-1890s, he expanded to New York City after meeting with John Montgomery Ward, then-manager of the New York Giants. By 1900, Stevens had secured contracts to supply refreshments at several major-league ballparks across the country.

Stevens claimed that at a Giants' home game on a cold April day in 1901, there was limited demand for ice cream so he decided to sell German "dachshund sausages", having his staff place them in bread rolls and sell them as "red hots". Newspaper cartoonist Tad Dorgan, reportedly recounting the event, was said to have been unable to spell dachshund, so wrote "hot dogs" instead. This account has been disputed by researchers, who point out the earliest known hot-dog cartoon by Dorgan dates to 1906, and "the term 'hot dog' was used for sausages in buns as early as 1895 in college newspapers."

Stevens died in May 1934 in Manhattan following two bouts of pneumonia; he was survived by his wife and five children.

Harry M. Stevens Inc. was acquired by Aramark on December 12, 1994.

Memorials

Stevens Park in Niles, Ohio, which opened in 1936, was named in his honor after his family donated its 35 acres (14 ha) to the city. In 2013, the community began an annual "Harry Stevens Hot Dog Day". The event includes entertainment, a dachshund race, and a hot dog eating contest.

In early 2013, Derby City Council and Derby Civic Society jointly announced they would erect a blue plaque (historical marker) to his memory on his first marital home at 21 Russell Street in Derby, England.

Notes

  1. Some sources note alternate birth dates and locations, such as July 14, 1855, in London.
  2. Stevens' middle name appears as both Mozley and Mosley in different sources.
  3. Some versions of the story cite alternate years.
  4. Some sources cited arteriosclerosis as his cause of death.

Sources

  • Rippon, Nicola, Derbyshire's Own, The History Press, 2006, ISBN 0750942592.

References

  1. Antonio, Gene (1984). "Harry Stevens — The Hot Dog King". Niles Daily Times. Retrieved February 19, 2024 – via nileshistoricalsociety.org.
  2. ^ Guerrieri, Vince (July 2018). "How Ohio's Harry M. Stevens Changed the Ballpark Experience". ohiomagazine.com. Retrieved February 19, 2024.
  3. ^ Fost, Dan (2011). Giants Past and Present. MVP Books. pp. 130–131. ISBN 9780760342183 – via Google Books.
  4. "Derby's claim to the hot dog". BBC Online. August 13, 2008. Retrieved February 12, 2013.
  5. Collins, Gail (January 15, 1985). "'Hot Dog,' This Company Says, After Being in Business Almost 100 Years". Los Angeles Times. UPI – via latimes.com.
  6. ^ "Creator of U. S. Hot Dog, Two-Way Peanut Is Dead". The Buffalo News. AP. May 4, 1934. p. 1. Retrieved February 19, 2024 – via newspapers.com.
  7. Popik, Barry (July 14, 2004). "Hot Dog (Polo Grounds myth & original monograph)". The Big Apple. Retrieved February 19, 2024.
  8. Boney, Stan (July 20, 2022). "27 Investigates: Did Niles' Harry Stevens actually invent the hot dog?". WKBN-TV. Retrieved February 19, 2024.
  9. "Harry M. Stevens, Hot Dog King, Dies At 78 of Pneumonia". Brooklyn Daily Eagle. May 4, 1934. p. 17. Retrieved February 19, 2024 – via newspapers.com.
  10. Chapman, Francesca (December 13, 1994). "Aramark Swallows Harry M. Stevens". Philadelphia Daily News. Archived from the original on June 18, 2013 – via philly.com.
  11. Walsh, Blake (March 6, 2023). "20 Best Things to Do in Niles, OH: Play Tennis at Stevens Park". travellens.co. Retrieved February 19, 2024.
  12. "List Of Derbeians To Be Honoured". thisisderbyshire.co.uk. February 12, 2013. Archived from the original on April 23, 2013. Retrieved February 13, 2013 – via archive.today.
  13. Mallett, Chris (February 12, 2013). "Hot dog seller Harry Stevens remembered with blue plaque". thisisderbyshire.co.uk. Archived from the original on May 5, 2013 – via archive.today.

Further reading

Categories: