A 1960 brochure from the El Reno Chamber of Commerce. Click HERE for a full sized view.

During the 1960’s the country was experiencing a boom of population, economic activity, travel, and relocation to places that offered greater opportunity. Just about every city and smaller town had a chamber of commerce which was working on attracting visitors, new residents, and money for the town’s economy. Chambers typically published information about the city that were aimed at giving people information about local attractions and other things they would need to know if visiting or living there.

This brochure published by the business community in El Reno, Oklahoma included restaurants as being an important local attraction. I do not know how this list was compiled but it interestingly seems to omit an important feature of the city–what is now well known as onion burgers whose invention is credited to local restaurants in El Reno. My conjecture is that in 1960 the onion burgers were not considered as being tourist attractions, but rather cheap meals that people ate when they could not afford the “good” burgers made with a regular beef patty.

An article on Eater says the onion burger was invented at the Hamburger Inn in El Reno out of necessity so that the owner Ross Davis could keep the price down. Thrillist says that after its debut in 1926 other burger places in town started making them the same way. The original Hamburger Inn had another location in Ardmore, Oklahoma which is still in business today.

A check of Google Maps reveals that of the restaurants on the 1960 list, only Jobe’s Drive-In is still in business today, and they do indeed serve onion burgers. Two of today’s “Big 3” onion burger places, though, were open in 1960 yet not listed on the tourist brochure of the same year:

Thrillist and Eater consider these as the “BIG 3” onion burger places

• • Johnnie’s Grill, 301 S. Rock Island Ave., opened 1946
  • Sid’s Diner, 300 S. Choctaw Ave., opened 1989
  • Robert’s Grill, 300 S. Bickford Ave., opened 1926

The Chamber of Commerce list strangely omits two of the “Big 3” onion burger places that were open in 1960. Either they were not considered tourist-worthy or they did not pay to be on the list (many Chamber of Commerce publications of the time were funded by businesses which promoted themselves on the publications). Jobe’s Drive-In made the list but has other popular items besides the onion burger. My guess is that the restaurants listed either had higher prices and could afford to buy their place on the list or that these were considered to be the “better” restaurants that the town fathers wanted to use to make a good impression on visitors.

Today the tables have been turned and the “Big 3” onion burger places have developed a cult following (including myself and another blogger I know located to the west on the old Route 66.).

Back in the day when there were no Google Maps or diners’ reviews of restaurants it was somewhat difficult to find good places to east when on the road. One answer to this was the spread of chain restaurants where you knew what you were going to get. I noticed that there were no chain restaurants on El Reno’s list. One of the first trends of the chains was hamburger restaurants such as McDonald’s. 1960 was still early in the conquest of the country by the chain fast food places. Still, I think locals in El Reno must have been much happier with their local hamburger joints than in most cities, especially since there were at least three onion burger places open at the time.