Chicago's rapid transition from a small town into a major metropolitan center over the course of the nineteenth century resulted, in part, from the city’s role in the meat and grain industries. Chicago fed the growing nation, and as the country expanded, so did Chicago's role as a center for food manufacturing and distribution. Numerous food and candy companies-- from Cracker Jack to Oscar Mayer-- set up shop in Chicago, taking advantage of the city's ability to ship food across the country by water and rail.

Immigrants from Ireland, Germany, and other countries added numerous new foodstuffs to Chicago's culinary scene. Perhaps the most famous and beloved of these is the hot dog. The origins of Chicago’s devotion to the hot dog lie in German and Jewish immigration to Chicago. In the nineteenth century, Germans immigrants carried their love of meat-- and sausage in particular—to Chicago. The Jewish immigrants arriving in the early twentieth century added a new twist: pork-less, all-beef hot dogs. Soon, street vendors peddling hot dogs popped up on corners and in markets all over the city.

One of Chicago’s most famous hot dog companies is undoubtedly Vienna Beef—a hot dog, sausage, and beef purveyor opened by EmilReicheland SamLadany, immigrants to Chicago from Austria. They sold their hot dogs at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago and were so successful that they opened a physical location at Halsted and Van Buren in 1894. Vienna Beef has supplied hot dogs to restaurants, grocery stores, and food stands across the country ever since.

The Vienna Beef Company moved its headquarters to 2501 N. Damen Avenue in 1972. The factory moved to 3847 S. Morgan Street-- the edge of the Central Manufacturing District-- in 2016, though the factory store on Damen remains.

Komenda, Ed. "New Vienna Beef Factory Store Now Open in Bridgeport."DNAInfo.https://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20160601/bridgeport/new-vienna-beef-factory-store-now-open-bridgeport. Accessed July 2016.

Kraig, Bruce. "Food Processing: Local Market."Encyclopedia of Chicago Online.http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/468.html. Accessed July 2016.

Poe, Tracy N. "Foodways." Encyclopedia of Chicago Online.http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/470.html. Accessed July 2016.

Vienna Beef."Vienna Beef Company History Timeline."http://www.viennabeef.com/history-hot-dog-culture. Accessed July 2016.

Text and photographs by Hope Shannon, Loyola University Chicago