The invention of the corn dog does not have a single definitive origin but involves several key figures and places.
- Stanley S. Jenkins from Buffalo, New York, is credited with inventing the corn dog concept and filed a patent in 1927 for a machine that deep-fried battered foods on a stick, including hot dogs. However, Jenkins never commercialized or sold his invention.
- The first popular sales of corn dogs appeared in the early 1940s at different locations:
- Pronto Pup in Portland, Oregon, was selling cornmeal-battered hot dogs on a stick by 1941, claiming to be the original corn dog creators.
* Neil and Carl Fletcher introduced their "corny dogs" at the Texas State Fair in 1942, perfecting a version that became famous and is still sold there today.
* Cozy Dog Drive-In in Springfield, Illinois, claims to have created the modern battered and fried corn dog in 1946, inspired by a corn dog sandwich Ed Waldmire had in Muskogee, Oklahoma.
In summary, Stanley S. Jenkins invented the foundational concept in 1927, but the corn dog as a popular food item was developed and popularized by multiple people in the early 1940s across different states, making it a collective American culinary innovation rather than a single inventor's creation.
