Millions of Americans have just celebrated Hot Dog Day. Many of them may not realise they owe a huge debt of gratitude to a Derby man, Harry M Stevens who is credited with giving the world the hot dog.

Now there are plans to commemorate him in his birthplace at the same time as Derby marks 50 years since it became a city.

Harry is revered in the United States as a hugely successful entrepreneur and benefactor. But he is largely forgotten here, prompting Derby Civic Society to come up with events to commemorate him and recognise what he did for the city.

According to the society’s president Alan Grimadell, “the Americans say Mickey Mouse belongs to them, Elvis Presley belongs to them but the hot dog came from the East Midlands. And it’s all down to Harry.”

Harry Mosley Stevens was born on 14 June 1855. As a lad he appears to have lived in the Litchurch area. By the time he was 21 he was married and living in Russell Street which is bordered by the A514 Osmaston Road and Cotton Lane.

He worked initially in the pig iron industry before opening a greengrocer’s shop. But he was captivated by the idea of the American Dream and in 1882 moved to the States so that his family could have a better life.

They settled in Niles, a city in Ohio best known as the birthplace of William McKinley, the 25th president of the United States.

Niles was at the forefront of the iron and steel industry, so Harry secured a job at a mill. Not only did he succeed in what was a dangerous job, within nine months he became head of the employees’ union. But then the workers went on strike which resulted in the mill’s closure.

Not to be deterred, Harry became a door-to-door bookseller. That took him to Columbus, Ohio’s capital, where he attended a minor league baseball game which changed his life immeasurably.

Harry found the scorecard confusing, so he produced a design that featured an illustration on the cover, the players’ names and positions, and an advertisement on the back.

He sold his version to fans using the phrase “You can’t tell the players without a scorecard.” Those scorecards are still used today.

Harry then started to sell his scorecards at baseball games in Toledo, Milwaukee and Pittsburgh. In 1893 he met John Montgomery Ward, the manager of the New York Giants. Ward told him: “A fellow with your energy ought to come to New York.”

That’s where Harry went. Although his scorecards sold well, they didn’t make him a large amount of money. He came to the conclusion that catering would be a better prospect, so he branched out.

On a cold day at a New York Giants game in 1901, ice cream and cold drinks weren’t in big demand, so Harry bought some frankfurters and buns, added a dollop of mustard and began selling them instead. He called them “dachshund sandwiches”.

“Chocolate goes well in spring and fall, but the hot dog is the all-year-round best seller.”

A cartoonist on the New York Post newspaper drew a cartoon but didn’t know how to spell “dachshund”. So he called it a hot dog – and it stuck.

Harry is quoted as saying: “Baseball games begin in the middle of the afternoon and, as a general rule, the spectator has had his lunch. The crisp air sharpens his appetite and he wants something to eat to satisfy this craving before he goes home to dinner.

“Chocolate goes well in spring and fall, but the hot dog is the all-year-round best seller.”

Harry’s business expanded and he operated food concessions in virtually every city that had a National League baseball team. The Hot Dog King, as he became known, saw another way to make money: he leased farmland to grow his own peanuts.

In 1926 he told the Sporting News: “I have the biggest catering business in the world and from my little office we reach the ball parks, racetracks and sports palaces all over the country.”

Harry died from pneumonia on 3 May 1934. He was 78. He was survived by his wife and five children. He was buried in Niles and about 500 major sports stars attended his funeral including Babe Ruth, considered by many to be the greatest baseball player of all time.

Despite living in America for more than 50 years, Harry never forgot where he came from. He gave money to various churches including the old Methodist Church on Davenport Road. In 1928 a Mr T Coleman laid a foundation stone “on behalf of Mr H M Stevens of New York, an old member of the Chapel”.

The building became Davenport Road Evangelical Church in 1972 and the foundation stone is no longer visible.

Alan Grimadell from the Civic Society says Derby should recognise what a great man Harry was: “The town in Ohio where he lived has a park named after him and they have a Harry Stevens Day where they celebrate the hot dog. In Derby we just don’t do that. So that’s why we want a blue plaque to commemorate him.”

The Civic Society intended to erect a plaque on Russell Street marking where Harry grew up. But all the houses have been demolished and replaced by industrial units.

Alan wants Harry to be celebrated in a big way next year, the 50th year since Derby gained city status: “What I’d like to see is someone from the American Embassy in London come up to Derby, launch the blue plaque and I’d like Derby as a city to fully recognise Harry Stevens for what he achieved. We could have a Harry Stevens Day similar to what the Americans do.”

Since 2013 the town of Niles has held a Harry Stevens Hot Dog Day every July which features entertainment, a dachshund race and a hot dog eating contest.

The National Hot Dog and Sausage Council in the States supports other hot dog festivals and designates July as National Hot Dog Month.

The village of Alfred, New York celebrates Hot Dog Day while there is an annual hot dog lunch in Washington, DC which is said to be one of the most popular social events on Capitol Hill – the centre of the United States government.

But Derby has done little to celebrate the hot dog. In 2019 the American-themed restaurant Annie’s Burger Shack held “the Harry Stevens Hot Dog Street Party” to mark his influence on popular culture. That venue has now closed.

Alan Grimadell is hoping some members of Harry’s family who live in this country will come to Derby’s celebrations. He’s also aiming to link up with the town of Niles so that its residents can find out more about Derby.

Alan feels Derby should get behind Harry in the same way it recognises the great artist Joseph Wright: “We should support Harry’s legacy. Next year I think Nadine Peatfield as the leader of Derby city council should be behind a hot dog stall in Derby Market Place. Councillors should all chip in and offer the Derby public free hot dogs!”

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Hot Dog facts

• In 2018 consumers spent more than $3 billion on hot dogs in US supermarkets
• During peak hot dog season – Memorial Day on the last Monday of May to Labor Day, the first Monday of September – Americans consume about seven billion hot dogs
• Los Angeles’ residents eat more hot dogs than those in any other city
• Hot dogs were one of the first foods eaten on the moon
• A prime spot outside New York’s Central Park Zoo costs hot dog vendors nearly $300,000 per year
• Mickey Mouse’s first words on screen were: “Hot dog!”

Source: National Hot Dog and Sausage Council

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* This article originally appeared in Country Images magazine