On August 8, 1950, a little burger stand opened at 2609 Ayers Street in Corpus Christi, Texas—and Texas food history was about to change forever.
Harmon Dobson, a World War II veteran with no restaurant experience, had an idea that was downright audacious: create a hamburger so big that when people saw it, they’d say, “What a burger!” His quarter-pound burger was a whopping five inches across and cost just 25 cents. There was one little problem—regular hamburger buns weren’t big enough! So Dobson had special oversized pans made to bake buns worthy of his oversized burgers. Now that’s commitment.
The first day was pretty modest by today’s standards: the Corpus Christi stand sold about $50 worth of burgers, chips and drinks. But the little Texas-born idea caught on. The first restaurant outside Texas opened in Pensacola, Florida, in 1959, and in 1961 the now-famous orange-and-white striped A-frame made its debut in Odessa. Whataburger kept growing, eventually adding drive-thrus, 24-hour service, and locations far beyond its Texas roots. Today, what started as one ambitious burger stand has grown into a national chain with more than 1,000 restaurants.
But here’s the Curious Perro part I love: Whataburger isn’t just about hamburgers. For generations of Texans, those orange-and-white stripes are a piece of home. The company was even officially declared a “Texas Treasure” by the Texas Legislature in 2001. And although the company has expanded far beyond the Lone Star State, the headquarters remains in San Antonio.
So today, 76 years after that first burger was flipped in Corpus Christi, it’s worth raising a toast—or maybe a ketchup packet—to Harmon Dobson and his wonderfully oversized idea.
From one tiny stand to a Texas institution…Now THAT’S a burger story worth chasing!
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