This is an I-Heart podcast.

Guaranteed Human.

This is Lee Habib, and this is our American Stories, the show where America is the star

and the American people, coming to you from

the city where the West begins, Fort Worth, Texas. You've probably heard of Burger King with over

7,000 locations and one of the most recognizable brands in America. You likely don't know

about the Burger King, singular, not plural. You're

to tell the story of a war between two hamburger joints with the same name is Chris Sertick,

a town historian of Matun, Illinois. You'll also be hearing from our Hillsdale intern, Nate

Gallagher. Let's get into the story.

When I was a teenager, I started working at the Burger King in 1965, and I worked there until

1970. So I always tell people here at our History Center that the Burger King put me through

college.

So I have a real close personal connection with the owners, and I was there during the time period

when the famous Burger King versus Burger King legal action was going on.

While this is a story about hamburgers, it doesn't start on the grill. Instead, it begins somewhere far cooler.

It was a soft-serve ice cream stand. In 1952, Gene Hoots bought it and continued to operate it, and the ice cream stand, it was called the Frigid Queen.

Directly across the street from what became the Burger King and the Frigid Queen stand

was the local telephone company operator station.

So in the course of the day, all the ladies primarily that worked in the operator building would come across

the street to get an ice cream cone, and they started asking him, hey, there's no place near here

for lunch, who have you ever thought about serving lunch? So Gene originally put just a single grill

...