Early in the 1900s, Harry Stevens was just an average concessionaire in New York City, looking to make a quick dollar selling soda and ice cream. But as with any sale, timing is everything, and on a cold April day ice cream just wasn't the ticket. A brainstorm hit Stevens and soon his vendors were out selling hot sausage sandwiches. The meaty treats were long, like daschshunds, and thanks to a perceptive cartoonist, soon took on a name -- and a place in American culture -- all their own.

It was 1906 when Tad Dorgan sat in the baseball stands listening to vendors scream out, "Get your red hot dachshund sandwiches!" He thought it amusing, and began sketching a mustard-covered canine. But when it came time to put a name to the drawing, he was at a loss. Dorgan, you see, couldn't spell "dachshund." So he simply named it Hot Dog.

An American icon was born and the rest is history...