Charles Feltman had his Coney Island sausage-and-bun cart in 1867.
Feltman, a German immigrant and baker, began serving food from a pushcart on Coney Island in 1867. He is widely credited with popularizing the modern American hot dog by placing a frankfurter-style sausage inside an elongated bun, making it easy for beachgoers to eat without plates or silverware. Accounts often describe the sausages as “red hots.”
The date refers to the beginning of Feltman’s Coney Island operation and the early sausage-in-a-roll trade associated with him. Some historical details about the exact cart, bun, and first sale vary, so Feltman is best described as one of the principal figures credited with creating or popularizing the hot dog on a bun, rather than the uncontested inventor of every sausage sandwich.
Feltman’s small cart eventually grew into a large Ocean Pavilion restaurant complex. In 1916, former employee Nathan Handwerker opened Nathan’s Famous nearby, helping make Coney Island an enduring center of hot-dog culture.