White Tower Hamburgers

White Tower Hamburgers
Company typeRestaurant
IndustryFast Food Restaurant
GenreFast Food Restaurant
Founded1926; 98 years ago (1926) in Milwaukee, Wisconsin[1]
FounderJohn E. Saxe
Thomas E. Saxe[1]
Defunct2004; 20 years ago (2004)
FateDefunct
Headquarters
Stamford Edit this on Wikidata
Number of locations
230 peak (1950s); 1 (2021)
ProductsHamburgers
Soft drinks

White Tower Hamburgers was a fast food restaurant chain that was founded in 1926 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. With its similar white fortress-like buildings and menu it is considered to be an imitator of White Castle chain that was founded in 1921.[2] The chain was successful and expanded to other cities, including Chicago, Indianapolis, Cleveland, Dayton, Detroit, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, New York City, Albany, Boston, Richmond, Virginia, and as far south as Sarasota, Florida.[3][4] During the Great Depression, White Tower sold hamburgers for five cents. The whiteness of the restaurant was meant among other things to evoke the notion of hygienic conditions, and the chain had staff dressed as nurses, dubbed the "Towerettes," to help make this argument.[5]

At its peak in the 1950s there were 230 White Tower locations. The chain began a slow decline. The last location, in Toledo, Ohio, closed its doors permanently in April 2022 due to a fire.

  1. ^ a b Hogan, David Gerard (1997). Selling 'em by the Sack: White Castle and the Creation of American Food (1st ed.). NYU Press. pp. 52–55. ISBN 0-8147-3567-3.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference stuff was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ "Roadside Highlight: White Tower Hamburgers". Buildings with Taste: Fast Food Restaurants. Archived from the original on 6 September 2008. Retrieved 2008-06-18.
  4. ^ "Sarasota News Newspaper Archives, May 13, 1960, p. 5". Sarasota News Newspaper Archives. 13 May 1960. Retrieved 27 June 2020.
  5. ^ As Hamburgers Go, So Goes America? The Economist, Aug 21st 1997