This is definitely not the original MaidRite recipe!

Evidence strongly suggests the founding year was 1928 and the paper even announced the Grand opening in the paper in 1928.

1st not all maid-rite's are the same. The Original Maid Rite opened in Springfield, IL in 1924 and is listed in the National historic registry as the 1st drive thru in the U.S.

2nd Fred Angell did not create the Maid Rite sandwich; Luella Knippenburg did and Fred Angell got the recipe from Clyde Holbrook who bought the maid rite in Springfield from Art Knippenburg. Fred Angell opened his maid rite 2 years after Art Knippenburg did. Then Fred Angell began franchising the name in Iowa.

3rd there are several different recipes that are accurate depending on which location you are familiar with.

Not one maid rite should ever have ketchup or catsup which ever spelling you prefer; on it or in it!

The bun should be steamed for added softness.
Illinois Maids are use 85/15 beef, dry mustard, Worcestershire, garlic powder, salt and a splash of rootbeer. Served with a small amount of pickle relish, mustard and minced onion

Thank you so much. I'm from Springfield and I miss these. Gonna make some right now!

I worked as a waitress at a Maid-Rite in the late 60's. They had a special steamer to prepare the meat with a steaming tray under the buns. The griddle was slightly slanted so the fat would go into the drain. No seasoning was added,We put diced onions, pickles and cheese whiz on it. It was a good two inches high. The only way to replicate how they cooked the meat is to have a double broiler.

My mother from Quincy, IL made what she called Maid Rite sandwiches when I was growing up. I always wondered why she called the sandwiches Maid Rite and not Sloppy Joes. They looked like Sloppy Joes. However, when I was grown up and tried Sloppy Joes I had to ask Mom what was in the Maid Rite sandwiches because I did not care for Sloppy Joes. She told me about the Maid Rite restaurants and that her mother made her own with just browned ground beef, a little tomato sauce, and salt and pepper. I couldn't believe that it was that easy with so few ingredients. My grandmother, God bless her soul, raised 10 children and Mom was the youngest. I absolutely love the Maid Rite sandwiches that I grew up on and will continue to make them the way Mom made them. Happy Maid Rite sandwiches for all...just make them the way you like them!

I live in Quincy and we still have the old Mail Rite resterant in town. They make them the same way, none like it anywhere. And, I can't duplacate the taste. I know theirs do not have tomato sauce in it. I'm thinking salt and burger, it's all the way they make them.

I come from Muscatine, IA which IS where the very first Made-Rite Restaurant began in the early 1920's. My grandmother who was from Davenport, IA said everyone would actually make the trip from the Quad Cities just to eat there. Fact is anyone who says it began somewhere else other then Muscatine, IA is wrong because everyone from my hometown knows it began in Muscatine, IA. Judy Morrison who comment below is very correct!

I am just so thrilled to have finally found an actual recipe for the Maid Rites! I so miss them. My dad worked on pipeline across the U.S. and we only got them when we were around the Midwest. My mama tried to make them but we could never quite get the taste. Maybe it was the nuance of getting to eat out in the 50's. I think mom had all but the Worcestershire sauce.

I grew up in Macomb Illinois and the maid rites were always delicious. We live in Wyoming now and stop in Iowa of off Interstate 80 for our maid rite now. They are always a treat! I make them for my grandkids now.

Muscatine native who lived for a couple of years 3 blocks from Taylor's Maid Rite in Marshalltown. Have never figured out the recipe mystery and have been trying for 50 years (I'm 74). I do know that the current franchise recipe rules do not deliver the original Maid Rite taste. According to my dad, prior to the 1st Maid Rite restaurant, there was a sandwich cart outside a Muscatine factory whose owner accused the owner of Maid Rite (assuming Fred Angell) stole his recipe. Dad told me Fred ran a gambling barge in the middle of the Mississippi River that got busted (by the Feds, I assume), so he moved the barge to land (riverfront near downtown Muscatine) and started selling his hamburgers from the barge before a restaurant was ever built. Can anyone verify this family lore story? Anyway, I'm ordering a dozen Maid Rites from Taylors as they are not subject to the new recipe rules to share with my neighbors in Florida along with Sterzing Potato Chips. Only thing missing will be the chocolate malts from Lou's in Muscatine.