National Cheeseburger Day on September 18th honors America’s favorite
sandwich with a slice of cheese.

There are many theories to the beginning of the cheeseburger dating back
to the 1920s.  One story suggests that Lionel Sternberger is reputed to have invented the cheeseburger in 1926 while working at his father’s Pasadena, California sandwich shop, The Rite Spot.  During an experiment, he dropped
a slice of American cheese on a sizzling hamburger.

There are other claims of the invention of the cheeseburger:

• A cheeseburger appeared on a 1928 menu at O’Dell’s, a Los Angeles restaurant, which listed a cheeseburger, smothered with chili, for 25
  cents.
• Kaelin’s Restaurant – Louisville, Kentucky says it invented the
  cheeseburger in 1934.
• Denver, Colorado – 1935 – A trademark for the name “cheeseburger”
  was awarded to Louis Ballast of the Humpty Dumpty Drive-In.
• According to its archives, Gus Belt, founder of Steak n’ Shake,
  applied for a trademark on the word “cheeseburger” in the 1930s.

                                                                                        (National Day Calendar®)

Washington laying the cornerstone of the U.S. Capitol in a photo reproduction of a painting.

On September 18, 1793, George Washington lays the cornerstone to the
United States Capitol building, the home of the legislative branch of
American government. The building would take nearly a century to
complete, as architects came and went, the British set fire to it and
it was called into use during the Civil War. Today, the Capitol building,
with its famous cast-iron dome and important collection of American
art, is part of the Capitol Complex, which includes six Congressional
office buildings and three Library of Congress buildings, all developed
in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Although President George Washington laid the cornerstone of the
U.S. Capitol in 1793, construction of current dome did not begin
until 1856. The dome, which replaced an earlier one made of
copper.

The U.S. Capitol under construction, 1860.

1860 – 1861

The U.S. Capitol as it looks today in Washington, D.C.