Kaelin’s - the legendary restaurant at Newburg Road and Speed Avenue in Louis­ville’s Highlands - was a ­culinary tip in the city and widely known as the birthplace of the cheeseburger. I took along the menu and some small Kaelin’s sweets as souvenirs.

In 2015, Kaelin’s is already history! In 2009, after 75 years, its doors closed, and the striking blue-white Kaelin’s sign was taken down and sold. Built by immigrants from Einsiedeln, a Louisville institution disappeared; a third generation was interested no more! In August 2015, therefore, I meet 84 year-old Irma Raque for milk and doughnuts at her nice home at Lamont Road. After the interview she was getting ready to travel to Denver, to her son and grand ­children. Listening to her is pleasant. The cultivated lady is used to entertaining and playing hostess. “We Kaelins are a proud bunch; I am also proud of having Swiss and Einsiedeln roots.”

Thanks ­mainly to aunt Antoinette, the sister of her father, ­family documents have remained in reach, even some about the coming of grandfather Louis.

“My grandfather Alois (Louis) Kaelin (1857 - 1919) came from Euthal. In the 1880s he attended the school of the monastery Einsiedeln, took the Swiss Federal Matura exam ­allowing university admission, and became a lieutenant in the Swiss Army. After his medical studies in Berlin, he left for Louisville, all alone. We know that he boarded the steamer Canada in Le Havre on April 4, 1885.

He was allowed to take along baggage up to 100 kilos; the crossing to New York cost him 160 francs. His goal was Louisville.” Why America? Irma Kaelin doesn’t know. “Perhaps he could find better opportunities here, and there were already numerous ­Kaelins and people from Einsiedeln in the region. Unfortunately, we do not have letters from the old country.” Soon, the young ­physician was appreciated in town. He became a member of local Swiss ­organizations such as the “Grütli-Verein”, the association ­“Helvetia”, the Swiss Benevolent Society, and the Swiss Shooting Club. From 1898 on he also served for many years as Louisville’s Swiss Consul. Irma: “In all weather he was out and about in the city - as for instance for home births.” In 1907, he became quite well known when he was able to successfully treat a patient’s tetanus.

Louis Kaelin and his American wife, Elizabeth Streigle Kaelin were parents of four children: Antoinette (1894), Louis C. (1896), Florence Rose (1897) and Carl Bernard (1901). However, in 1911, Elizabeth, the mother, died. And a year later eleven year-old
Carl B. was brought to the Protestant orphanage on Bardstown Road. “It was a hard decision; but considering his wide-ranging engagements, taking care of four children was too much for
my widowed grandfather.”

Carl B., Irma’s father, became an auto mechanic, also a trader, and he worked for Coca Cola. Because of illegal sales he ran into problems with the law, lost his job, and spent three months in the city’s prison. After his release, he bought a chicken farm in a rural area with the help of his efficient American wife Margaret. In 1931, Irma was born there as the family’s second child.

Accidentally, Carl discovered in a newspaper advertisement that a bar on Newburg Road was for sale. “They bought the business for 600 dollars, and from the start, in January 1934, Kaelin’s flourished. Mother was an outstanding cook, and father a good host.” Neighbors were the first guests, also pupils of the Catholic St. Agnes’s School nearby for whom Mrs. Kaelin prepared daily lunch over the counter. Much investment went into advertising; Kaelin’s became known and grew bigger.

“Father wanted to serve the best hamburgers in the city. He constantly tried new recipes - and one day, shortly before it was ready, he put a piece of cheese on top of the hamburger. It was greated enthusiastically; the cheeseburger had been ­invented, and from the Kaelin’s it began to conquer the world.”

And then there was the parents’ friendship with Colonel ­Sanders! Harland David Sanders (1890­ - 1980), simply known as Colonel Sanders, was the founder of the food service retailer Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC).

“One Christmas morning, Sanders knocked on the backdoor of my parents’ home and offered father the recipe for Kentucky Fried Chicken. Do you want to see the pressure ­cooker of that time?”

Irma takes us to the cellar… Kaelin’s items, wherever the eye settles! On the walls, on the tables - a room full of ­memorabilia. Besides a collection of cheeseburger items there are advertisements, newspaper articles, all the way to the legendary KFC pressure cooker and parts of Kaelin’s original furniture.

Irma takes us to the cellar… Kaelin’s items, wherever the eye settles! On the walls, on the tables - a room full of ­memorabilia. Besides a collection of cheeseburger items there are advertisements, newspaper articles, all the way to the legendary KFC pressure cooker and parts of Kaelin’s original furniture.

Now, Irma Kaelin Raque needs to be able to find and buy back the striking Kaelin’s sign.