Cozy Dog Drive In

Cozy Dog Drive In in Springfield, Illinois doesn’t sell corn dogs, they sell Cozy Dogs. Yes, their signature item is a battered and fried hot dog on a stick, but they make it clear that Cozy Dogs preceded the modern corn dog and are superior in quality and taste to your normal cornmeal dipped fair dog.

This corn drenched hot dog on a stick was invented and perfected by Ed Waldmire Jr. while he was in the Air Force during World War II. Waldmire was inspired by a food item he’d encountered in Muskogee, Oklahoma called a “corn dog.” But this corn dog was far from the festival fair we know today. This sandwich-like creation consisted of a wiener baked into cornbread. Similar flavors but without that signature stick or golden fried crunch. He set out to create a new version of the corn dog that was just as tasty but quicker to prepare. With the help of his friend Don Strand the modern day corn dog was born.

Ed originally called the creation a “crusty cur,” and it quickly became popular at the local USO club. After he was honorably discharged in 1946, Ed returned home and decided to continue selling the snack in his hometown of Springfield, Illinois. There would just be one change. At the urging of his wife, the moniker of “crusty cur” was changed to a more friendly sounding “Cozy Dog.”

Waldmire began selling his Cozy Dogs at the Lake Springfield Beach House and at the Illinois State Fair. In 1949 the Cozy Dog Drive In opened on Route 66, and, while the business has moved a few times over the years, you can still find these treats on the Mother Road today. In fact, the recipe hasn’t changed since the 1940s, Cozy Dog Drive In still use the same equipment they used in the 1960s, and the business is still family owned, now being run by a third generation of Waldmires.