Arnold Reuben began his restaurant in the 1910s and it became famous for its celebrity-named sandwiches, a tradition continued today by the Stage Deli and Carnegie Deli and others.

Reuben allegedly invented the "double decker" sandwich.

Did Reuben invent the "Reuben" sandwich? What is known is that a "Reuben" sandwich was submitted to a national sandwich contest in 1956, and it won first prize. Another person named Reuben - from Omaha, Nebraska - takes credit for that sandwich. See the citations below. Arnold Reuben sold sandwiches similar to "the Reuben" for many years.

A modern sandwich partner to the "Reuben" has been the "Rachel."


American Memory
American Life Histories: Manuscripts from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936-1940
[Reuben and his Restaurant]
(...)
DATE December 18, 1938
SUBJECT REUBEN AND HIS RESTAURANT -"THE LORE OF A SANDWICH

"Well, boys, sit down; what can I tell you? Here you see me busy like all the time; what is it; a book? kinda success story you want? hah, hek, well, you know, I've been written up. Well, boys, of course there's the story of how I came to make my sandwiches and that, boys, is the story of my life, I suppose. Well, somebody once put it, "From a sandwich to a national institution" And that, boys, is the story of Arnold Reuben's life. You know, I used to be a peddlar when I was a kid and I used to own a little shtoonky delicatessen store on Seventy Third Street and Broadway. Well, today, you got a look at the layout downstairs didn't you? Well, what do you think of it? Nice, uh? Well, you know we've got all the celebrities coming in and out almost any night and they eat my sandwiches, so once I got the idea to name a sandwich after a celebrity, and that's how it all started. Sort of somebody once said I was the father of the sandwich. Have you ever eaten a Reuben Special? Yeh, boys, we get orders for a Reuben Special Air-mail from California. We ship all over the world. From a Sandwich to a National Institution. Look, boys, I sit up here and sometimes I laugh; you know, I laugh up my sleeve. Other delicatessan men, they began where I did in a shtoonky little store someplace, dirty, filthy, no machines then, everything by hand, well they never had any ideas. During the war I made a nice little pile. You know war time. Well
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then, every little delicatessan owner used to keep a few cans of anchovies and caviar in stock. Just a few cans at a time. Well, I figure it out that when things really get going nobody would be able to import the stuff. So what do you think I did? I went around to each little shtoonky place buying up a few cans at a time, and when things got hot and you couldn't get some good anchovies or caviar for love or money, who do you think you had to come to? Yes boys, you see! Well, I'll tell you about how I got the sandwich idea. I owned a delicatessan on Broadway and one day a dame walks in, one of the theatrical dames, and she's down and out I suppose, and she asks me for something to eat. Her name was Anna Selos. Well, I'm feeling sort of good, so I figure I'll clown around for the dame. That's how it all came about. I'm clowning for the dame. Well, what do I do? I take a holy bread that I used to keep and grab up the knife and, you know, clowning like, I cut it right through on the bias. Then I take some roast beef, I don't remember exactly what. But, anyway, I figure I'll put anything on. So I take some meat and cheese and I slap it on, and I put on some spice and stuff and I make her up a sandwich; it was a foot high. Well the dame just eats it, that's all. She must have been plenty hungry. And when she gets through she says, "Mr. Reuben, that's the best sandwich I ever tasted in my life." Well, the idea comes to me in a flash. I'll call it the Anna Selos sandwich, after the dame. Then, one night, she brings some friends up, you know, stage people and a newspaper man, and this guy he goes right behind the counter and makes himself up a sandwich, and then he tells me why I don't call the sandwich after celebrities? Like what happened with Anna Selos. Why don't I call it the Anna Selos sandwich? Well, boys, in a flash, I get the idea. Anna Selos! I'll call it a Reuben Special. And that's how it started. Then one day Marjorie Rambeau came in to the store and I made her a sandwich and I called it the Marjorie Rambeau sandwich. How did I do it? Well, I just slap it together. Whatever came into my mind. But I used good stuff. Once Nikita Baileff, you know, of the Chauve Souria, came into the place downstairs and he knew that I made sandwiches for famous people and named it for them. So he says to me, "Mr. Reuben,
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make me a sandwich." Just like that. Well, I don't say no. I say sure, and in a flash I made him a sandwich. I went into the kitchen and I grabbed some whole wheat bread, slapped some tongue on it, some bar-le-due, sweep pickle and cream cheese and called it Chauve Souris. No, boys, I don't know exactly how I create sandwiches. It just comes to me in a flash.I'm not like the average delicatessen man, boys. Ideas, I always had ideas about things. When I create a sandwich I try to make it fit the character and temperament of the celebrity. Now you take Walter Winchell. I made him a sandwich of roast beef, swiss cheese and sliced dill pickle. Oh there's so many of them, boys, it just goes on and on.

14 January 1926, Marion (OH) Daily Star pg. 6, col. 8:
Thus does it carry out its advertising slogan: "From a sandwich to an institution."

24 January 1928, New York Morning Telegraph (From the Sophie Tucker Collection in the NY Public Library -- ed.):
REUBEN'S, that "different" delicatessen that Broadway has taken to its heart, is reported to have been built on top of a sandwich. After viewing the size of some of the Reuben sandwiches we can understand the solidity of the building in which the delicatessen is housed.

June 1936, Restaurant Management, pg. 412:
Hy's Three-Ring Circus MENU MAKING
E. A. Bachman, proprietor of the Annex, Portland, Oregon, features Hy Frager,the famous American chef who peps up menu listings with verbal acrobatics.
Pg. 413, col. 1:
Combination Sandwiches
"CLUBHOUSE" (Breast of Chicken, Crisp Premium Bacon, Tomato, Lettuce, Pickles and Olives)... .40
"RUEBEN" (Not "Reuben" - ed.) (Baked Premium Ham, White Meat Chicken, Coquille Swiss Cheese and Tomato on Russian Rye)... .45

17 April 1937, Lima (OH) News, pg. 4, col. 3:
S. Jay Kaufman, then a Broadway columnist, came every night and ceremoniously outlined recipes for his own sandwiches. One night Reuben offered to do it for him.

"Let your customers alone," Kaufman advised, "and maybe someday you'll go from a sandwich to an institution."

It was a phrase Arnold Reuben remembered. Today his rendezvous is known by it. He has publicized the idea from coast-to-coast.

Dining Out in Hollywood and Los Angeles
by Craig Davidson
Assisted by Harry Mynatt
1949
Pg. 59: (The Players restaurant -- ed.)
For lunch, there is a long array of sandwiches that are full meals in themselves, starting with the Reuben Special, my favorite -- sliced breast of turkey, baken ham, imported Swiss cheese, cole slaw, and Russian dressing on rye bread.

28 December 1949, New York Herald Tribune (Clementine Paddleford column), pg. 22, col. 6:
How Reuben's Lives Up to Sandwich King Title
Creator of Double-Decker
Has 44 Menu Selections;
Each Is a Meal in Itself
(...)
HANDOUT MEAL - It started back in 1915 when Mr. Reuben had a small delicatessen in the theater district on Broadway. A show girl came in one evening and asked him as a favor to fix her a free sandwich. She was out of work and had come to the end of her funds. Mr. Reuben took a French loaf much as delicatessens use for sandwich making and cut it on the bias, four long slices, buttered them well, then laid on the works, first sliced ham, next sliced turkey, then Swiss cheese, after that sliced onions and sliced tomatoes, cole slaw, and Russian dressing. He piled the pieces one on the other; the result was an astounding victual. "Name it Annette for me," she said, realizing that here was something truly impressive. Mr. Reuben gave his handiwork an admiring glance. He noted it as something no existing lip could reach around. "No, indeed, " he said, "I name this Reuben's Special." Later the girl Annette danced her way to success and came into Reuben's night after night t!o order "The Sandwich." Others took notice and ordered what they called Reuben's double-decker.

Copp's Guide to New York City
by Harry Dewitt Copp
1954
Pg. 66:
REUBEN'S -- 6 East 58th St., near 5th Avenue
(...)
REUBEN'S SPECIAL -- Turkey, Roast Virginia Ham, Swiss Cheese, Cole Slaw, Russian Dressing
REUBEN'S STEAK SANDWICH
REUBEN'S HAMBURGER SANDWICH ON ROLL
REUBEN'S SUPERIOR -- Turkey, Roast Virginia Ham, Hard Boiled Egg, Tomato, Onion, Russian Dressing, Rye Bread
REUBEN'S PARADISE -- Turkey, Tongue, Tomato, India Relish, Rye Bread
HILDEGARDE -- Tongue, Swiss Cheese, Tomato, Russian Dressing, Rye Bread
ARNOLD REUBEN 3rd -- Turkey, Tomato, Bacon, Melted Cheese on Toasted White
CLUB A LA REUBEN -- First Layer: Dark Meat of Turkey, Lettuce, Bacon and Toast; Second Layer: White Meat of Turkey, Lettuce, Tomato and Bacon
PHIL BAKER -- Turkey, Hard Boiled Egg, Onions and Russian Dressing
ALAN CORELLI -- Tongue, Turkey, Tomato and Sliced Dill Pickle
AL JOLSON TARTAR SANDWICH -- Raw Meat, Raw Egg, Chopped Onion
HARRY HERSHFIELD -- "Can You Top This?" Tongue, Turkey, Tomato, Russian Dressing
JACK BENNY-MARY LIVINGSTON -- Tongue, Turkey, Swiss Cheese, Cole Slaw, Russian Dressing, Rye Bread
WALTER WINCHELL -- Sturgeon, Swiss Cheese and Sliced Dill Pickle
FRANK SINATRA -- Cream Cheese Bar-le-Duc, Tongue, Sweet Pickle, Whole Wheat Bread
MARY MARTIN -- Virginia Ham, Swiss Cheese, Sliced Dill Pickle, Rye Bread
GINGER ROGERS SPECIAL -- Imported Beluga Caviar and Cream Cheese on Rye or White Toast
ORSON WELLS (sic) -- Turkey, India Relish, Lettuce, Russian Dressing
JUDY GARLAND -- Nova Scotia Salmon and Swiss Cheese (Col. 2 -- ed.)
DANTON WALKER -- Nova Scotia Salmon and Cream Cheese
VIC DAMONE -- Turkey, Cole Slaw, Whole Wheat Toast (No Butter)
CAROL BRUCE -- Tongue, Mustard, Melted Swiss Cheese on Toasted Rye
MILTON BERLE -- Cream Cheese, Bar-le-Duc, Turkey, Whole Wheat Bread
TYRONE POWER -- Turkey, Cranberry Sauce, Broiled French Toast, Maple Syrup
MOREY AMSTERDAM -- Corned Beef, Swiss Cheese, Bologna
RUDY VALLEE -- Turkey, Bacon, Onion, TOmato, Russian Dressing
GEORGIA GIBBS -- Corned Beef, Melted Swiss Cheese on Toasted Rye Bread (Sounds like a classic "reuben" -- ed.)
JOEY ADAMS -- Tongue, Turkey and Mayonnaise
LOUIS SOBOL -- Cream Cheese and Bar-le-Duc, Chopped Pecans
DEAN MARTIN-JERRY LEWIS -- Turkey, Holland Ham, Rye Bread
ED SULLIVAN -- Chopped Chicken Liver, Turkey, Cole Slaw, Rye Toast
VIC LEVINE MPLS. SPECIAL -- Chopped Chicken Liver and Corned Beef on Rye Bread
DR. LEO MICHEL -- Virginia Ham, Tomato, Broiled French Toast
LUBA MALINA -- Nova Scotia Salmon, Cream Cheese, French Fried Onions
THE 52 ASSOCIATION -- Tongue, Holland Ham, Tomato, Cole Slaw
ETHEL MERMAN -- Turkey, Tomato, Hard Boiled Egg, Russian Dressing
NICK KENNY -- Turkey, Ham, Tongue, Cole Slaw
MIMI BENZELL -- Turkey, Tongue, Cole Slaw
JANE POWELL -- Grilled Cheese, Bacon, Tomatoes
SOPHIE TUCKER -- Turkey, Swiss Cheese and Salami
BARBARA STANWYCK SPECIAL -- Corned Beef, Melted Swiss Cheese and Bacon on Toasted Rye or White Bread

September 1956, American Restaurant Magazine, pg. 105, col. 2:
National Sandwich Winners
THE RUEBEN, a hearty man-sized sandwich of corned beef, sauerkraut and Swiss cheese on Russian rye bread, is the nation's top hotel and restaurant sandwich in the opinion of judges of the National Sandwich Idea Contest in which more than 600 different sandwich items are entered from all parts of the country and Hawaii. The Rueben was submitted by Fern Snider, chef at the Rose Bowl Restaurant in Omaha, Nebr.
(...)
(Delmonico Steak Sandwich was second. Curried Cheese and Olive Broiler Sandwich was third -- ed.)
(...)
Winners were announced at a luncheon given by Standard Brands, Inc., in New York City, with final winners selected by a panel of five food editors of national consumer publications.

-- RACHEL SANDWICH --

"Rachel Sandwich" is listed in the Los Angeles Public Library's online menu collection. The earliest R&R (Reuben & Rachel) is from Arbuckle's, 1101 Sophia Street, Fredericksburg, VA, from 1983. Also on the menu are "Long Island Ice Tea," "Colorado Bulldog," and "Potato Skins." A REUBEN is corned beef, sauerkraut, Swiss cheese, and thousand island dressing on rye bread. A RACHEL is corned beef, cole slaw, Swiss cheese and thousand island dressing on rye bread.

Schumacher's Hotel (New Prague, MN)
Schumacher's has been serving these at the MN State Fair since God-knows-when.

Reuben Sandwich
Thinly sliced corned beef, Swiss cheese, Red Kraut and Thousand Island dressing served on grilled dark rye bread. Made famous at our Minnesota State Fair Restaurant.
Rachel Sandwich
Thinly sliced turkey, Swiss cheese, Red Kraut and Thousand Island dressing served on grilled dark rye bread.