Chippewa Valley Museum

Ice Cream Parlor at Sweet Center of Social History

from Agri-View, June 15, 1995
by Jane Fyksen, Regional Editor

A little history

Americans have a long-running love affair with ice cream. And how sweet it is!

Wisconsin farm families can step back in time -- to those days when this country was just cutting its sweet tooth for ice cream -- with a visit to the Chippewa Valley Museum's turn-of-the-century ice cream parlor.

At the museum, in Eau Claire's Carson Park, families can order ice cream sodas made just as they were in Grandma's day. Agri-Vrew recently visited the re-created, working ice cream parlor, which sports a marble-topped soda fountain. It was operated in Eau Claire by Dor Smith from 1895 through 1924, and then was moved by the late Alf Bjerke to his drugstore in Fall Creek.

According to the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, ice cream parlors were popular social centers by the turn of the century, leading one British visitor in 1920 to report that "young people do not go for country walks in America. They chiefly consort in the ice cream parlor."

Ice cream parlors were so popular because ice cream did not become an at-home food until lots of folks started getting electric refrigerator/freezers in the 1930s, In fact, during the 1920s, ice cream was not simply considered a chilly treat, but the fore-runner of today's health foods. Physicians and nutritionists in the Roaring '20s recommended eating ice cream for its nutrition and digestibility.

Originally, ice cream was only enjoyed by the.elite. But its increasing popularity parallels the growth of the middle class in this country. According to the state historical society, in the 1700s, only the wealthy -- who could afford the precious ingredients (ice, cream and white sugar) and the servants (or in the South, slaves) to provide the labor to make it -- enjoyed ice cream. In 1700, Maryland Governor Bladen was serving ice cream to his guests. Dolly Madison created a sensation when she served ice cream as a dessert in the White House at the second inaugural ball, in 1812. It was strawberry.

The hand-cranked ice cream freezer was not invented until 1846, so the dairy treat had to be made by agitating a pail of cream embedded in ice -- turning it halfway around and back, with one hand, for as long as an hour. It was tiresome work.

The first hand-cranked freezer was invented by a woman -- Nancy Johnson -- but she failed to patent it. A Mr. Young patented a similar type two years later. The first commercial ice cream plant was established in Baitimore in 1851 by Jacob Fussell. By 1900, thanks to further technological advances, ice cream was affordable to the common man.

Often, the "vehicle" for selling ice cream determined its form. For instance, ice cream sundaes and sodas were ice cream parlor fare. Ice cream sandwiches and cones sprouted from street trade. Street vendors -- often Irish, Italian or Greek newcomers to this country -- hawked ice cream to the common folk. Cones were, in fact, considered an advancement in public health. The edible receptacles were thought to be far superior to the poorly washed spoons and glassware previously used by peddlers.

Italo Marchiony, who emigrated from Italy in the late 1800s, is credited with inventing the ice cream cone in 1896 in New York City. He was granted a patent for his special mold in 1903. The following year, the ice cream cone was introduced at the St. Louis World's Fair, when Syrian waffle concessionaire E A. Namwi started rolling waffles into the shape of a cone for the benefit of an ice cream vendor in an adjoining booth. Other products such as ice cream on sticks, ice milk, and sherbet -- known as "novelties" -- had their beginnings in the 1920s.

Farm families who think of Madison, Wisconsin, only as the home of the state capitol and farm short course may be surprised to learn that it was also the hometown of Billy Moll. He wrote the Iyrics to the popular 1926 hit song, "I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream for Ice Cream."

Blanchardville, Wisconsin, lays claim to being the home of the first "black cow." Robb's, a popular soda fountain and diner, claimed to have served the first root beer and ice cream soda (today commonly known as a root beer float).

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