Read our big scoop: Ice-cream cones, the ingenious invention of American immigrants
Summary
Ice cream was once a rare and expensive treat, but inventions like mechanical refrigeration made it more affordable by the 1800s. The ice cream cone, invented by immigrants in the early 1900s, became popular at the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair and helped ice cream vendors serve customers more easily.Key Facts
- In 1790, President George Washington spent $200 on ice cream, equivalent to over $7,000 today.
- Penny licks were an early way to serve ice cream, but they were banned due to hygiene concerns.
- Antonio Valvona, an Italian ice-cream maker, patented a metal mold in 1902 for making edible waffle cups.
- Italo Marchiony, an ice cream vendor in New York, patented a similar ice cream cone device in 1903.
- At the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair, Ernest Hamwi, a Syrian immigrant, popularized the waffle cone by rolling his fried pastries into cones.
- By 1910, the term “cone” replaced “cornucopia,” and Hamwi started the Missouri Cone Company.
- Machines later improved cone production, and cake cones appeared in the 1940s alongside the rise of ice cream chains like Dairy Queen and Baskin-Robbins.
- Americans today eat less ice cream per year than in 1984, dropping from 17.8 pounds to 12 pounds on average.
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