Historic Food & Drink: The Scandelous History of Ice Cream and Soda Fountains
Ice cream and soda fountains have a marvelous and dubious history.
September 1845:
A faint, early morning glow filtered through hazy clouds as the boys herded their cows in line toward the barn for milking. There was a heavy dew on the warm meadowlands and the boys barely acknowledged their younger sisters as they marched along the path toward to the woodlands with baskets on both arms. The girls were off to gather the last of the wild blackberries and within hours, they would all be back at the farmhouse working alongside their parents…making ice cream.
Hannah Darlington was one of those young daughters.
“We began with a small quantity, making it by hand, using wooden paddles to stir the cream with handles about two feet long,” she reminisced.
Her words about her childhood, making and selling ice cream, were published 70 years later in a trade publication called The Soda Fountain Magazine.
Hannah described how her family had decided to try their hands at churning ice cream sometime around 1842, after learning about the success of another local farmer who had first tried the idea.
Their product was made May through September in the kitchen on their farm, and delivered to the townspeople several times a week.
During winter, the family hired workers to stock the two, enormous ice houses that were sunk deep into the ground between the barn and their home. The ice houses were stocked with 110 tons of ice taken from the dams on the Brandywine and later used to freeze the cream and keep it cold during the warm seasons.
The Darlington family sold their ice cream through the streets of West Chester, Pennsylvania from a horse-drawn wagon.
“The horse soon learned where our best customers lived. As soon as he would see a woman with a dish come out of a house, he would always stop without being spoken to.”
The ice cream sold out quickly and became so popular that the Darlington family had to figure out a way to increase production.
“Our ice cream was so much liked that we soon got to making it by the forty quart can, and to do so, father invented a plan for attaching the ‘lifter’ to a crank, worked by horse power. This lifter was a round piece of wood, with holes in it, and a long handle in the middle. When the cream was just so far frozen, this was put in and worked up and down to ‘lift’ the cream.
“It was some trouble to prepare the vanilla for flavoring. We used to have to open the vanilla pod and crush the beans. Then we boiled them in the milk and strained out the large pieces. Little particles of the vanilla bean used to stay in the ice cream. At first people complained that there were ‘motes’ in it but when they found out what the specks were, they did not object.”
They charged 25 cents a quart, wholesale.
Hannah Darlington’s story captivated readers. She was about 87 years old when she was interviewed for this article which appeared in the February 1915 issue of The Soda Fountain Magazine. The story documented her family’s growing ice cream business during the year 1844, when she was only 16 years old. That was 180 years ago in today’s timeline.
“You can’t get ice cream so cheap now,” Hannah said, “for you have to pay more for your cream now than we did then. And you don’t get the same kind of cream, either,” she lamented.
Ice cream was thought to have medicinal benefits throughout the 19th century, and of course, everyone agreed that it tasted just oh, so good. The traditional ice cream recipe was flavored with vanilla beans cooked in an eggy custard, which was then added to fresh cream and frozen. Lemon curd was another popular flavor and wild berries were sometimes added when in season. The rich concoction was considered healthy for anyone recovering from just about anything, especially if one had a fever.
Peddling ice cream door to door by wagon soon changed. Ice cream “saloons” became the popular destination, especially for women and certainly during the very beginning of the Temperance Movement in 1846. Although these small “saloons” or cafés typically served savory foods as well, by far the greatest attraction was the ice cream.
In October of 1849, George Foster describes visiting one such fashionable ice cream “saloon” in his book, New York by Gas-light: With Here and There a Streak of Sunshine, published in 1850:
“Upon entering, we pass between two long counters laden with fruits, cakes, confectionery, and all sorts of knickknackery — behind one of which stand three or four Grisette-looking girls, jauntily dressed, and just as jauntily disposed.”
“Then, mounting a couple of steps, we enter into a long room, filled with little tables at almost every one of which people are seated, and nearly all of them are ladies. The room is darkened — ladies love such subdued atmospheres, unless they are very young and handsome….”
Foster goes on to describe the menu:
“We will order a méringue à la crème…while our pupils are contracting. You see, they have an extensive bill of fare here. Ice cream. Oysters: stewed, fried and broiled. Roasted chickens, omelettes, sandwiches. Boiled and poached eggs. Boiled ham. Beef-steak. Coffee. Chocolate. Toast and butter.”
“Fine ladies visit here between their shopping calls, their visitations, or their millinery-ings. They are not likely to go hungry for want of a substantial lunch, anymore than their lords and masters who are eating down town, and who bolt beef and potatoes at Brown’s or even dine at Delmonico’s. If you take a sly glance at the plates of these delicate feminine customers, or listen a moment to the low-voiced orders entrusted confidentially to the waiters, you will see that ladies have appetites and stomachs just as well as the rest of creation.”
By the 1860s, most big city pharmacies had “soda water fountains” somehow connected with their business. The “founts” did not sell ice cream. They were known, instead, for their syrup flavored soda water concoctions that were usually alcoholic. Remember, this was during the time when doctors nursed babies with opiates for teething pain.
It was not unusual for a lady with a feminine ache to drop by the pharmaceutical soda fountain for a proper prescription prepared in a sweet drink that would soon ease her discomfort. Gentlemen, too, often took an afternoon break to enjoy a cold glass of liquor-laced milk punch, or perhaps warm spiced fruit juice mixed with claret at the soda fount.
A journalist writing for the 1915 issue of The Soda Fountain: An Illustrated Monthly Magazine for Druggists, Confectioners and all Operators of Soda Fountains (NY, DO Haynes & Company), fondly remembered Hudnut’s Soda Fountain, located in “The Old Herald Building” at 218 Broadway in New York City.
Hudnut’s had been a familiar destination since the pharmacy first opened its doors in 1869. The Hudnut Fount was centered in the famous Hudnut’s Pharmacy, which was well known for their glamorous toiletries, perfumes, and also medicines. The exterior of the storefront featured an enormous thermometer, a showpiece considered the most accurate gauge “in the world” for measuring weather temperatures.
The trade journalist wrote:
“Hudnut’s didn’t serve ice cream at the soda fountain in those days, just plain soda,”
“Hudnut’s served the highest class business in the city and among their soda patrons were judges, brokers, lawyers, all big men. John Jacob Astor used to drop in for a glass of soda and the late Ex-President Grover Cleveland, who at that time had an office nearby, came in every day.”
During this time, a favorite drink at the Hudnut Fountain was called The Brown Velvet.
“The Brown Velvet was served largely in the winter and was very popular with the newspaper men. It contained brandy or whiskey “wrapped up” in a sort of chocolate syrup (added to soda water). It was a very seductive drink and a man who imbibed three or four Brown Velvets found themselves rather difficult to carry away.”
As liquor laws changed and the Temperance Movement grew, ice cream was added to the menu. Ice cream saloons offered dishes with “dressings” of marshmallow, melted chocolate, and fresh sweet cream whipped so dense that it resembled vanilla mousse. Roasted nuts were typically served as a side dish. Lady fingers or buttery French madeleines were often balanced along the edge of dazzling crystal ice cream stemware.
Soda fountains grew all the more glamorous and ostentatious in appearance as well. It was not unusual to find Tiffany stained glass lined doors, walls and windows, lighting, and even punch bowls within the most elegant establishments.
Another famous soda fountain was The Soda Emporium within The House of Bruns that opened during 1911 in New Brunswick, New Jersey. This was perhaps the most elegant as well as extravagant soda fountain of its kind in the United States. It had nothing to do with pharmacies or medicine, and had everything to do with ice cream, candy, and the luxuries of afternoon high tea.
The Soda Emporium was built after extensive research by Charles and Frederick Bruns who traveled throughout the United States and Europe in search of the most refined and luxurious soda fountain venue design. They settled on creating, as they claimed, an exact reproduction of the main room in Marie Antoinette’s French chateau, Versailles, for their soda fountain; a design which was described as being “quite progressive” by the 1915 trade writer.
The Soda Emporium included not only a heavily marbled soda fountain and candy display, but also a tea room that could accommodate 80 people. The tea room was fitted with King Louis XVI laurel and rams-horn plaster wall treatments created by the most skilled plaster workers in New York City. It was decorated with massive gilt mirrors and classical columns. Huge crystal and gold chandeliers lit the tables. At one end of the room, an enormous marble statue of a goddess towered within the heavily mirrored Roman Temple that was surrounded by a large water-filled moat. As the fountain trickled down from off the statue above, the pond below sparkled with hundreds of tiny, live goldfish.
“The Bruns’ tea room is a great place where one can forget one’s troubles.”
Tea was served daily at 3:30 in the afternoon at The House of Bruns during 1915, set to the rich sounds of a concert Victrola or three-piece stringed ensemble. The menu included a variety of soups and consommés served with cinnamon toast or French waffles. There were more than a dozen delicate finger sandwiches to choose from including walnut and cheese, ham or sardine, tongue, pimento, or club sandwiches.
The Soda Emporium also featured 7 flavors of ice cream and 2 sorbets: Tutti Fruitti, French Bisque, Nut Caramel, Chocolate, Vanilla, Strawberry, Mocha Coffee, plus Orange or Pineapple Ices. A customer could also choose from a dozen or more fountain drinks such as the Malted Milk and Egg, or flavored phosphates and sodas with or without ice cream added.
Finally, of course, alcoholic punches were featured on the menu. There was a Claret Lemonade and the Claret Ice Cream Float. The Lalla Rookh was considered an old-fashioned recipe by then, but remained popular in its various forms. The Soda Emporium’s version was made with a small scoop of ice cream that was hollowed out and filled with rum or brandy. This treat was served in an edible paper-thin, tulip-shaped candy cup topped with whipped cream, fruit, and nuts.
(Learn more about the story behind the Lalla Rookh dessert, plus one of my favorite contemporary recipes for this historical treat, in the Addendum which will be published at the end of this week.)
“Roman Punch” was considered the most popular of all the icy beverage concoctions at The Soda Emporium. It was made from the frozen juices of oranges and lemons, with champagne or rum added to the slushy drink, and was served with a dollop of fresh egg meringue and candied citrus on top.
In sharp contrast, and that very same year, the St. Louis based Judge & Dolph pharmacies catered to those “women carrying babies and women with a host of children following them.”
The Judge & Dolph pharmacies’ soda fountains served the middle-class and sold “the highest class ices and drinks, but at the lowest prices.” Judge & Dolph was one of the few places with “four serving marbles” which were designed to accommodate “Bargain Day crowds.” Bins of penny candies and shelves of inexpensive perfumes were stationed “near enough to the fountain for all the women and girls to see.”
Prohibition banned the production, transportation, and sale of alcohol throughout the United States between 1920 to 1933 and so, alcoholic beverages openly purveyed through soda fountains came to an end.
However, it was not illegal to actually drink alcohol and once again, pharmacies became the appropriate place during Prohibition to find what was described as medicinal alcohol.
One only needed a prescription from a doctor to claim up to a pint, and that prescription could be legally refilled every 10 days.
In response, most pharmaceutical soda fountains were quick to serve drinks that made the alcoholic medicine all the more palatable.
Liquor laws changed yet again after Prohibition was repealed during 1933. Some say that the changes with Prohibition actually encouraged more Americans than ever to return to tough pubs and bars for their stiff drinks. With the new laws, soda fountains could no longer afford to sell alcoholic beverages without disproportionate costs and the stringent requirements set by liquor licenses.
Eventually during the 1940s, the soda fountain trade identity merged to became synonymous with ice cream parlors, malt and soda shops. Although many pharmacies in America continued to have a soda fountain inside, they typically only sold ice cream, hot dogs, and other simple treats.
Instead, soda fountain-like establishments sprung up as ornate marbled dessert counters in luxury department stores. In comparison, sleek middle-class soda fountain-styled luncheonettes were found within nearly every small town Five-and-Dime.
During the 1950s and 60s, clever soda jerks dramatically prepared malted milk shakes and black cows, flipped hamburgers, and served french fries with cola and root beer. As the 45 RPM’s on the juke box played, the vintage soda fountain acquired a reputation for innocence and ice cream again…all served cheerfully with a maraschino cherry on top.
Yet, when fast food restaurants started to franchise out across the United States during the late 1950s, the era of the soda fountain wained. Today, only the sweet nostalgia remains, found either through museum exhibits or century old magazines such as The Soda Fountain.
Great and very interesting article!
A really fascinating article. Always love reading your articles as I learn so much about interesting aspects of history!! 👍