Ice Cream Sodas

Around the year 1874, soda water became a very popular drink and was known in those days to give you health and vitality and long life. Soda shops popped up all over the country. From this health-giving drink came the ice cream soda.

The story goes that during the Franklin Institute Celebration in Philidelphia, a concessionaire ran out of flavor for his soda water and bought some ice cream to melt it down and add as flavoring. The customers were coming at such a rate that he did not have time to melt the ice cream and started serving it in chunks with soda water. This new drink was met with delight of the public and the ice cream soda was born.

John Matthews, who is said to be the forefather of what is known today as the ice cream soda fountain, ran the following ad, "Youth as it sips it's first soda experiences the sensations of which, like the sensations of love, cannot be forgotten but cherished to the last." Who can argue with Mr. Matthews!

The Sundae

Many people in the early days thought that the soda water was actually intoxicating, and in Illinois, a law was passed prohibiting the sale of ice cream sodas on Sunday. An ingenius drug store operator got around the law by serving just the ice cream and syrups leaving the soda water out and calling it an ice cream "sunday," later changing the spelling to sundae because the town fathers objected to the naming of an ice cream dish after the Sabbath Day.