History of the Ice Cream Cone

December 30, 2015

Ice cream cones like the Big Dipper are always a hit at events hosted by Ice Scream Social. Americans have been enjoying ice cream cones for over a century.
 
Italo Marchiony invented the first ice cream cone in New York City in 1896. He obtained a patent for his invention in 1903.
 
Ernest Hamwi invented his own version of the ice cream cone at the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair. He was selling waffle-like pastries called zalabis at a booth next to an ice cream vendor. The vendor ran out of dishes, so Hamwi rolled one of his waffles into the shape of a cone, or cornucopia, which the vendor filled with ice cream. Customers loved the idea, and it quickly caught on.
 
People in St. Louis began inventing special equipment to produce cornucopias. Stephen Sullivan was one of the first known people to independently produce ice cream cones. Hamwi founded the Cornucopia Waffle Company around that time. In 1910, he founded the Missouri Cone Company, which later became the Western Cone Company.
 
Two types of ice cream cones were developed. Rolled cones were waffles baked in a round shape and rolled. Others were formed by pouring batter into a shell, inserting a core, and removing it, or by pouring batter into a mold, baking it, and splitting the mold. The ice cream cone business grew in the 1920s. Today, millions of rolled cones are produced every day.

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