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  • Writer's pictureJace Shoemaker-Galloway

National Ice Cream Cone Day


Have you heard the scoop? If your sweet tooth is aching for a sweet treat to eat, you’re in luck. Not only is Sept. 22 National White Chocolate Day, Dear Diary Day, American Business Women's Day and Elephant Appreciation Day, it’s also National Ice Cream Cone Day! Sweet!

On this day back in 1903, the ice cream cone was invented. It's hard to imagine life without cones. But back in the day, folks had to eat ice cream out of dishes and glasses. Some of the dishware got broken or stolen, which added additional costs to vendors. And on sweltering summer days, cool scoops of ice cream were in big demand, and whoever was washing all those dirty dishes by hand had a hard time keeping up! If only there were edible containers to put all that ice cream in!

While there is some debate as to who actually “invented”the ice cream cone, legend has it, ice cream vendor Italo Marchiony created an edible cup for his homemade ice cream in an effort to reduce costs. He filed a U.S. Patent for his invention on September 22, 1903. But an ice cream merchant from England, Antonio Valvona, received a U.S. Patent for his edible biscuit cups machine back in 1902. Both men created edible ice cream cups with flat bottoms and tapered sides. And during the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair, Ernest Hamwi claimed to make the first edible waffle cone, called a zalabia. He received a patent for his delicious waffle pastry cone-making machine in 1920.

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