There’s almost no better companion to a scoop of sweet, creamy ice cream than an ice cream cone, but just where did this delightful food invention come from? For years and years, ice cream was only enjoyed out of a dish. Even the first ice cream carts and trucks served ice cream in glass or metal dishes that were then returned to the ice cream vendor after the ice cream was consumed (which sounds pretty complicated if you ask us!) 

So who came up with the brilliant beyond brilliant idea to serve a scoop (or two, or three, or four—we say the more scoops the better here at Besties Ice Cream) atop a crunchy ice cream cone? It’s truly an invention like no other and allows the ice cream consumer to eat not only the ice cream they’ve purchased but also the vessel in which it’s served. See what we mean? Brilliant!

Ice Cream Had Been Served in Cones Before

The funny thing about the history of the ice cream cone is that its invention was not, in fact, the first time ice cream had been eaten from a cone. Cone-shaped dishes and containers had actually been used as ice cream receptacles for decades, they just weren’t made of edible materials.

In 1807 a french etching by Philibert-Louis Debucourt depicted a woman using a cone-like shaped utensil to eat ice cream, and some scholars consider this the first on-record ice cream cone! While this early depiction is up for debate amongst culinary historians, there’s no doubt that later in the nineteenth century similarly cone-shaped containers were used for notorious penny-licks on the streets of many urban cities. Penny licks were dishes of ice cream sold to customers from ice cream carts that were licked clean, then returned to the ice cream vendor. Penny licks were notoriously unsanitary due to the lack of washing in between uses, but were often served in cone-shaped dishes and therefore were precursors to the ice cream cone we know today.

Two Slightly different Origin Stories

An interesting tidbit about the ice cream cone’s invention is that it seems to have been created by two different people around the same time, even though the two food inventors were not actually related in any way.

The first person to create the ice cream cone was Italo Marchiony. Marchiony was an Italian who immigrated to New York in the last part of the nineteenth century. He invented his version of the ice cream cone we know and love today in 1896 and then patented it in 1903.

The other person to have created an early version of the ice cream cone around nearly the same timeframe is Ernest A. Hamwi. Hamwi introduced his creation of a crisp waffle-type confection at the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair. The story goes that a nearby ice cream vendor to where Hamwi was selling his waffle-like treat ran out of dishes for the ice cream and Hamwi proposed a solution. He reportedly rolled up one of his waffle creations in the shape of a cone and gave it to the ice cream vendor to use instead of a dish. Customers were apparently happy with the solution, and the ice cream cornucopia, as it was called at the time, was born.

A Treat That Spread in Popularity

Soon after the success of the ice cream cornucopia at the World’s Fair, enterprising ice cream vendors and businesspeople were ready to take the new treat nationwide. By the next summer, newspapers across the country were reportedly advertising this new way to consume ice cream and noting that the product originated in St. Louis at the World’s Fair.

In the coming months, many companies were created with the sole purpose of creating ice cream cones. There were articles and ads in local newspapers that profiled the Cornucopia Waffle Company of St. Louis in late 1904 which was Hamwi’s new venture since he had so brilliantly created the ice cream come on a whim. In 1906, another enterprising businessman, Stephen Sullivan, created and sold ice cream cornucopias at a log-rolling event put on by the Modern Woodmen of America in Sullivan, Missouri.

The ice cream cone was a surefire hit!

Two Types of Cones Emerged

As time went on and ice cream cones became more and more widespread across the country, two different types of cones became popular. The first cone—and the original style based on Hamwi’s innovative thinking—was created by baking a waffle in a round shape and rolling it into a cone as soon as it came off of the hot waffle griddle.

The second variety of ice cream cones that developed as the treat became more widely known was created with a mold. This type of cone was made using a batter with a shell or mold to create the correct shape. Until the 1920s, most cones were made by hand, regardless of which type of cone was created.

As industry and technology developed into the 1920s and 1930s, however, automatic machinery was created that helped to create uniform ice cream cones easily and efficiently. Today, the majority of ice cream cones are made with similar modern machinery, though many small ice cream shops still make and roll waffle cones by hand.

Whoever created the ice cream cone—and however it was originally created—it’s clear that it truly was the perfect vessel for serving ice cream. Before single-use serving products like the ice cream cups used in many ice cream shops today were created, ice cream cones were a necessity. There was no better way to serve ice cream to a crowd and not have to worry about cleaning, sanitizing, and supplying reusable ice cream dishes.

These days when you head to your favorite ice cream parlor to get the next scoop of your favorite flavor, you’ll likely be asked “cup or cone.” While the choice might still be a difficult one, at least now you know a bit about the history of one of your options created at the turn of the twentieth century and still one of the best ways to eat ice cream today.