The ice cream cone is a familiar feature of the American leisure landscape, carrying with it associations of fairgrounds, ice cream parlors, drugstore soda fountains, and all-American kids (and adults) enjoying a sunshine treat. Since its invention early in the twentieth century, the cone has spread to become a common confection all over the developed world. Ice cream itself was a popular confection in America as early as the 1800s, but was only placed in an edible container 100 years later. The first patent for an ice cream cone maker was granted to New York City ice cream vendor Italo Marchiony in 1903, but aficionados continue to debate the true inventor of the cone. The popularity of the ice cream cone dates to the 1904 St. Louis Exposition, when Ernest Hamwi, a Syrian who sold waffles next to an ice cream concessionaire, thought to combine the two treats, creating the "World's Fair Cornucopia"—a portable way to eat ice cream.

A triple scoop vanilla ice cream cone.

During the 1920s and 1930s, new cone designs came out almost every year, resembling real or fanciful objects such as skyscrapers and rocket ships, but by the 1940s, two main types dominated the cone market—the flat-bottomed "waffle" cone cast from batter, and the pointed "sugar" cone, made from a large waffle-patterned wafer. Along with the rise of specialist ice cream shops like Ben & Jerry's in the 1980s came a new interest in homemade cones. Sometimes costing as much as the ice cream itself, the new waffle cones, hand-baked and hand-rolled, are offered in a variety of flavors, including chocolate, chocolate chip, oat bran, and honey.

Further Reading:

Damerov, Gail. Ice Cream! The Whole Scoop. Lakewood, Colorado, Glenbridge Publishing Ltd., 1995.

Dickson, Paul. The Great American Ice Cream Book. New York, Atheneum, 1972.

Funderburg, Anne. Vanilla, Chocolate, and Strawberry: A History of American Ice Cream. Bowling Green, Ohio, Bowling Green State University Popular Press, 1995.

Gustaitis, John. "Who Invented the Ice Cream Cone?" American History Illustrated. Vol. XXII, No. IV, 1988, 42-44.