Ice Cream industry begins

1851

Categories: American Innovation, Other
Tags: 1817 – 1860, Baltimore City

C. Jacob Fussell (1819-1912), looking for ways to sell the extra cream in his growing dairy business, starts producing ice cream in Pennsylvania. A born entrepreneur, by 1852 he grows his business by selling ice cream in Baltimore.

Before and during the Civil War, Fussell opens branches in Washington, DC, Boston and New York City, selling ice cream to hotels for a dollar a gallon. Upon his death in 1912, the Fussell ice cream empire is producing 30 million gallons of ice cream a year.

Jacob Fussell is also a Quaker and a committed abolitionist, participating in the Underground Railroad and attending the first Republican Convention in Philadelphia as secretary in 1856.

In 1951, Governor Theodore McKeldin celebrates the centennial of Jacob Fussell’s creation of the ice cream industry and proclaims June 15 National Ice Cream Day.

For More Information

Baltimore Museum of Industry

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