He ran four routes throughout the city and always had a little milk and cream left over – from which he made small batches of ice cream.
Until 1800, ice cream remained a rare and exotic dessert enjoyed mostly by the elite. Around 1800, insulated ice houses were invented. Jacob Fussell was the first to make ice cream in large quantities and sell it at a low price. He set up America's first ice cream factory, in Pennsylvania.
At first, he made much of the ice cream himself, with the help of a few workers using hand-cranked machines. As someone who already had access to vast amounts of milk, he was able to increase his production and undercut the prices of his rivals.
He made his ice cream inexpensive and made it easy to buy by delivering it to the customer's door. Expanding production, he opened the first ice cream factory in Seven Valleys, Pennsylvania in 1851. Fussell was soon head of a formidable ice cream empire with factories across the eastern seaboard of the United States and is recognized as ‘the father of the wholesale ice cream industry’.
Jacob Fussell - Father of the Ice Cream Industry
