JAX CURIOSITIES: ICE CREAM CONE TRUCK

(Source of picture: Florida State Archives)

An ancient truck on a brick street -- This photo comes from Jacksonville and probably dates from the 1920s.  The Purity Company hand-rolled its sugar cones, which were "the crisp and delicious kind," according to advertising.  NOTE: See more Purity info below.

CLICK HERE for a picture of a bakery truck

CLICK HERE for a department store van

AN EDIBLE ICE CREAM CONTAINER -- Purity Cones cooked its goods in Jacksonville and sold them statewide.  The company was established in about 1925 by Dillon W. Pickering, who hailed from Cleveland, Ohio.  His enterprise was located in Springfield at 214 E. 8th Street, several blocks east of the well-known Klutho Apartments at 8th & Main.   

The origins of the ice cream cone are partly shrouded in mystery, but cones first made their appearance in about 1900.  They captured the public's taste buds, and cone production reached record levels by the 1920s.  The tasty treats were created in two ways:  One procedure centered on the baking of a round waffle and then rolling it, first by hand, later mechanically.  The second method involved the use of molds to obtain a cone's shape. 

Small changes in automation have created the ice cream cone as we know it today.  And machines are now capable of producing about 150,000 cones every 24 hours.

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