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When We All Screamed for Ice Cream

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By GARY R. MORMINO Tribune correspondent

The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 6, 2008

TAMPA - TAMPA - In the era before air conditioning and structured play, simple summertime pleasures in Hillsborough County involved a plunge into Lithia Springs, cold watermelon and ice cream parlors.

In Florida, it's likely the pleasure of savoring ice cream was first experienced in the 1840s at Fort Brooke, site of today's downtown Tampa. We know because of the remarkable letters written by Harriet Axtell, the daughter of a Presbyterian minister, Henry Axtell, who served as Fort Brooke's chaplain.

The Axtells had arrived at the conclusion of the Second Seminole War, a time when Fort Brooke bustled with soldiers, sutlers and mule skinners. Harriet described the garrison, with its "twenty houses arranged in fanciful order, among the live oaks hanging with moss." She also wrote about the parade ground, an orange grove and a wharf.

But the most picturesque spot, in Harriet's words, was "a beautiful Chinese pavilion, on the crest of the Indian mound on the shore of the bay."
Tocobaga Indians had built a temple mound 50 feet high, a monument that lasted until Tampa workers excavated dirt in the 1870s. Soldiers had built a Chinese pavilion atop the mound, which, as Axtell chronicled, "was the scene of frequent ice-cream parties given by the ladies."

Delicious questions linger. Where did these pioneers secure the ingredients? Whether the dairy cow had New England or Florida Scrub roots is immaterial, for ice, not cream, was the missing link. Did a supply ship sailing from New England bring blocks of ice packed in sawdust? What flavor graced the first bowl of ice cream? Perhaps the cook had vanilla beans. We know that Fort Brooke groves and gardens included papayas, tamarinds and bananas.

Tampa's first ice house opened in 1860. Proprietor William Ferris waxed prideful in April of that year, following the first shipment of New England ice: "We have also a soda fountain and an ice cream saloon just fixed up, so we can enjoy ourselves better than we ever did in this place."

The Ice Cream Parlor's Golden Age

Tampa entered the modern age with the arrival of Henry Plant's railroad in the 1880s. The transportation revolution made it possible for red snapper caught in Tampa Bay to be sped to New York's City's Fulton Fish Market in 24 hours.

Vast amounts of ice were necessary to refrigerate fish, vegetables, and beer. Tampa's first ice factory opened at the Government Spring in 1884, in today's Ybor City.

With abundant supplies to make ice cream, soda fountains and ice cream parlors followed, some palatial and ornate, others simple and unadorned. By 1893, Tampa boasted seven ice cream parlors.

Cuban immigrants brought a rich tradition of blending tropical fruits with cream and sugar. Heladarias (ice cream parlors) competed to see which prepared the finest sapodilla, alligator pear, and mango helados. In 1896, The Tampa Tribune praised the "Famous" ice cream served at "El Original," a parlor on 14th Street in Ybor City.

Tampa Bay area dairies supplied tankers of milk and cream, but many produced their own specialties. Poinsettia Dairy, begun by William Barritt, manufactured ice cream. In 1915 it became the Tampa Dairy Company, and in 1943 it was acquired by Borden's. Southern Dairies also made ice cream. Many Latin families also operated dairies.

By the 1920s, national brands arrived in the Tampa Bay area. Good Humor trucks and carts, manned by employees in their distinctive white uniforms, circulated widely.

The post-war decades introduced still more competition as national companies, such as Dairy Queen, Baskin-Robbins and Carvel, entered the Tampa Bay market. A few local favorites, such as Snack City in West Tampa and Bo's in Seminole Heights, have managed to survive.

Following World War II, however, affluence meant owning a refrigerator with a freezer compartment. People could enjoy ice cream at home, anytime.

By the 1960s, as national chains started opening shops in malls, the old-fashioned Mom and Pop parlors, along with drug store soda fountains, were becoming sweet memories of a less hurried time.

For a look at more photographs of the golden age of ice cream, visit the Burgert Bros. photo exhibit in the lobby of the John Germany Library, 900 N. Ashley Drive. Gary Mormino directs the Florida Studies Program at USF St. Petersburg.

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