The ice cream soda was invented in 1874

Pharmacists and chemists discovered a fresh market for carbonated beverages following the American Civil War. They featured concoctions like Coca-Cola, root beers and ginger ales, as well as ordinary carbonated water. They were marketed as tonics, to promote digestion, and to help ease "vapors" and other euphemisms for feminine ailments. It was inevitable that sodas and ice cream would combine in a glass because pharmacies were frequently the local supplier for ice cream. And in classic American fashion, a number of stories about the seismic event have surfaced throughout the years. All of these are exaggerations, despite the fact that some of them might be somewhat accurate.

The accidental discovery of the beverage during the 1874 Franklin Institute Celebration in Philadelphia is one of the most well-known legends surrounding the creation of the ice cream soda. In one story, a seller of carbonated drinks named Robert McKay Green replenished his decreasing ice supply by using ice cream to cool his drinks. These occurrences, which combine Yankee ingenuity, heavenly inspiration, and astounding accomplishment, are part of American ice cream history. They are also mostly untrue; Green later acknowledged experimenting with several soda/ice cream concoctions well before the fair. Which explains why he kept a list of prices and flavor combinations on hand.

Green insisted that his gravestone bear the inscription "Originator of the Ice Cream Soda" because he was aware of the numerous conflicting accounts of the creation of the ice cream soda. The drink gave rise to two American icons: the soda jerk, a piece of Americana that persisted well into the 1950s, and the soda fountain, which became a fixture in towns all over the country.