In 1905, eleven-year-old Frank Epperson from San Francisco, California invented the popular hot weather treat, the Popsicle as we know it today. The invention came about as a pure accident. One cold evening Frank left a mixture of powder flavored soda water with a stir stick in it on the porch. Because of the cold weather outside, he awoke to a frozen treat on a stick.
Seventeen years later, in 1922, Epperson served his ice lollipops at a Fireman’s ball and they were a huge hit. It didn’t take long for Epperson to realize the commercial possibilities of his accidental invention. A year later, in 1923, he introduced the frozen pop on a stick to the public at Neptune Beach, an amusement park in Alameda, California. It was a huge hit. He soon after applied and received a patent for a “frozen confectionery”, in 1924, which he named the “Epsicle Ice Pop”. He began producing it in different fruit flavors on birch wood sticks. The name Popsicle appeared because Epperson’s kids called it ‘Pop’s cycles’. So, on their insistence, he renamed it “Popsicle”, which has stuck for nearly a century.
Epperson and his partners set up a royalty arrangement with the Popsicle Corporation, but Mr. Epperson sold his patent to Popsicle after 1925, to the Joe Lowe Company of New York. At the time, he was broke and had to liquidate all his assets to stay afloat. The Joe Lowe Company grew the brand as the Popsicle gained popularity, diversifying into similar frozen treats such as the twin Popsicle, Fudgsicle, Creamsicle and Dreamsicle, all said to have been inspired by Epperson himself. The Popsicle brand today belongs to Unilever’s Good Humor division, having been owned by a number of companies since its inception, selling two billion ice pops every year.
