The Rise and Fall of Soda Fountains

by Barbara J. Avery

(Originally published in the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel)

It’s 1850.  You have a splitting headache, so you head over to the corner drugstore.  The relief you need isn’t found in a pill, but rather in a drink that you buy at the soda fountain.  The potion that you purchase contains caffeine and cocaine.  After downing the beverage, your headache subsides and you go on about your way.  The only problem is, the ingredients in your cure cause a rebound headache, so your visits to the soda fountain become routine.  

Soda fountains came a long way from the time prior to 1914 when virtually all drugs were over the counter and could be dispensed in curative drinks. Although the term “soda water” was first coined in 1798, and the ice cream soda drinks were introduced in 1874, the soda fountain didn’t start its rise in popularity until the turn of the 20^th century when Jacob Bauer began to manufacture carbon dioxide tanks. The new availability of carbonation created the birth of the soda fountain as we remember it today.  

The start of Prohibition in 1919 created the meteoric rise in popularity of the soda fountain.  The fountains replaced bars as social gathering places and remained important social centers in American towns until the 1950s.  

Fountains were a source of profit for the proprietors.  By the 1940s, 3/4 of all drugstores had soda fountains.  According to Luncheonette by Carol Vidinghoff, every third customer was a soda fountain customer.  Through the years, the soda fountains added soft drinks and food, and the soda jerk became a type of American hero.  The soda jerk was aptly names because he is someone who made a living by “jerking” sodas at a lunch counter.  The word “jerk” in this instance comes from the jerking motion required to open a tap.  The soda jerk was not only good at filling orders, but at banter as well.  The quick words and wit could be heard zooming around when food orders were placed. “One Adam and Eve on a raft, one pig between the sheets, and twist it, choke it, and make it cackle!” The colorful names for the menu items were memory joggers for the jerk, in this case for poached eggs on toast, a ham sandwich, and a malted milk with an egg.  

In the 1950s, soda fountains began to decline in number due to competition from fast food, commercial ice cream, and bottled soft drinks. By the 1970s, the tradition of the soda fountain was on its way to becoming merely a memory to be recorded in history books.  Here’s a memory jogger recipe for a once popular shake.

Brown Cow Shake

adapted from Luncheonette  

Makes one shake

2 tablespoons chocolate syrup

Evaporated milk (may use low-fat or fat free)

Root beer (may use diet)

Crushed ice

Chocolate sprinkles

Put the chocolate syrup into a drink shaker.  Pour in enough evaporated milk to fill shaker half full.  Fill up to 2/3 full with root beer.  Add a little crushed ice and shake vigorously.  Strain into a glass and top with chocolate sprinkles.