No More Five Cent Soda in Sandusky

On the front page of the December 31, 1915 issue of the Sandusky Register was an article that read “Five Cent Ice Cream Soda is Thing of Past in Sandusky.”

It seems that at this time, Ohio’s Board of Health was soon to begin requiring the sterilization of spoons, glasses, dippers, dishes, and other soda fountain equipment with either steam or boiling water. If this was not possible, then disposable paper products were to be used. Due to the added cost of new equipment, as well as the training of employees in the use of the new equipment, Sandusky businesses that operated soda fountains decided to raise the prices of ice cream sodas from five cents to ten cents. Phosphates and plain drinks continued to be sold for five cents. Several Sandusky druggists and confectioners met at Martin’s Confectionery to discuss the recent Board of Health regulations.

Fred A. Martin ran a wholesale and retail ice cream and confectionery business in Sandusky from 1910 until his death in 1939. Visit the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center to view local newspapers on microfilm from 1822 through the 2000s.