Friday, May 30, 2014

History of soda fountain

Not so long ago, most American towns had at least one soda fountain, where shoppers can paused for coffee, teenagers hung out after school, drinking cokes.

It was a gathering place for both users and all ages within walking distance of home or walk. There was an ad of coca cola which link the idea of ‘home’ by connecting Coke with the local soda fountain and by establishing soda fountain as an important community gathering place.

At first, the term ‘soda fountains’ referred to the machine that produced carbonated water. It was not until after the Cold War that soda fountain, serving a variety of beverages composed of soda water and syrups, become common in drugstores.

Because selling carbonated drinks was a business, the fundamental driving forces behind the soda fountains evolution was always profitability.

By 1908, there were an estimated 75000 soda fountains in the United States. Operators began expanding their menus to include sandwiches, cakes and other items, so that by 1912 many soda fountains had evolved into luncheonettes.

During the 1920s, the development of mechanical refrigeration simplified the work of operating a soda fountain by eliminating the need to use large block of ice to cool the soda water. The soda fountain lasted through the 1960s.

When many Americans bought cars and moved to the suburbs, soda fountains began to lose their customers.
History of soda fountain

Top articles all the time