Ice Cream and Greenbelt, Maryland

Ann Neville grew up in Greenbelt Maryland during the 1940s. She remembers the important role that ice cream played in the day to day lives of Americans before during and after the Great Depression and World War II. Below are the results of an online interview with Ann Neville.

When did you grow up in Greenbelt?
My family moved to Greenbelt (the WWII housing) in 1942 or 1943. I remember watching work crews plant the grass.

Where did people get ice cream from? Stores? At home? or from Ice Cream Trucks? etc...
We had Ice cream at home sometimes, but most of my ice cream came from the Good Humor Man.

Specifically, what stores sold ice cream and what Ice cream trucks (if any) drove around the neighborhood? etc... There was a store that sold ice cream and candy. I don't remember the name, but it was near the bus stop. The Good Humor truck came once a day all summer long. It was mid-afternoon, I think. At least it wasn't real close to supper time, because no one had to save their treat because it would "spoil their appetite." (Grownups worried a lot about us spoiling our appetite in those days.) There were many more flavors of popsicles then than there are now. Vanilla, root beer, banana were my favorites, so I remember them. But it seems to me that the list was really really long.

Then there were drumsticks and creamsicles (another of my favorites), fudge bars and Good Humor bars ( vanilla ice cream with a hard chocolate crust). I liked Good Humor Bars, but they were terribly hard to eat. The ice cream would begin to melt quickly, just as soon as you started to eat it, and then the chocolate part would begin to slide right off the bar. If you tried to eat the chocolate, it cracked itno pieces, and you'd catch one , but another would slide off and land on the ground, and the ice cream part would be dripping big-time.... It was a mess. Hardly ever worth the trouble.


What types of ice cream was available in stores? What flavors? Any specialty ice creams like Good Humor bars or popcicles? etc....
Ice cream cones, milk shakes and sundaes. I remember that when I visited relatives in New England, I could eat coffee ice cream, but there was never coffee ice cream in Greenbelt. I don't remember popsicles anywhere but on the Good Humor truck.

When did people eat ice cream? Only during summer? or Year round? Only at special occasions? or Any day or time? etc.... Mostly in summer, certainly at every birthday, and occasionally at other times. Usually, if it wasn't summer, it was at the soda fountain, and it was a big treat, not an ordinary, every day sort of thing. Another time for ice cream was when you were sick, and especially when you had your tonsils out. Days of ice cream -- whenever you wanted it.

Image taken from Virtual Greenbelt

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