The Banana Split
Unlike its cousin the ice cream sundae, the progenitor of the banana split is verified and in fact celebrated annually. Tessel Pharmacy in Latrobe, Pennsylvania had a soda fountain, and a soda jerk who enjoyed experimenting with different combinations in sundaes. His name was David Strickler, and besides working at the soda fountain he was a pharmacist’s apprentice. He first split the banana in 1904, selling the new sundae for a dime.
Strickler later bought the pharmacy, renaming it Strickler’s Pharmacy. In 2004 the city of Latrobe celebrated the centennial of the banana split and lobbied the National Ice Cream Retailers Association to certify the city of Latrobe as the birthplace of the banana split, which NICRA did. Latrobe claims to have the original soda fountain where the historic event occurred.
So with certification by a national authority, an annual celebration held in late summer known as the Great American Banana Split Celebration, and the certainty of local lore, there can be no question that the sundae known as the banana split was born in the city of Latrobe, from which its fame grew to the point that the dish is now known worldwide. Except…
In 1907 a restaurant owner in Wilmington, Ohio, by the name of Ernest Hazard, found business too slow for his liking during the winter. Wilmington was and is a small college town, the home of Wilmington College. Hazard felt that he would improve his business if he could attract students to his establishment. He challenged his staff to create a dish which would cause the students to beat a path to his door, so to speak.
His staff didn’t come up with anything impressive enough, so Hazard did it himself, splitting the banana and adding it to the sundae, filling it with three scoops of ice cream, and claiming credit for the creation of the new dish. Wilmington supports his claim by celebrating the event annually in early summer. However their claim seems dubious, since it lacks the certification of a major authority on ice cream.