Who Invented the Popsicle?

Sometimes great inventions begin with a carefully planned experiment. The Popsicle wasn't one of them!

The story begins in 1905 with an 11-year-old boy named Frank Epperson in San Francisco, California.

According to Epperson's later account, he was experimenting with a powdered soda-flavouring mixture and water. One evening, he accidentally left a cup of the mixture outside overnight—with the wooden stirring stick still in it.

The temperature dropped, and by the next morning the flavoured liquid had frozen solid around the stick.

Young Frank pulled the frozen treat from the cup and discovered something wonderfully simple: a frozen flavoured treat that could be held and eaten by its stick.

But the Popsicle didn't become a commercial product right away.

Epperson reportedly continued making the frozen treats for family and friends. Nearly two decades later, in 1923, he began selling them to the public at Neptune Beach, an amusement park in Alameda, California.

He originally called his creation the "Epsicle"—a combination of his last name, Epperson, and "icicle."

His children apparently had a better idea. They called the treats "Pop's 'sicles," and before long, Epsicle became Popsicle.

In 1924, Epperson received a patent for his frozen confection on a stick.

What began as an 11-year-old boy's forgotten drink on a cold night eventually became one of the world's most recognizable frozen treats.

More than a century later, children and adults are still enjoying essentially the same simple idea:

Freeze something delicious—and put it on a stick!

Fun Fact:

The Popsicle was reportedly invented almost 20 years before Frank Epperson decided to sell it commercially.

Imagine accidentally inventing something at age 11 and then waiting until adulthood to realize just how good your idea was!