The "Lancaster's Pioneer Ice Cream Maker" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Checking out the LNP Sunday newspaper when I came across a story about a company in Lancaster known as Marrow Ice Crean Company.  I have lived in the city of Lancaster, Pennsylvania for 76 years now and have never heard of this company.  And, to top that off, I lived right next to it for a few years as a child when I lived on East Orange Street.  

George Brayton Marrow

The company was founded by George Brayton Marrow who opened his ice cream business in 1880 in a corner store at North Plum and East Orange Streets on the east side of the city.  When he first opened his business he would arise daily at 4:00 AM to drive his buggy team into Lancaster County so he could buy fresh milk and eggs which he used to make his ice cream.  His ice cream was known throughout the area as "Marrow's Ice Cream."  He eventually moved his business to 425 East Orange Street which was on the corner of Orange and Sherman Street, in his confectionery shop directly across the corner from my childhood home on the second floor of a corner barbershop.  George was in the ice cream manufacturing business for 74 years and was the oldest ice cream manufacturer in the state.  

425 East Orange Street was the home
of Marrow's Ice Cream Shop.

His confectionery shop became a popular spot for Sunday strollers who walked out East King Street and returned to town by way of East Orange Street.  They almost always stopped for refreshments at Marrow's Ice Cream shop.  George was also known to haul his ice cream around the city in a wagon drawn by his trusty horse Princess.   When I lived near his store as a child, he had become associated with the Hershey Creamery Co. of Harrisburg and eventually served as director and vice-president of the Hershey firm until his death.  Mr. Morrow was a big fan of the Philadelphia Athletics and at the age of 90 got to meet Connie Mack who was 85 at the time.  They met at Shibe Park for the opening of the 1948 baseball season.  

The Ice Cream Shop to the right and my home until
I was school age to the left.  We lived on the 2nd floor.

Mr. Marrow had attended A's games in Philadel- phia for about 40 years and tried to see them at least once a week.  Mr. George B. Marrow was born in Strasburg, PA on March 20, 1858 and became an apprentice as a youth in the confectionery business of Samuel Demuth.  He later worked for George Erisman on North Queen Street and East Grant Street, next to what became the Woolworth Store in downtown Lancaster.  

His home at 535 E. King Street

He loved to collect and refinish antiques in his yard at 535 E. King Street.  A few pieces which he had restored were displayed in his yard and drew the admiration of passers-by.  One piece was a fountain of a little boy and girl while the other was a wooden figurehead from a ship once owned by a local man.  He was also one of the oldest members of the Lancaster Lodge #134, BPO Elks as well as a member of the Moose, Odd Fellows, Knights of Pythias and the Artisans as well a a member of the Grace Lutheran Church.  He died at the age of 96 and was considered a pioneer in the ice cream manufacturing business.  Oh yeah, he was also a neighbor of the Woods' family at one time.  I'm sure I must have eaten a few Marrow ice cream cones as a child.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.
  
The following advertisements were published in Lancaster newspapers.  Click on images to enlarge.