Summer is the best. Join Milwaukee Record and Wheel & Sprocket August 3-10 as we search the city and beyond for the Spirit Of Summer.
Two Rivers, Wisconsin is a small city in Manitowoc County that’s situated along the shores of Lake Michigan and cut by, you guessed it, two rivers. With a population of fewer than 12,000 residents, “Trivers” (as it’s affectionately referred to by some) is a quiet and nondescript lakeside municipality that just so happens to hold the distinction of being the alleged birthplace of one of America’s most iconic and all-around favorite desserts.
According to locals, Two Rivers is the home of the ice cream sundae. Yes, the legend apparently extends all the way back to 1881, when a Two Rivers-based soda fountain owner named Edward Berner was asked to top a serving of ice cream with chocolate sauce, which somehow hadn’t been done up until that point. The new specialty quickly caught on, but was only sold on Sundays…hence the name “Sundae.” Evidently, a local 10-year-old girl eventually convinced Berner to offer the treat every day. More topping options started to be offered and this tiny Wisconsin city was officially on the map.
Today, now 145 years after Berner reportedly served the first ice cream sundae, Two Rivers still celebrates the beloved dish and is proud to claim its local roots. We confirmed as much when we recently made a pilgrimage to “Trivers” in search of all things sundae-related. We quickly spotted a historical marker noting the sundae’s creation that was prominently posted in Central Park near downtown Two Rivers.
Within a few dozen steps of that park, a mural depicting Berner’s ice cream parlor and encouraging onlookers to “celebrate the sundae” is painted on the side of a building on the corner of Washington St. and 17th St.
Finally and most prominently, The Washington House Museum (1622 Jefferson St., 920-793-2490) stands about a block from the mural. The museum, which is housed in an 1850s Inn, is operated by the Two Rivers Historical Society. It’s open 12-6 p.m. Thursdays through Mondays and it’s free to visit.
In addition to its 1850s-era saloon, a collection of local historical items, and being home to both the art collection of Lester W. Bentley and a Historic Farm Museum, The Washington House Museum also features a number of relics related to the city’s most famous invention.
There’s even a replica of Ed Berner’s Ice Cream Parlor, complete with two stools from the original shop and other pieces of the long-closed business.
And yes, the parlor is a fully operation ice cream shop that serves cones and a few riffs on the ice cream sundae.
During our visit last week, we tried the so-called “Ruby Sundae,” which consists of scoops of either vanilla or butter pecan ice cream (we opted for butter pecan) topped with rhubarb sauce, hot caramel, whipped cream, crushed peanuts, and of course a cherry. We paid $5.75 for a small sundae—a far cry from the dish’s five-cent price tag back in the 1880s!
We took our tasty ice cream treat out of the museum, past the mural, and back to Central Park to enjoy out in the heart of Two Rivers, the city that loves sundaes more than anywhere else in Wisconsin and maybe even the whole world. Emphasis on “maybe.”
Though any Manitowoc County resident worth their weight in maraschinos would refute even the slightest suggestion the ice cream sundae was created anywhere else, we feel as if we must acknowledge there are a handful of other cities in the U.S. that claim the dessert as their own. Of that batch of supposed sundae originators—which includes places like Buffalo and the Illinois cities of Evanston and Plainfield—only Ithica, New York holds as ardently to their claim as strongly as Two Rivers does.
Maybe it was a case of parallel thinking during a time of limited cross-country communication. Perhaps Ithica did, in fact, serve the first ice cream sundae. Maybe Two Rivers did. Ed Berner might be the only one who really knows, but he’s been dead since 1939, so he’s not talking. Though we might never know its origin for sure, we can say with certainty that it feels nice to take a summer drive to enjoy an ice cream sundae in a cozy lakeside city where that dessert means so much. Make a trip to Two Rivers, Wisconsin and celebrate the sundae.
