Tom's Ice Cream Bowl
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Tom's Ice Cream Bowl is an ice cream parlor and
restaurant A restaurant is an establishment that prepares and serves food and drinks to customers. Meals are generally served and eaten on the premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and Delivery (commerce), food delivery services. Restaurants ...
in
Zanesville, Ohio Zanesville is a city in Muskingum County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Located at the confluence of the Licking River (Ohio), Licking and Muskingum River, Muskingum rivers, the city is approximately east of Columbus, Ohio, Columb ...
, founded in 1948 as the Jack Hemmer Ice Cream Company. It is a Zanesville
tourist attraction A tourist attraction is a place of interest that tourists visit, typically for its inherent or exhibited natural or cultural value, historical significance, natural or built beauty, offering leisure and amusement. Types Places of natural beaut ...
and a
cultural icon A cultural icon is a person or an cultural artifact, artifact that is identified by members of a culture as representative of that culture. The process of identification is subjective, and "icons" are judged by the extent to which they can be seen ...
and institution.


History

Tom's Ice Cream Bowl was founded in 1948 by cousins Jack Hemmer and Tom Mirgon. The shop was located in a small space on Linden Avenue in Zanesville, Ohio, and was originally named the Jack Hemmer Ice Cream Company. When the Lind skating rink opened in Linden Avenue, in 1948, it was open for Black residents on Mondays. Tom's Ice Cream Bowl was located a few doors away, and not wanting Black people coming from the rink to his parlor, Tom closed the store on Mondays. In October 1950, they moved the restaurant to its current location on McIntire Avenue. In 1953, Tom Mirgon bought the remainder of the store from Jack Hemmer. In 1957, Mirgon renamed the shop to Tom's Ice Cream Bowl, after a customer was surprised by the large size of the sundaes and demanded, "Put mine in a soup bowl!". Bill Sullivan, began working at Tom's Ice Cream Bowl in 1968 while a high school student. In 1970, Sullivan was drafted to the
U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of the United Stat ...
and left Zanesville. He later returned, and in 1979 was eating lunch at the shop when Tom Mirgon asked Sullivan to return to the shop as a manager. Sullivan agreed to return, as long as he would have the opportunity to purchase the store when it became available. Mirgon retired from his position on April 1, 1984, selling the store to Sullivan. Tom's Ice Cream Bowl became known for its service by serving prodigious quantities of ice cream in soup-sized bowls, which was the iconic source of the eponymous name. There was an understanding that they "would never change its name." In 2019, Sullivan sold the shop to longtime manager, Joe Baker. The restaurant has 1950s decor, and waiters still wear aprons and bow ties when serving. an
here
They are famous for their Tin Roof Sundaes, and for serving their ice cream in soup bowls. In 1998, the shop was named one of the top ice cream shops in the country by ''
USA Today ''USA Today'' (often stylized in all caps) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth in 1980 and launched on September 14, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headq ...
''. It is listed as a travel destination for ice cream aficionados.
Rick Sebak Richard Sebak (born June 5, 1953) is an American public broadcasting television producer, writer and narrator who lives and works in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in the United States. Early life and education Richard Sebak was born on June 5, 195 ...
, who researched and produced ''An Ice Cream Show'' for the
Public Broadcasting System The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prom ...
, rated it as one of the ten best ice cream producers in the U.S.A. He conducted his research, and "the Pittsburgher nobly gained 30 pounds in one summer researching
he show He or HE may refer to: Language * He (letter), the fifth letter of the Semitic abjads * He (pronoun), a pronoun in Modern English * He (kana), one of the Japanese kana (へ in hiragana and ヘ in katakana) * Ge (Cyrillic), a Cyrillic letter cal ...
We're not talking supermarket stuff." It's made on-site and small batches from premium ingredients and "full of
butterfat Butterfat or milkfat is the fatty portion of milk. Milk and cream are often sold according to the amount of butterfat they contain. Composition Butterfat is mainly composed of triglycerides. Each triglyceride contains three fatty acids. Butt ...
('that's what makes it taste so good.')" The store is a well worn Zanesville tradition. "Their
sundae A sundae (Sunday Ice) () is an ice cream frozen dessert of American origin that typically consists of one or more scoops of ice cream topped with a sweet sauce or syrup and other toppings such as sprinkles, whipped cream, marshmallows, chocola ...
s are legendary", and their product and setting is quirky. It is the only place in Zanesville that makes ice cream on a daily basis. It is unique. It is a complement to a tourist's visit to Zanesville, joining the Y-bridge and "Vasehenge" (which celebrates Zanesville's historic import as a center of
pottery Pottery is the process and the products of forming vessels and other objects with clay and other raw materials, which are fired at high temperatures to give them a hard and durable form. The place where such wares are made by a ''potter'' is al ...
making) as a Zanesville attraction. Tom's Ice Cream Bowl "has gone from a Zanesville staple to a global tourist attraction".


In popular culture

In 2017, Tom's was featured on the
Food Network Food Network is an American basic cable channel owned by Television Food Network, G.P., a unit of Warner Bros. Discovery, who manages and operates it as a division of the Warner Bros. Discovery U.S. Networks Group. The channel airs both televi ...
television show "Ice Cream Nation". Many celebrities and politicians have visited Tom's, including
John Glenn John Herschel Glenn Jr. (July 18, 1921 – December 8, 2016) was an American Marine Corps aviator, astronaut, businessman, and politician. He was the third American in space and the first to orbit the Earth, circling it three times in 1 ...
,
Mitt Romney Willard Mitt Romney (born March 12, 1947) is an American businessman and retired politician. He served as a United States Senate, United States senator from Utah from 2019 to 2025 and as the 70th governor of Massachusetts from 2003 to 2007 ...
,
John Kasich John Richard Kasich Jr. ( ; born May 13, 1952) is an American politician and author who was the 69th governor of Ohio from 2011 to 2019, a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1983 to 2001, and a Republican candidate for the pre ...
,
Troy Balderson William Troy Balderson (born January 16, 1962) is an American politician and businessman serving as the U.S. representative from Ohio's 12th congressional district since 2018. He served as an Ohio state senator representing the 20th district fro ...
, and
Mark Dantonio Mark Justin Dantonio (born March 9, 1956) is an American college football coach and former player. His most recent head coaching position was at Michigan State University, a position he had held from 2007 to 2019. He led the Michigan State Spar ...
. Mitt Romney held a campaign rally outside the shop in August 2012. After Romney's visit, Sullivan named an ice cream flavor "White House" after him.


Notes


References


Citations


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Further reading

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External links

* * * * {{cite web , url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIJ12LFXtsg , title=TOM'S ICE CREAM BOWL Tolle gets Full @ Tom's Ice Cream Bowl - Zanesville, OH , date=5 December 2020 , publisher=The Tolle Road , format=Video , via=YouTube 1948 establishments in Ohio Ice cream parlors in the United States Restaurants established in 1948