Although this building is the current home of the Mahoning County Historical Society, in 1921 it was known to be the manufacturing location for the Good Humor ice cream bars.

Good Humor, the iconic ice cream brand, has an interesting history that connects to Youngstown, Ohio. The story of Good Humor starts with its invention in the 1920s by an entrepreneur named Harry Burt, who owned a candy business in Youngstown. In 1920, Burt invented the concept of the "Good Humor" ice cream bar—a treat that was frozen on a stick and coated in chocolate. This innovation became an immediate hit!

Burt's creation was part of a larger trend at the time of ice cream innovations, but Good Humor stood out due to its novelty and convenience. Instead of requiring customers to purchase ice cream from a shop, door-to-door vendors sold Good Humor bars from refrigerated trucks. The image of the vendor ringing a bell and offering ice cream on a stick became a beloved part of American culture.

Harry Burt's business became hugely successful, and in 1921, he established the Good Humor Company in Youngstown, Ohio. The company grew quickly, and by the 1930s, it was a household name, with the Good Humor truck bringing ice cream directly to neighborhoods across the country.

The brand was eventually bought out by the American Chicle Company in 1961, which later became part of the conglomerate Unilever. Good Humor bars remain a popular ice cream product today, and they are still made in a variety of flavors.

So, Youngstown played a significant role in the history of Good Humor, and it all started with Harry Burt's inventive spirit in the early 20th century.

An early Good Humor truck, a.k.a. "sales car"
Click on the image to enlarge/zoom

Harry B. Burt (1874-1926) came to Youngstown in 1893 and began making and selling penny candy. He expanded his business with high-quality candies, chocolates, and ice cream. Around 1920, Burt invented a process for freezing a stick in an ice cream bar and coating it in chocolate so one could eat it without touching it. He called his new confection “Good Humor Ice Cream Suckers.” Burt purchased the building at 325 West Federal Street in 1921, remodeled it, and opened it on April 4, 1922, to make his products and serve his customers. Here he first mass-produced ice cream bars and sold them in area neighborhoods from a fleet of freezer trucks with bells and uniformed drivers. After Burt’s death, investors purchased the brand, formed the Good Humor Corporation of America in Chicago, and it grew into a national phenomenon.

James Ross (1892-1974) and Dr. Edith Levin Ross (1898-1991) emigrated from Russia in 1925, and settled in Youngstown in 1930. That year James founded Ross Radio Company, a distributor of radios, televisions, and related components. Ross Radio moved to 325 West Federal Street in 1935, and operated here until 2008. James and Edith Ross were active leaders and philanthropists in the Mahoning Valley and for international Jewish causes. In 1947, amid rising tensions in the Holy Land before the declaration of the state of Israel, when the British Army confiscated guns from Jewish settlements leaving them defenseless, Ross Radio was a depot for weapons collected from World War II veterans by local members of the Young Zionists of America. These guns and ammunition were packed in crates marked “radio parts” and shipped to New York, where they were cleaned, matched, re-crated, and smuggled into the Holy Land.

In 2007, MVHS began another quantum leap by acquiring the historic Harry Burt/Ross Radio building at 325 West Federal Street in downtown Youngstown and developing the Tyler Mahoning Valley History Center at this location. The Tyler History Center is a $4 million investment in Youngstown’s central city to create a community center focused on the history of the people of the region. It includes a new MVHS Archives facility, three exhibition galleries that include a comprehensive look at regional history, a changing community gallery that succeeds in attracting individuals and organizations to partner in creating diverse exhibits, and spaces for learning about history and interacting with media and artifacts, and an education center with classrooms and supplies for in-house learning units and special programs.

The Good Humor company's history also includes many stories, such as one about a Good Humor vendor rushing a baby to a hospital for treatment and one about the company helping to break up a counterfeit money operation on Long Island. During World War II, a Good Humor truck was assigned to follow one of the armies during maneuvers. The commander could not understand how the opposing artillery was quickly locating his position until he realized that the spotters were using the white Good Humor truck as a guide. Rather than deny his troops ice cream, that night he ordered the truck to be painted army green. After the war, a Good Humor vendor took pity on a youngster who was a nickel short and accepted a new magazine in place of the missing five cents. When he returned the next day, the street was lined with stacks of magazines piled by children eager to exchange periodicals for Good Humors.