On July 13, 1921, University of Nebraska graduate and former Thedford schoolteacher Christian K. Nelson found financial backing for a vanilla ice cream dessert coated with chocolate. He called it the I-Scream-Bar. He signed a partnership agreement with Russell Stover, superintendent of the Graham Ice Cream Company in Omaha.
A year later the new product was renamed “Eskimo Pie.” Russell Stover went on to head his own confectionary company and sold franchises for the manufacture of the frosty treat to local vendors. This wrapper from the History Nebraska museum collections is from a Lincoln Pie franchisee The Franklin Ice Cream Company.
Eskimo Pie is still around, but under a new name as of 2021. Non-native people long used the term “Eskimo” to refer to Inuit and Yupik people, many of whom consider the name derogatory. Product owner Dreyer’s changed the name to “Edy’s Pie” in honor of Dreyer’s co-founder, Joseph Edy. (But it’s not Edy’s pie, it’s Nelson’s!)
(Updated 1/4/2023)
