Remembering Morton’s Bakery & Ice Cream Parlor

Hey everybody! It’s now March, which means the ice cream stands will be opening soon! What are your favorite flavors of ice cream? Mine are chocolate and black raspberry. Not only do I love ice cream, but I also love baked goods like cake, cookies, and doughnuts. I certainly love desserts in general. Today, I wanted to tell you about a bakery and ice cream shop that used to exist in Farmington over 100 years ago. In March of 1915, Mr. John C. Morton, Jr. opened his bakery on Main Street, where Food City is today. His bakery used to be on Broadway, but he moved it as it was cramped in the old location. All of the food was made right there in the bakery and it was fresh! You could get 10 sugar cookies, 10 doughnuts, and 4 turnovers for only 25 cents.

About a year later, in May of 1916, Mr. Morton opened an ice cream parlor in his bakery. This was the second ice cream store in town, along with Mrs. Norton’s candy store. Because Norton’s had been open first, Mr. Morton decided to put out ads in the Franklin Journal encouraging young people to check out his new ice cream parlor. Mr. Morton sold six different flavors of ice cream, along with twelve flavors of sauces to put on top. A chocolate ice cream with hot fudge was only ten cents in those days! Think about that the next time you order an ice cream.

I hope you all liked this story. If you want to know more, you should check out the full version, which is also in this week’s Franklin Journal. Goodbye for now! -Mr. Nason (Stories sourced from the Franklin Journal)