“We didn’t make homemade ice cream. We made Ashburn’s ice cream,” said Bill Ashburn, and he is correct, of course. Commercially-made ice cream has different properties than the homemade version cranked out in the old-fashioned ice cream churn, with its canister turning easily at first and then slower and slower, as the ice cream freezes and thickens.
But then perhaps he is cutting too fine a point. For thousands of people in Denison and Sherman, grownups, kids, and kids who became grownups, Ashburn’s was homemade—hometown made, anyway. From Ashburn’s beginnings in 1907 until well after World War II, almost all ice cream was local and made in small batches to satisfy one day’s worth of customers. Its local flavor meant that local tastes became accustomed to unique offerings, not the uniformed sameness of mass-produced ice cream.
Consider Ashburn’s peach ice cream. “We had a guy over in Colbert, Oklahoma—I don’t what he did full time—he’d put boards on his pickup and go to Arkansas,” Ashburn recalled. “The best flavor time for fruit is when it’s almost rotten, and he’d go up there and buy a whole truck load. He’d have peaches hanging off that thing. He’d bring them back to Colbert and hire some local women to come in and peel and pit the peaches and put them in cans. We’d give them ice cream to eat while they were doing it.”
When the peaches arrived at the Ashburn’s Ice Cream plant in Denison, workers would add sugar to the fruit and put the cans in the frozen food vault, so the supply would last a little longer. “When we made ice cream, we’d thaw out a five gallon can of these peaches—and this is the part the big guys can’t do—we’d put those peaches in the barrel of the batch freezer and then add the ice cream mix and let it soak before we’d freeze it. That imparts the peach flavor to the ice cream. The health department probably wouldn’t let you do that today.”
The blades that continually scraped the ice cream from the sides of the barrel during the churning process cut the chunks of fruit in the mix so it was rare to find a piece of a peach in the ice cream. All you got was the flavor. “You hardly ever saw any peaches, but when you ate the ice cream, boy, you knew peaches had been there.”
Ashburn’s Peach Ice Cream was a seasonal treat. “We didn’t have it all year round, but when we did, we’d get some high school kid who was an artist to paint huge peaches on our great big windows, and the people would just swarm in there for peach ice cream.”
Starting up
For more than seventy-five years, ice cream in Texoma meant Ashburn’s. In 1901, W. L. Ashburn, Bill’s grandfather, started a dairy east of Denison. He and his seven sons delivered dairy products in horse-drawn wagons to people in the town. It was a time when even many city dwellers kept a milk cow, so the elder Ashburn started a grazing service. His seven boys would spread out across Denison each morning collecting cows, drive them to the dairy, and turn them out to graze in the pasture. In the evening, the mini cattle drive would be reversed.
W. L. Ashburn and his oldest son, Martin, started an ice cream factory at 115 S. Rusk Street in 1907 to use the surplus milk and cream the dairy produced. “That was in the days before refrigeration,” said Bill Ashburn. “They had to make it with ice and salt in ten-gallon freezers, and whatever you made, you sold it, or ate it, or threw it away.”
When W. L. retired in 1911, Martin took over the business. In 1918, he moved the operation, ice cream factory and retail store, to 615 W. Main Street, where it shared a building with a cobbler who soon moved on. The factory was in the rear and the shop was on the ground floor. In the late 1950s, Bill and his wife Yvonne lived in an apartment above the store, a space that is now a loft. By the time of the move to Main Street, Ashburn’s had expanded its business and was selling ice cream to local restaurants, cafés, and hotels.
In 1926, Martin sold the Denison store to two of his brothers, Harrell and W. L. Jr. (Bill Ashburn’s father), and moved to Fort Worth to start another ice cream business. “Uncle Martin was a starter,” said Bill. “After a while, Harrell and W. L. Jr. bought the Fort Worth store, too, and Martin moved over to Dallas and started up there. When they got the Fort Worth store, my uncle and my father flipped a coin to see who would go to Fort Worth, and my father won and stayed in Denison.”
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Let’s see, that accounts for three of the seven Ashburn brothers. Bill continued, pulling out a pencil to jot down some names to insure none of his uncles was left out.“Eventually the Dallas store was run by Uncle Martin’s son and Uncle Lawrence,” Bill said. “There was another brother named Paul Ashburn, who had a dairy. He went back into the milk business here in Denison, with grocery stores and home delivery.” That makes five.
“Then there was Frank Ashburn. He was an electrical engineer from A&M. Well I guess there weren’t a lot of calls for electrical engineers around here, so when he got out of college, he taught school in Denison, worked part time for his brothers. Finally he went over and started an ice cream store in Sherman. Finally, there was Thompson Ashburn. He had a dairy farm out by Perrin Air Force Base.” And Thompson makes seven.
Through the years, Ashburn Ice Cream continued to expand. There were several stores in Dallas and Fort Worth, as well as Denison and Sherman, but they were connected only in name. Each city had its own ice cream plant, and “Each one of them thought they made the best ice cream,” Ashburn said. The Dallas operation spawned several Polar Bear Ice Cream Parlors in Oak Cliff, and eventually the Denison Ashburn’s had franchise stores of a sort in Paris, Gainesville, and McKinney. The stores paid no franchise fee, but bought their ice cream from the Denison plant.
The Third Generation
William L. Ashburn III didn’t want to follow WLA I and WLA II into the ice cream business. He was a tennis player and a very good one. He started early, while he was still a little boy, when a Denison teacher and tennis coach named M. M. Marshall introduced him to the game. “Denison had real good tennis teams because of Mr. Marshall. Most schools would just assign a P.E. coach or someone, but Mr. Marshall loved it. He had a lot of players go on and play college tennis.”
One of those was Ashburn. East Texas State University (now Texas A&M Commerce) offered him a full-ride scholarship, but his father insisted he follow in the footsteps of Uncle Frank and go to Texas A&M. In College Station, Ashburn played tennis for the Aggies, and was the team’s captain in his senior year. “My forte was doubles. I didn’t have a big serve, but I was a good doubles player.” When he returned to Denison, Ashburn continued playing, was one of the top players in the area in several age brackets, and still plays today at seventy-four.
He was planning to coach tennis and teach school, but like most young men in the 1950s, Ashburn first had to give another uncle, Uncle Sam, two years in the service. Ashburn was nearing the end of his hitch in 1957, when his father had a series of heart attacks, and the coaching and teaching plans were put on ice. Bill III came back to Denison to take care of his mother and run the ice cream business, a family legacy to which he devoted the next twenty years.
The Sweet Life
It wasn’t what he wanted to do, but let’s face it, who doesn’t like the ice cream man, and it was fun. And because it was still a relatively small operation, there was room to take a chance.
“We had a lot of flavors, and we’d experiment with flavors,” Ashburn said. “Like licorice ice cream—that was a bad deal. The color was black, and it got on people’s clothes. Tasted like licorice though.” An idea that worked, indeed that Ashburn devotees still talk about today, was Hawaiian Pineapple Delight. “It was three colors of pineapple, and if the nuts weren’t too expensive, we’d put pecans or something like that in it. It was really a favorite. I don’t know if anyone makes it today—people really loved it.”
During the 50s, the Denison store added sandwiches to the menu to attract lunch business from Denison High School and later from B. McDaniel Junior High just up the street, and Ashburn’s also scored by being open when other places were closed. “In the early years, very few places, refreshment places, were open on Sunday. We were open every day except Christmas,” said Ashburn.
He was also quick to capitalize on special events. “The ice cream soda was supposedly invented in Denison, but we didn’t do it. It was before our time. But during the Centennial days (Denison’s 100th birthday in 1972) we had ice cream soda sales. Normally we didn’t sell a lot of sodas, but because of all the publicity, we were selling a jillion of them.”
Then there were banana splits. “Once a year we’d have a banana split sale, and I’m telling you, it was unbelievable the banana splits we’d sell. People would be lined up around the block. Banana splits took time to prepare, so we’d hire extra help and set up a table for prep work.”
Over the years, Ashburn’s benefitted from the talents of many long-time employees. Bill recalled Ray Shone, who helped run the company for W. L. Ashburn, Jr. and his son. The chief ice cream maker was Earl Aynes, and a man named Robert Boney was with the business for years. Bill’s brother-in-law, Ralph Skaggs, was the bookkeeper for the enterprise. While adults ran the business, teenage boys usually staffed the front of the house. The boys—Ashburn said fourteen was the perfect age—dressed in white shirts, bow ties and neat white overseas caps. They could eat all the ice cream they wanted while at work. Later, the stores hired teenage girls too, but the boy-girl mix never worked very well. Taking care of romantic business tended to get in the way of taking care of Ashburn’s business.
Looking back, Ashburn said the ice cream business started to change after World War II. Advances in refrigeration meant ice cream could be made and shipped long distances, and small, local producers found it difficult to compete economically with national companies, such as Borden or Foremost. And the invention that some say made modern Texas possible may have played an even bigger part in the slow decline of the hometown ice cream store.
“People got out in the evening because it was so hot at home,” Ashburn said. “They went out to get refreshments and cool off. We’d have them lined up all down Main Street. When air conditioning came out, folks started staying home to stay cool.” And watch television and eat ice cream bought in half gallon containers at the grocery store and stored in the new deep freeze in the kitchen. It would not be out of place to say that Ashburn’s Ice Cream and small stores like it in towns all over America were the victims of the unintended consequences of Mid Century progress.
Eventually Bill Ashburn bought out his Uncle Frank’s store in Sherman and consolidated the manufacturing end of the business in Denison. A cousin bought the stores in Dallas and Fort Worth and ran them under the Polar Bear brand. Ashburn, no longer able to compete with the larger operations and after years of watching the numbers on the ledger sheets decline, sold the Denison and Sherman stores to Polar Bear in 1979. By 1984, they were both gone too, the Sherman location razed to make room for the new Justice Center and the Denison store just gone. Ashburn went into the insurance business in 1978 and continues to serve many of his old customers and their offspring in that capacity today.
“When I had the ice cream store, I wish I had kept track of all the people who came back home and said that was the only place they wanted to see. They would have come in when they were in school, or their parents brought them up there at night. ‘I’d come in here every day and have a cherry-vanilla cone,’ they’d say. Then they’d order a chocolate or something else. Just doesn’t figure, does it?”
Share your own memories of Ashburn’s Ice Cream. Leave a Comment.
Maybe someone out there will be able to help you fulfill your request. It seems that Hawaiian Pineapple was a huge favorite. I’m not sure that Ashburn’s recipe could be duplicated today.
If so My dad used to take us there when we were kids in the 80s and he went there himself when he was a kid at the location on Colorado st in Oak Cliff. He has always wanted my mom to find a recipe for Hawaiian Delight it was his favorite of course we could never find one. My father has been battling cancer for years and has now been given 6-12 months to live so of course we want this holiday season to be special. So my question is is there any way I can get a recipe? I want him to think back to his carefree days when he was young thanks.
Went to the Ashburns at Forest Lane and Preston Rd. That was in 1966 or 1967. Ashburns sponsored our little league baseball. For every game we won we got free ice cream, what ever size we wanted. I think we only won twice that year. As fifth and six traders we would like to have won more
I worked at the Ashburn’s store in Fort Worth on Sylvania sometime between 1969 and 1971 while in high school. I think we were allowed one or two scoops a day while we worked and every week I would have a new “favorite flavor”. Some that I still remember but miss the taste were Chocolate Ripple, Coffee, Cherry Vanilla, Hawaiian Pineapple, Peach, Chocolate Chip and probably every flavor they made.
I live about a mile from where the store was and every time I drive by I think of Ashburn’s Ice Cream. I can still see the ice cream containers they would bring in to restock the store. Sugar cones were the greatest and I loved making malts and the smell of the powered malt we used.
I remember how everyone loved Ashburn’s Ice Cream and when we got busy there would be 10 to 20 people waiting in line. I especially remember how excited young children would be waiting for their favorite flavor.
I still have a cup of (Bluebell) vanilla each night before bedtime. Now that I have the recipe for Ashburn’s Vanilla, I may start making my own! Thanks!
Ashburns ice cream is one of my fondest childhood memories. They were located right across the street from my high school and we went there everyday. The man who worked there was amazing. He used to make the sound of a train and whistle and make all of us laugh. My favorite to this day is Hawaiian pineapple. The whistle man was right up there with Santa Claus. He made all the students laugh and we loved him and the ice cream.
Ashburn’s ice cream was the highlight of my day when I was growing up in the 1950s. It was so hot during the summer and we only got into town about every second week; every other Saturday we went to Ashburn’s and my favorite was strawberry ice cream and we used to get a double scoop on the cone. Oh even thinking back now it’s like I can almost taste the strawberries!
I remember that the BEST ice cream I have had was between 1959 and 1961. We lived in the Greater F.W.-Dallas area and there was a mom-pop ice cream store called ASHBURNS’ located in Ft. Worth and Dallas. So Rich … so Piquant … so Aromatic and Dense. Ashburn’s best flavours were: COFFEE … PISTACHIO … PEPPERMINT … CHOCOLATE. YUM!!!
I worked at the Ashburn’s store in Richardson from 1970-1972. My brother worked there before I did before going to college at U.T. One night a friend of mine and I were robbed at gunpoint shortly before closing time! I even worked at the Knox St.store in the summer of 1972 with two of the Ashburn kids. Great time and great ice cream.
I worked in the Knox Street Ashburn’s store in Dallas in 1942-1945 while I was in high school. My brother-in-law, J. C. Brigham, started Polar Bear Ice Cream in 1940 with his first store on West Davis street in Oak Cliff. After returning from service I worked in the Zangs Street Polar Bear store for about a year and a half before going on to other work. I must have dipped about a million cones in those several years.
We moved to Dallas in 1956. We lived in Casa View and went to Ashburns on Loop 12and Buckner Blvd. Thatwas the BEST ice cream I ever had. Tasted homemade with flavor never to be matched. I would love to experience that flavor again! What a memory of my youth. Thank you Ashburn Family.
I used to walk from Milam St. Down to the Knox St. location in Dallas just to buy my treat in the summer. The store was so cool and the ice cream so tasty. My favorite was the classic chocolate. But I also loved the lemon custard and especially the peach when it was in season. I’ve never had better ice cream since!
In 1957-58 I worked part time at the Ashburn’s on West Berry, Ft. Worth. Remember Mr. Hitt’s freight train whistle, but also remember him as one of the finest, truest gentlemen I knew before, or since then.
By far the most popular flavor was Hawaiian Pineapple Delight. You could almost read customers’ minds when they walked in the door……Hawaiian pineapple Delight, cones, shakes, hand-packed pints, quarts, but always the same. I have to admit I liked it, too and wish there was a flavor made today that was as good.
Do you know who owned the franchise in McKinney, Texas?
My grandfather took me to Ashburn’s in Sherman during the 40’s and on into the 50s. $.5 per dip. Hawaiian Delight was a delight. Also, pecan crisp was my granmother’s favorite. My grandfather’s name was Hi Tuck.
When I was a 10 year old child, I would ride my bike and buy a hand packed pint of lemon custard and dutch chocolate to take home. I grew up just off Skillman avenue and would ride down to lower Skillman. I will always remember the lemon custard as my favorite.
I remember my parents taking me to the ashburns ice cream store on west berry st in Ft Worth Texas on Saturday evenings. My mother would always say I want the Hawaiian pineapple. But other than how good the ice cream tasted the one thing that I can remember to this day is the man behind the counter that did the train whistle. It is a time in my life that will stay with me forever. Thank you Ashburns for such a wonderful chidhood memory. Ronnie Sullivan.
I have very fond memories of Ashburns Ice Cream, my parents would take me there as a child every weekend to get hand dipped Hawaiian Pineapple Delight cone, and some to take home of course. It was the best ice cream around back then in Fort Worth Texas!!! It is truly missed, wish I could of taken my kids and grandkids there. Now that would of been a delight!!!!
My great aunt and I would walk to Ashburn’s Ice Cream near Knox and Henderson Streets in Dallas, TX. I was probably four maybe younger. I developed a love for Coffee Ice Cream from there. Every time I buy Coffee Ice Cream it makes me remember getting a white quart of it to take home. My Auntie was special to me so it will always be a special memory for me. I didn’t know the history only the name. I Googled to find out if there was anything out there about it and found this article.
It was a great family treat to go from Gainesville to Sherman and stop by Ashburns for ice cream. Daddy loved a Black Walnut, mother had to have Bing Cherry and I always had Hawaiian Pineapple. That flavor is still my favorite but no one makes it anymore. So sorry you are not still making ice cream.
“Man oh man..I can remember going to the Ashburns Ice Cream shop on Rosedale St. In Ft. Wth. Tx after school as often as I could before they closed that location..I always got this Hawaiian flavor ice cream..can’t quite recall the actual name of that flavor…but it had cherries & pineapple in it…Sooooooo good…great memories!!!” 🙂
Ashburn’s made the BEST butter pecan ice cream I’ve ever tasted. I loved it, growing up in Fort Worth and Dallas. Have found, to this day, none better. Though I moved from Texas in 1967, I can still remember its delicious buttery/salty taste.
I grew up in Dallas in the 50s and 60s. The Ashburn’s in Casa Linda was THE ONLY place to get ice cream. Your Peach was the best in the world.
Loved your ice cream.
When I was a kid in the early 50’s I would always go to Ashburn’s on Knox St. and get a cherry nut thick malt.
Is there any way could get recipe for Hawaiian Delight? It was my favorite, and I used to get it in Sherman as a child. Still remember the sound of the screen door as you walked in.
Enjoyed reading about Ashburn’s / Denison very much! I delivered Denison Herald News Papers up and down Main Street in the 40’s while living in Denison, stopped at Ashburn’s many times. Later years while living in Dallas and playing tennis, came up against Bill in tournaments in East Texas, wow!! he was a great player for sure!
Dub Land / Albuquerque, NM
My family would go to ashburns at
least twice a week when I was a kid.
We lived in Highland Park so it was
close to home. My favorite ice cream
was lemon custard. Boy those were some
great memories! Sure do miss them!
Is there a recipe for Lemon Custard ice cream that could be shared?
My Dad worked at Ashburn’s in Dallas when he was in high school late 30’s/early 40’s. My favorite was Lemon Custard. Is there a recipe for Ashburn’s Lemon Custard ice cream that could be shared? What about Hawaiian Delight? That was my grandfather’s personal favorite.
Ashburn’s was an important part of my life during the late 60’s and early 70’s. My grandfather worked at the Berry Street Store in Fort Worth. Many of the customers and my friends called him “Freight Train” (G.E. Hitt).
My brother and I spent a lot of time in that store. I can still remember details of the store. The store was torn down when Berry Street was widen 35 years ago.
My brother and I ate out fair share of Ice Cream, but my grandfather always paid for it.
I met Mr. Ashburn several times at the store. Mr. Ashburn was always friendly and took time to talk to me even though he had business to look after. My grandfather thought highly of Mr. Ashburn and was proud to have worked for him.
Not many people can say that they spent a lot of their youth in a Ice Cream Parlor. I still own a Ice Cream Scoop that was originally from the Berry Street Store.
Thanks for the wonderful memories and for being a part of my formative years. I would love to hear from anyone that remembers my grandfather and share memories.
Best ice cream I have ever eaten. My family went to Polar Bear in Oak Cliff. I would live to taste Hawaiian Delight one more time.
I worked at the Ashburn’s located in Mesquite Texas during high school in 1977. This is where I met my beloved husband Rick. I knew instantly as he walked in the doors that I would marry him. He would order a jumbo chocolate malt. I still have the birthday form for a free ice cream that I wrote my home phone number on that he kept throughout our marriage.
Don Meredith came into Richardson store with family. I started the order before the manager came out and took over. I put two huge-monster scoops of ice cream on a cone. No-way the thing was gong to stay together before it went over the counter. The boss said, Mr. Meredith I’ll get your order for you. Like I said in an earlier post, Cowboy players use to come in. This was 1966-67.
Yep, Baskin and Robins opened up at the other end of the strip mall 1966-67.
115 S Central Expy
Richardson, TX 75080
I do not remember it hurting business, but by that time I was on to college.
I worked at Ashburn’s in Richardson, TX 1966-67 while going to RHS. Use to have a few Dallas Cowboy players and family come in. The strip mall was located at 115 S Central Expy Richardson, TX 75080. Couple of doors down was Pizza Villa which has just recently closed. Lot of kids from RHS worked at Ashburn’s. Icecream was incredible and Sunday’s we would work our butts off. Ritual for new employees was to lock them in the freezer and turn off the light–hehehehe. Those metal ice cream tubs were deep and I sometimes thought I was going to get frost bite. Manager at the time was Don (can’t remember last name.)
Another thing–to work at Ashburn’s you had to take a polygraph test! And I don’t remember them ever hiring women! I think it was because those metal ice cream cans were heavy! Or old man Ashburn knew enough to keep high School girls separated from the high school boys.
I’ve just had a rousing discussion with my sister, aunt, and some cousins on Facebook about the ice cream parlor in Sherman. We all fondly remember Ashburn’s, and I’m amazed that almost everyone remembered the black walnut ice cream that was my daddy’s favorite. My Aunt Helen Skaggs said that her favorite was the Hawaiian Pineapple Delight, and she spent time at the Ashburn’s in Dallas before she married my uncle. You made some great ice cream and some great memories for my family. Thanks!
I WORKED AT THE ASHBURNS ON LOVERS LANE IN DALLAS IN THE 50’S. WE HAD SOME FAMOUS KIDS THERE. WARREN DELEFIELD FOR ONE. ME FOR ANOTHER.SAM PROVANSANO, ALLEN FRAZIER, EDDIE CORTEZ. GREAT MEMORIES, LOUSY PAY BUT FUN. LAWRENCE ASHBURN WAS THE BOSS OVER OUR STORE AT THE TIME.I REMEMBER SWEEPING THE STREET ON BUSY NIGHTS. GOT HOME LATE..
As a teenager in the Meadowbrook section of Ft. Worth, I worked at the local Mott’s 5&10 in the Fair Oaks Shopping Center on E. Lancaster. There was an Ashburns in the same center. Spent many “lunch hours” there having Hawaiian Pineapple cone for lunch. Then go next door to the record shop to see what Elvis and Ricky Nelson had that was new. Went to dinner a couple of nights ago with a neighborhood group. We were discussing ice cream flavors. I asked if anybody remember Ashburns. Got a rousing yes. And would you believe, their favorite, just like mine was Hawaiian Pineapple. I would love to find some brand with a flavor even close to that, but nobody will ever top Ashburns.
I well remember and miss the Ashburn Ice Cream Shops. I remember my mother would get a neighbor friend and several friends of my sister and we would all climb into our Oldsmobile 88 and drive over to Sylvania Ave.to the local Ashburn Store. They were always busy, and you could change your mind two or three times before getting up in the linke to tell the servers what you really wanted. Mother’s favorite was Hawaiian pineapple. Over the years, we tried to find more, but couldn’t seem to find any. If I’m in one of those Nostalgic areas, I’ll try and find one. Not too lucky lately.
I first knew Ashburn’s at the Skillman Road location in East Dallas when I delivered the Dallas Times Herald in the area in 1958 and 1959. One day a week I would spend a dime and get a cone, usually peppermint, peach when it was in season. That was the first commercial peppermint or peach ice cream I had had. The first time I had peppermint ice cream from anyone other than Ashburn’s, Polar Bear, or Goff’s Hamburgers in Wynnewood Shopping Center in Oak Cliff, I was surprised to find big chunks of peppermint candy in the ice cream. The peppermint I’d had from those locations was made with peppermint candy, but it was crushed to a fine, sandlike consistency. The same was true of commercial peach ice cream. Any you can get now has chunks of frozen peaches, some as big as a golf ball, but there is no peach flavor in the ice cream.
No one makes ice cream like the old Ashburn’s-Polar Bear group.
My late husband was the “man from Colbert” that went to Nashville, Ark. and got peaches. He was very proud of the fact that he got to provide the peaches for Ashburn’s.
I worked at the Richardson store in the 60’s for about 85 cents an hour. On a Sunday afternoon in the summer we’d have four lines of impatient customers from the counter across the floor and out onto the hot sidewalk.
Please let me know how to make the only real (hawaiian pineapple delight ) ice cream as it was made by the one and only ASHBURNS in Dallas !!!!!!! It was my fathers favorite, I used to not eat anything but vanilla but he introduced me to it and it became my favorite. Thanks Ashburns !!!
This is where my grandpa ray Haliburton met the love of his life Mildred Geneva farmer my grandma worked there and when my grandpa walked in with his dress greens on she fell in love although he thought she was older but she was only 13 and they ended up married they had there honeymoon at her parents she was the only child and she wanted a lot of kids her and my grandpa were married 5 years before they had children they had 4 kids that lived and I believe she lost a few Inbetween anyhow grandma is still around but grandpa passed a couple of years ago and he is greatly missed but my grandma still makes ice cream and she has taught me how to do it
ashburns was one of my best memories. it was such a treat we would get after church on sunday.iwish i could tast the hawaiian delite again. they used to supply gordons old fashion freez in sherman. a drive in with carhops which served a honeymoon malt. it was made with hawaiian delite. it was the most popular malt. thanks for the best icecream i have ever had in my 65yrs.
I remember going to the Knox St. Ashburn’s near the train track. My favoriete thing was vinalla malts. I wish I could have another one right now.
I worked at the store on Granbury Road in Fort Worth when I was a Junior at Southwest High School (1969-70). Ashburns’ was the best. Baskin-Robbins moved into Wedgwood into a strip mall that had a cafeteria (Wyatt’s??). It really hurt Ashburn’s business ’cause B-R has 31 flavors…I think we only had 25 or so.
I worked at what may have been the last ashburns at least in Dallas in the mid to late 80s. I have fond memories and will never forget the mocha almond fudge Omg that was good. I now own a restaurant and was talking about finding who owned the recipes and resurrecting the chain. Anyone knows who has them contact the alligator cafe.
I grew up in Fort Worth in the 50’s and 60’s. Ash burn’s ice cream store was just behind Ridglea Presbyterian Church on Camp Bowie. I can still remember my mom licking her lemon custard in a cone. You would have thought that girl had died and gone to heaven! We went about once a week as a family, and I thought it was the best treat ever! Would love to have some of their recipes!
It’s a rather small world. As a kid, the highlight of any evening, or weekend or anytime, was the Casa Linda Ashburns. My favorite was Lime Sherbet (lime sherbert, as I called it). We lived on Mariposa and I went to Reinhardt in ’54 and moved to Solta Drive and went to Hexter after that. Then, as a teenager, I worked as an usher for Gordon McLendon at the Casa Linda Theater. Then for many years, I was known as Bobby Dark at KBOX off of McCree Road, but always hit Ashburns as long as I could. What a great memory.
My family lived in Casa View and we loved Ashburn’s! My dad’s favorite was Hawaiian Pineapple Delight and I ate any flavor! I do wish someone would make the Hawaiian Pineapple Delight though, it would be heavenly!
I frequented the Casa Linda store as a young child – I didn’t know you could go to the Casa Linda Theater and NOT go to Ashburn’s! I remember they had a whole lot of flavors, but chocolate chip was my favorite. I moved early, but always went back, even when it was Polar Bear. The good ol’ days!!
Scott Schenkel
Reinhardt Elementary,’57-’59
wasnt there a store in waco texas?
My 1st job with an actual paycheck was at Ashburns
Knox Ave store. I would look at the clock and think
to myself… “yes another dollar twenty five!”
The owners were very nice and the quality of the the ice cream
was fantastic.
Hawaiian Pineapple Delight ice cream was a delight.It had a taste that no ice cream today can ever match.I never did eat enough of it though.Even after 50 years i still wish i could eat a bowl of it.
I worked for Ashburn’s Ice Cream in Dallas,Texas in the Mid sixty’s in the stores in Casa Linda pLaza,Casa View shopping center. I also worked in the ice cream plant that was on Knox Street also.When I was working Knox Street Ashburn’s made about 500 gallons of Dr Pepper Ice Cream for Dr Pepper.That was Very GOOD ICE CREAM .SORRY THAT ASHBURN’S ICE CREAM IS OUT OF BUSINESS…..
Sorry to say, Ashburn’s has been out of business for quite some time.
Would like to open a ice cream shop (retail) in dallas,want to know how we can get your supply
Thanks
syed
I have an Ashburn’s milk bottle for sale. Contact me at hileman@att.net
During the ’60’s I rode my bike to the Ashburn’s in Ridglea near Monnig’s in Ft. Worth. My favorite was the Lime Sherbet. It had pieces of the lime in it and was always very cold and icy.
You might try Bill Ashburn who is an insurance agent in Denison.
I am trying to find out what happened to Lester Skaggs, who married am Ashburn. Can anyone help me?
I seem to recall an Ashburn’s in Ridglea and I think the man who ran it (owned it?) was my next door neighbor in Ridglea in the 60’s and 70’s. I can’t remember his name. Was there an Ashburn’s in Ridglea? Do you know the man’s name?
my dad would take me to the one on Skillman.my favorite was the coffee flavor.i tried some Blue Bell but it doesn’t even compare to Ashburn’s.
Ashburn’s, in Dallas on Skillman, was the only place my family would purchase ice cream…Butter Brickle, Black Walnut, Lemon Custard, etc. Absolutely the best ever. I’ve never, to this day, had better.Is there no hope for more?
I remember the Ashburn’s ice cream place on Knox-Henderson. My Mom would take me there when I was in High School. My very favorite was Butter Pecan Brickle. I wish it was still around!
Martin Again, I also remember that as a child I could walk in any Ashburns Ice Cream store and sign for all the ice cream I wanted. I also remember that I never had trouble making friends! But the actual punch, remember the punch that was concentrated, you were supposed to scoop some out and add water and it made a great punch drink, but I just ate that stuff, it was awesome! I mainly hit up the one on preston road, I remember the knox store, and of course my mom says she was born above the denison store, but really they just lived above it when she was born.
Martin VII
This is the last of seven Martin’s My Mom was Anne Ashburn Connolly. She always told me about a woman in the Ashburn Family that brought the Ice Cream Cone to Texas from a worlds fair. And she said something about a relative that invented the softening agent so we could put candy in ice cream without it becoming rock hard. I always thought that these were major advances in modern civilization, which we could be proud of! Do you know if there is truth to her stories? Martin
It’s been a long while since Ashburns stopped scooping ice cream.
Can you tell me where or if any locations remain?
Dan I also grew up in Ft. Worth and almost cried when I read your posting. When I was a little girl on Fridays we would have a treat and be allowed to go to Ashburn’s for ice cream. My brother and I loved Hawaiian Pineapple ice cream but the real treat was the man behind the counter who made the train whistle sound. I went there once or twice a week my
entire life.I loved the train whistle man. Thank you for the wonderful memories.
I just wanted to thank Mr. Dan Franklin for helping with the name of his Grandfather. There were two reasons we went to Ashburns…one because at Paschal ..i was a student aid for Charlie Turner..and he would send me over once in a while, during my last period as his assistant, to get him some ice cream. Second was the “train whistle” from you Grandfather. What a wonderful memory…thank you again.
Ashburn’s Ice Cream played a major role in my life growing up. My grandfather (Mr. Hitt) worked at the Fort Worth store on Berry Street. He was better known as “Freight Train” because he would greet customers by making a train whistle with his throat. I spent many hours in that store playing in the back of the store. I also had the honor of meeting Mr. Ashburn. Finding this site has brought back many happy memories for me. My grandfather thought highly of Mr. Ashburn and talked about him often. I am also glad to know that someone has remembered and posted a comment about my grandfather.
I loved the ice cream cakes! I had one every year for my birthday, in ADA OK. What I would give to have another ice cream cake from there!
I would love for my kids and grand kids to just get the chance to taste it.The Hawaiian Delight as I called it was my favorite was then and always will be .Getting close to 70 I would love to have just one more before my maker calls me home.
I would kill for an Ashburns lemon custard ice cream. It was my Dad’s and my favorite. There is none like it and oh the memories it holds for me. Please anyone tell em where to get Ashburn’s icecream
I had my 1st “official” date at the Ashburn’s in Marshall, Tx(it was on Hwy 80–the building now houses Marshall’s Bodacious BBQ restaurant–it’s also next door to the old Bonanza Restaurant bldg. that’s now Larry’s Pizza) when I was in 1st or 2nd grade..memory fails me now as to which one it was though…but I will never forget always hoping that my birthday invitations I got would be for a party at Ashburn’s..loved the ice cream, but LOVED the ice cream cakes EVEN more!!
@ James Brown, what town was the Lloyd’s Hamburgers(that was on West Houston St.) and Ashburn’s in that you used to go to? I’m from Marshall, Texas and we had an Ashburn’s Ice Cream Parlor, so I was just wondering?
I was working at the Convair Aircraft plant, and working part-time in 1957 or 1958 at the Ashburn’s Berry St store. Mr. Hitt, the train-whistle man also worked at that store. He had quite a following, those customers who would come in to hear him imitate a train whistle and get their favorite ice cream.
In my opinion there will never be another flavor as good as the Hawaiian Pineapple Delight. It was super as ice cream, and even better in a shake or malt.
Those were wonderful days. Too bad we can’t live them again.
I remember going to Ashburns at lunch time to get chocolate ice cream. I loved their ice cream and they also made the punch for my wedding reception. It was so good. There are some modern changes that aren’t the best like losing Ashburns.
One of my favorite commercial flavors was Ashburn’s Strawberry Cheesecake. Don’t even know if they are still in business. Now locally for the odd time I get ice cream out, it has to be the Marble Slab Creamery. Then it’s just deciding what to add to the flavor that sounds best at that moment! Jim
Great memories of Ashburn’s ice cream…and those malts! They were 15 cents! Had a lot of lunches in junior high at Lloyd’s Hamburgers on West Houston, and then stop by Ashburn’s as we walked back to school.
Hi, I grew up in Pleasant Grove in Dallas and my joy and delight was for mom and daddy to take me to Casa Linda on Buckner Blvd to Ashburns for a double dip of Hawaiian Pineapple. That was the most wonderful ice cream ever. The people were nice and we’d make a night of it and take our time driving back home. God I miss Dallas, the way it was back then. I have never been able to find hawaiian pineapple since, wish i had the recipe and i’d make it for myself. Sweet Dallas memories are wonderful.
Punkie Howard
In high school (Sherman) we went to town for lunch. On our way back to school we would buy a double dip cone and stop next door at the Piggly Wiggly store and get a bag of popcorn, we would dip our cones in the popcorn and then eat the ice cream. We had it timed so that it lasted until we got back to school. The double dip cost ten cents and the popcorn five cents. (we usually had a pimento cheese sandwich down the street at Hestand’s Pharmacy and that was a whole twenty cents. A Coke was a nickel so our lunch cost forty cents.
I’ve not been in there for 40 years, and yeah the one in Sherman is long gone…BUT ..you could blindfold me and take me in there and I could tell you exactly were we where at!! The smell was so good, like no other place on earth!
Thanks for this great article. My Grandfather John Chasteen worked at a Ft Worth location, and there was always half gallon or two in the freezer at home.
Someone ought to bring it all back, best Ice cream on the planet, it was just great Ice cream……My favorite flavor was “Hawaiian Delight” It was the best tasting stuff a young man could find….good thing I moved away….I would have become a blimp….I did find the store in Dallas years later and could never pass it up, it was next to the Katy RR lines….I would actually stop the train to go in there and have my favorite once again, those were the days…..”The good old days”
Bob
I as a young boy worked at the Ashburns store in Denison. I never worked in the front but helped Mr. Boney (I never knew his first name until I read this article) make Ice Cream in the back area of the store. It has been about 39 years since I worked there but the memories are like it was yesterday. Great memories are always with you. Here are some of my memories of Ashburns Ice Cream.
All the Ice Cream you could eat!! You have never had Ice Cream if you have not had Ashburns Ice Cream straight from the Ice Cream Freezer.
Along with a lot of Sugar, and other great things, Fresh Milk was one of the things that made Ashburns Ice Cream SO Good. I remember a MR Waldrop would bring it in from his dairy just about weekly.He delivered it in big milk can and we would weight them before transfering the cream to our containers. Then I never figured out why we weighted them but I now realize that was probably how he was paid.
I remember the huge Brime Water tank used to make Ice Cream bars. That was something else Ashburns knew had to do Top Notch. I can still see in my mind all of the big vates that was used to cook and then freese the ice cream. I remember how I would stand and springle black cherry halfs into the top loader of the ice cream as it came out of the freezer and how Mr Boney was alway right there to let me know if I was not putting in enough cherry halfs.
I thing he just let me do it so that I could say guess what I did today.
I cleaned my share of all of the pot, pans & utinsels used to make Ice Cream.
Now for Mr Bill Ashburn. I have been working for about 44 years of my life and there is not one person that has ever been more of a positive influnce to me that him. He was alway very kind and always cared for everyone that worked for him. I can never remember a strong or harsh word from him. He always had a smile on his face.
The Denison store had a refrigerated truck that Mr Ashburn personally delivered Ashburns Ice Cream to local stores in Honey Grove, Bonham, and Paris, Texas. I know this because I made more of those trips sitting in the right seat of that big truck that I can remember. Thing about it now I do not think I went along to help him because he needed it. He could have done it just the same without me. But I sure thought it was great going with him, and I was getting paid to do it.
The experience and memories I gained during that time of my life are some I will alway treasure and never forget. I owe that to Mr Bill Ashburn. I am sure that I am not the only one that feels this way.
My mom and dad took my sister and I to Ashburn’s almost every Sunday afternoon for an ice cream cone-especially in the summer. My favorite was lemon custard and I was very happy when I got a double dip cone. I wish I could find it again-nothing compares. Mom’s favorite was the Hawaiian Delight. The good ole days were perfect with Ashburn’s Ice Cream.
Karen B.
I worked at the Sherman Ashburns in 68-69. I remember A. P. Brown. You learned to never ‘flare back’ at him. Mr. Brown was tough but a great influence on many teenager’s lives. I remember eating fresh-made ice cream in the freezers just across and north on the parking lot. I remember Mr. Frank coming each evening and closing the cash register. I remember one Saturday carrying more than 50 five gallon cannisters of ice cream across the lot to supply the hundreds of customers that day. I remember how we use to compete to see how many cones we could hold in one hand and successfully dip. Mike M could hold 8. So many memories…hand-packing pints, quarts, half-gallons…slicing a malt cup and slinging malt across the room and customers…washing the boards across the lot…the smell of ammonia…Mr. Bill assuming ownership….working my way from .65 cents to .90 cents an hour…Mr. Hall buying vanilla (double-dip) every time (no variance)…Mrs. Hutchison working during the day…Mr. Patrick making ice cream…all the great people I got to work with…
I lived in Denison from 1937 until about 1970. As a teenager after school we would stop by Ashburn’s on Main Street and get an ice cream cone. Vanilla was my favorite and have never had such good ice cream since…..and $.05 a dip. Man – the good ole days.
Ashburn’s was my favorite place to go when I was a kid growing up in Sherman. My family would visit the store a lot, but my favorite memory is when my sister and I were already asleep in bed. My parents got an urge for ice cream and woke us up to go on a pajama run for ice cream. Chocolate ripple was my favorite and my Mom always got Hawaiian Delight.
Ahhh, that milky-sweet smell combined with the then-rare air conditioning you enjoyed when you pushed upen the door to Ashburn’s Ice Cream. I went to church in Sherman with my grandparents on Sunday nights and it was our tradition to stop at Ashburn’s for ice cream after church. NOTHING has ever tasted as good as those great big cones (which were 35 cents, I recall) My favorite was butter pecan. Still is.