There are some treats that never really go out of style.

A warm chocolate chip cookie. A scoop of ice cream on a summer afternoon. A piece of fudge from the candy counter.

And, of course, a cold, creamy chocolate milkshake.

There is just something about a chocolate milkshake that feels instantly nostalgic. Maybe it is the frosty glass. Maybe it is that first chocolatey sip through a straw. Maybe it is the whipped cream on top. Or perhaps it is because milkshakes have been part of American soda fountain culture for generations.

Whatever the reason, we have the perfect excuse to enjoy one this weekend.

National Chocolate Milkshake Day is Saturday, September 12, and we are celebrating at our old-fashioned soda fountain. This sounds like pretty good timing for a family trip to the candy store, if you ask us.

Before you grab the kids, grandkids, or your favorite milkshake-loving friend and head our way, we thought it would be fun to answer a question you may have never stopped to consider:

How did the chocolate milkshake become the chocolate milkshake we know and love today?

The story includes old-fashioned pharmacies, early soda fountains, electric drink mixers, malted milk, ice cream, and quite a bit of American ingenuity.

So pull up a virtual stool at the fountain and join us for a sweet trip through milkshake history.

Believe It or Not, the First “Milkshakes” Were Very Different

If we handed you a milkshake from the 1880s, you might be a little surprised.

Actually, you might be very surprised.

The word “milkshake” appeared in print by 1885, but the drink being described was nothing like the chocolate shake most of us picture today. Early milkshakes could be alcoholic drinks containing ingredients such as milk, eggs, and whiskey and were sometimes described as eggnog-like tonics.

No scoop of chocolate ice cream.

No whipped cream.

No cherry.

Definitely not the after-school treat we know today.

Over the next couple of decades, however, the meaning of “milkshake” began to change.

By around the turn of the twentieth century, milkshakes were increasingly associated with sweet, nonalcoholic drinks flavored with syrups such as chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry.

Now we are getting somewhere.

These sweeter drinks fit perfectly into another American tradition that was rapidly becoming popular: the soda fountain.

Soda Fountains Helped Turn Milkshakes Into an American Favorite

Before you could stop at almost any convenience store and grab a bottled soft drink, soda fountains were destinations. Many were located inside pharmacies and drugstores, where customers could order carbonated drinks mixed by hand with flavored syrups.

As soda fountain culture grew, so did the menu. There were sodas. Phosphates. Ice cream sodas. Malts. Sundaes. And, eventually, the thick, creamy milkshakes we recognize today.

By the early twentieth century, the neighborhood soda fountain had become more than somewhere to get something sweet. It was a gathering place.

People met friends there. Families stopped for treats. Young couples went on dates. Kids sat at the counter with a few coins in their pockets and debated which flavor to order.

That social side of soda fountain culture is a big reason milkshakes became so deeply connected to American nostalgia.

A milkshake was not simply something you drank.

It was something you went out for.

And we think that distinction still matters.

Sure, you can blend ice cream at home. But there is something very different about walking into a candy store, pulling up a stool, watching your milkshake being made, and sitting down to enjoy it with somebody you love.

That experience is one of the reasons we are so proud to have an old-fashioned soda fountain here at Candy Town USA.

Then Technology Changed the Milkshake Forever

The next chapter in milkshake history came from a little help behind the counter.

Before electric drink mixers became widespread, getting a drink frothy required much more manual effort. Ingredients could be shaken or stirred together, but the texture would have been quite different from today's smooth, whipped milkshake.

Electric mixing equipment changed that.

Hamilton Beach introduced its Cyclone Mixer around 1910, while other historical accounts place its widespread adoption in the following years. These early electric drink mixers became fixtures in soda fountains.

Instead of simply shaking ingredients together, soda fountain workers could whip drinks rapidly. That introduced air, and air created froth. Froth helped create the creamy texture we still associate with a great milkshake.

The equipment also made it easier for busy fountain workers to prepare drinks consistently and quickly. As milkshakes became easier to make, they became easier to love.

The Ice Cream Moment That Changed Everything

There was still one very important ingredient missing from many early milkshakes: ice cream.

Today, it seems almost impossible to imagine a milkshake without it. But ice cream was not automatically part of every early milkshake recipe.

That changed as refrigeration improved and ice cream became easier for restaurants, drugstores, and soda fountains to keep on hand.

One especially famous moment happened in Chicago in 1922. Walgreens employee Ivar “Pop” Coulson added two scoops of vanilla ice cream to a malted milk drink, helping popularize the thick, rich style of milkshake that would become a soda fountain staple.

The drink was no longer simply flavored milk that happened to be frothy. Now it was practically dessert in a glass.

And generations of milkshake lovers have been grateful ever since.

Chocolate Was Destined for the Milkshake Glass

Of course, milkshake history is only half of our story.

The other half is chocolate.

People have been enjoying chocolate as a beverage for an incredibly long time- far longer than the modern chocolate bar has existed.

For much of chocolate's history, it was consumed as a drink rather than eaten as a solid confection. Cacao beverages have roots going back thousands of years in the Americas. The chocolate drinks of ancient cultures were very different from a modern sweet milkshake, but the basic idea of drinking chocolate is remarkably old.

Milk and chocolate also became familiar partners long before the modern milkshake appeared. Historical evidence indicates that cacao was being combined with milk in Jamaica centuries ago, while chocolate-and-milk beverages later spread and evolved elsewhere.

By the time American soda fountains began mixing chocolate syrup into milk drinks around the turn of the twentieth century, chocolate already had a long history as a beverage flavor.

Then ice cream entered the equation.

Chocolate + milk + ice cream?

That combination did not stand much chance of disappearing.

Milkshake or Malt: What's the Difference?

Here is another bit of old-fashioned soda fountain knowledge worth knowing.

A milkshake and a malt are closely related, but they are not exactly the same thing.

The difference is malted milk powder.

Malted milk powder typically contains malted barley along with milk-derived ingredients and other components. Historically, malted milk was developed as a nutritional product before becoming popular simply because people liked the flavor.

Eventually, soda fountains began combining malted milk powder with milk and flavored syrups.

Then ice cream joined the party and the result was the classic malted milkshake, or simply a “malt.”

So if you have ever wondered why grandparents sometimes call a milkshake a malt- or remember heading to the “malt shop”- there is a reason.

Milkshakes and malts grew up together in American soda fountain culture.

A traditional chocolate malt offers a little extra toasted, malty character compared with a straightforward chocolate shake.

Which one is better?

That is exactly the sort of debate we think should be settled over dessert.

Saturday Is National Chocolate Milkshake Day

Which brings us back to the very important business of this weekend.

Saturday, September 12, 2026, is National Chocolate Milkshake Day.

We can think of few better ways to celebrate than enjoying the real thing at an old-fashioned soda fountain.

So grab your favorite people and come visit us at Candy Town USA.

• Bring the kids after Saturday activities.
• Make it a grandparents-and-grandkids date.
• Meet a friend you have not seen in a while.
• Bring the whole family and let everyone choose a treat.

Or come by simply because you made it through the week and decided that accomplishment deserves chocolate.

No elaborate reason required.

Sometimes “It's National Chocolate Milkshake Day” is more than enough.

A Few Chocolate Milkshake Questions to Debate at the Table

Since you are already gathering around a milkshake, you might as well tackle some of the world's most important questions.

For example:

Whipped cream or no whipped cream?

We know people have strong feelings.

Straw or spoon?

The correct answer may change depending on how thick the shake is.

Drink the milkshake first or save it for dessert?

Why impose unnecessary rules?

Chocolate shake or chocolate malt?

This one may require side-by-side research.

Share a milkshake?

An adorable idea in theory, but your opinion may change when somebody takes the last sip.

Most importantly:

Who gets the cherry?

Choose wisely.

Families have been divided over less.

 

Candy Town USA
📍 1025 Shiloh Crossing Blvd
Billings, MT 59102

📞 (406) 651-9196
🌐 CandyTownUSA.com