Odessa Ice Cream Company

Listed in the National Register of Historic Places

Lafayette County National Register Listings

Odessa Ice Cream Company National Register of Historic Places Registration Form 

The Odessa Ice Cream Company, established in 1928 by Joseph Clair Shryock, emerged when ice cream's popularity started to soar in the U.S. Indeed, Odessa Ice Cream proved dually popular with locals and throughout the country via delivery. In 1929, Shryock constructed the historic two-story retail and manufacturing building most associated with his ice cream company.

Shryock moved to Odessa, Missouri, in 1928 after apprenticing in several ice cream plants in Kansas City (his hometown). He began his ice cream career in a rented one-story cinder-block building on W. Dryden Street. Shryock operated a five-gallon gasoline-powered ice cream freezer that mixed his ready-made product, which he stored frozen in containers placed in tubs with ice and salt. Despite his initial use of ready-made ice cream, his businesses grew substantially, helped in part by providing 1,800 people with free, double-dip ice cream cones on opening day. 

The rapid growth of Shyrock's ice cream businesses inspired him to expand by constructing his own building and purchasing modern ice cream processing equipment. So, in 1929, he hired local carpenters to help him erect a brick and clay block two-story building at the northwest corner of West Dryden and South 1st streets, just east of the rented building he used in 1928. The first floor of the new building housed the retail and manufacturing sections, while the second floor featured a three-bedroom apartment where Shyrock, his wife, and two children lived.

In the new facility, Shyrock moved from pre-made products to the use of fresh ingredients, and he installed a pasteurizer and several other modern machines to make ice cream (not dissimilar to how it's made today). Flavors included the standards, such as vanilla, strawberry, and chocolate, as well as caramel nut, lemon, tutti-frutti, chocolate chip, orange, pineapple, lime sherbets, and several seasonal favorites. Customers could purchase Odessa Ice Cream in five-gallon, two-and-a-half-gallon, or half-gallon containers, but most flocked to the store for individual servings. In addition to locals frequenting Odessa Ice Cream, people came from as far as St. Louis to sample Shyrock's products. Odessa Ice Cream eventually offered curb service to cater to the growing number of people with automobiles; people could enjoy ice cream without leaving their cars. 

The popularity of Shyrock's ice cream grew substantially so that by 1933, Odessa Ice Cream served as the official ice cream of the Missouri State Fair. As the Odessa Ice Cream Company prospered during the 1930s and 1940s, it opened stores in Marshall, Higginsville, and Lexington and expanded its delivery service as far away as Kansas City. Odessa Ice Cream Company did not use refrigeration but instead placed ice cream cans into thick insulated leather and canvas jackets housed in Kelvinator portable ice cream cabinets on delivery trucks, which kept the ice cream frozen for up to four hours. 

By the 1950s, Odessa Ice Cream Company sold its ice cream to the increasingly popular regional and national supermarkets, which had all but wiped out the existence of small, .private operations and local soda fountains nationwide during the 1950s. But, by 1954, Shryock sold the Odessa Ice Cream Company to Eugene Wood who had been a part-time employee for Shryock for numerous years. Wood modernized and expanded the ice cream business to handle its increased sales to supermarkets. 

Wood owned Odessa Ice Cream company until 1975 when he sold it to Mike Houle and brothers Rick and Mick Trible. The fourth owners, Marty Beemer and Steve Barker, continued to produce Odessa Ice Cream from Shryock's original recipes until 1993. During the 1990s, Larry and Donna White purchased and then remodeled the historic building. Although the Whites did not manufacture Odessa Ice Cream (they sold Belfonte Ice Cream, made in Kansas City), they displayed examples of Shryock's original equipment on the first floor of the building.

While the building has not been used to produce ice cream for decades, the Odessa Ice Cream name is still prominent on the building's facade and serves a reminder of the company's history. The Odessa Creamery, a few blocks away, now serves as its primary ice cream shop, but the history of the town's connection to ice cream, including its place at the Missouri State Fair in 1933, starts with the Odessa Ice Cream Building. 

         Powers, Mathew and Clio Admin. "Odessa Ice Cream Company Building."

          Clio: Your Guide to History. January 3, 2022.

          Accessed November 14, 2022. https://theclio.com/entry/144228