SALEM, Ohio — Times have changed from the days of Skyscraper cones, Klondike bars and chipped chopped ham sandwiches. But now, anyone can travel back in time at the Arms Family Museum’s new Isaly exhibit.
The Isaly family produced these dairy and deli products throughout Ohio and southwestern Pennsylvania starting in the early 1900s, with one of their dairy plants in Youngstown, Ohio. The company closed completely in the 1970s, but its legacy continues to be remembered.
That’s why the Arms Family Museum opened the “Welcome to Isaly’s: A Youngstown Story” on Aug. 22, which will be open for roughly a year at the museum, 648 Wick Ave., Youngstown, Ohio.
“It’s a gift to those who got to experience it, who got to eat their Skyscraper ice cream cones, who got to work in the plant, who knew the Isaly family in one way or another,” said Brooke Testa, curatorial assistant at the Arms Family Museum. “The exhibit pays homage to that.”
An original Isaly sign from its old store in Youngstown hangs above a booth (also from the store) at the Arms Family Museum in Youngstown, Ohio. (Submitted photo)
Where it started
The Isaly family first arrived in Ohio in 1833, when Swiss cheesemaker Christian Isaly and his family emigrated with other Swiss families to live in Monroe County, Ohio. Christian Isaly brought a copper cheese kettle with him.
His grandson, William Isaly, would follow in his cheese-making footsteps. He moved to Richland County in 1892 and bought a farm, according to the Ohio Collective Connection. He started selling milk and dairy products by going door to door via his horse drawn wagon.
In 1902, William Isaly and some business partners bought a milk plant in Mansfield, Ohio and renamed it the Isaly’s Dairy Company Mansfield’s Pure Milk plant. The business processed milk and delivered it via 26 routes.
It was at this plant in Mansfield that Isalys would start selling what would eventually be known as the “Skyscraper cone.”
Called “the big cone” or “the Isaly cone,” at the time, it was invented by William in 1910 when he began scooping tall cones that were 4 ounces; typical ice cream cones contained only 2 ounces at the time.
Their popularity took off, and by 1912, over 7,600 cones were being sold at the plant each day, according to Heinz History Center in Pittsburgh.
By 1918, the company had expanded west to Marion, Ohio and east to Youngstown, Ohio. The goal was to bring quality ice cream to the public, including the (original) Klondike bar.
Isaly’s Dairy was making six flavors of Klondikes at the time, according to a news article from the Youngstown Vindicator in 1922. The chocolate-coated ice cream square came in vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, cherry, maple and grape.
Though the Isaly empire became known for its dairy products, the family maintained a connection to its agricultural roots.
The Isalys also had a 256-acre dairy farm located near North Jackson, Ohio. According to the Mahoning Valley Historical Society, it was here that around 50 grass-fed Holstein cows were raised mainly for the purpose of producing milk for infant feeding.
The milk was then delivered to the Youngstown plant and bottled. “Chester Isaly managed the farm, and would often visit it to check up on the cows. The farm was open for public visitation until its sale in 1965,” reports the MVHS.
Crossing state lines
With popular ice cream products, the business grew quickly, and by 1924, the Isalys owned 25 retail stores. But the Isaly family didn’t stop there.
After moving to Pittsburgh, Henry Isaly, William’s son, decided to take a gamble and open a location across state lines. Their first storefront in Pennsylvania was on the Boulevard of Allies in Oakland — near the city of Pittsburgh — in 1931.
This is also around the time the famous chipped chopped ham sandwich was invented by Larry Hatch, Isaly’s general manager, at the Boulevard of the Allies plant, according to “Isaly’s Chipped Ham, Klondikes and Other Tales from Behind the Counter” by Brian Butko.
Their success with ice cream and now ham sandwiches led to dairy and deli stores opening up across southwestern Pennsylvania. By the 1950s, the Isalys had 400 stores across Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia.
The business continued steadily until the 1960s. Henry Isaly died in 1961, and the Isaly family suddenly had new competition: fast food restaurants. The family decided to sell the company in the early 1970s.
Despite this, decades of sweet treats and delicious sandwiches gave it staying power and remnants of this business remain today. Klondike bars are now owned by multinational company Unilever, and the deli business was carried on by Conroy Foods, Inc., which currently sells its products in stores across southwestern Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia.
And now, visitors can step back in time and experience the glamour of the Isaly’s stores once again by seeing old ice cream containers, photos and more.
The Islay exhibit
Earlier this year, while driving past the old Isaly’s Youngstown plant, Brooke Testa had a wave of nostalgia. “I thought, ‘I wonder what this would have looked like back in its day.’ And that’s when I had the idea (for an Isaly exhibit),” Testa said.
So, Testa ran her idea by her supervisors and boss at the Arms Family Museum, who quickly gave the green light. She then started digging through the museum’s artifacts in storage.
There, she found Islay’s ice cream containers, milk bottles and cartons, chipped chopped ham containers, a Skyscraper ice cream scoop, old menus and a huge Isaly’s sign that hung on one of the storefronts in Youngstown.
All the artifacts were donated to the museum over the years, Testa said, and will be featured in the exhibit, including a booth and table from Isaly’s downtown Youngstown stores. Testa’s goal for the exhibit is to take people back in time.
“I wanted to set that booth and table up to look like a couple would have just walked into an Isaly’s store and sat down to have a sandwich or an ice cream sundae or banana split,” Testa said.
Old photographs, advertisements and the Isalys’ history will also be featured. The goal of the exhibit is to pay homage to the Isalys’ impact in Youngstown, Testa said. But beyond the company, Testa wanted to make the exhibit about the customers, too. Residents’ memories are in the exhibit, and visitors can add theirs, too.
“It’s really interesting to read those. You get a better idea of how significant the business was in this area,” Testa said. “In that short time (Isaly’s) was here, it impacted a lot of people.”
Isaly’s recently announced that it will be setting up a new shop in the Strip District, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 2026. For more information, visit exploremahoning.com/visits/arms-family-museum/ or https://isalys.com/retro-store/.
(Liz Partsch can be reached at epartsch@farmanddairy.com or 330-337-3419.)
