One raging afternoon in July of 1941 , a young cleaning woman — name and age unreported — open up a lemonade stand in Western Springs , Illinois , a suburban area of Chicago . The “ fiddling daughter , ” as newspaper publisher accounts laterdescribed her , plied her friends and passing strangers with refreshing glass of lemonade in a improvised stand just out of doors of her home . She sometimes sampled her own supplying .
Within weeks , the county ’s health department was knocking on her door . They asked question about the chain of lemonade custody and her sanitary practices . It turned out that the budding entrepreneur had failed to gargle the glasses she gave to her client after they had been used . As a result , she had contracted polio , and so had four of her young Quaker . accord to the Associated Press , the outbreak of the disease was no less than the “ hottest trail of the deadly disease computer virus in the history of epidemiology . ”
tiddler ' lemonade stand have long been a symbol of juvenile capitalist economy . And though contracting a paralyzing viral infection seems a heavy price to pay up for patronizing one , as it turns out , these refreshment pop - ups have a long and sordid history . For many , they ’ve been a downright unsporting business concern .
Because the act of huckster maize - flavored water in the street is not inherently newsworthy , it can be unmanageable to pinpoint exactly how , when , and where the practice first originated . We know that people in eleventh century Cairowroteabout a drinkable with lemon juice being sell in open markets . In 17th C France , vendors dispensed stinker pee from rucksack , allowing them to follow customers around ; their popularity may have been helped in part by the fact that the lemonade was often alcoholic drink - infuse . At upscale Gallic cabarets sell fashionable , sugared drinks , proprietorstookto calling themselveslimonadiers , orlemonaders . Though they sold far more than just hard liquor - fuel lemonade , the label helped distinguish their refined spaces from the seedier vino merchants of the era .
There are short reference made to lemonade base in America throughout the 1800s . TheNew York Daily Heraldmentioneda stand as part of a “ Lady middling ” in October 1839 ; in 1853 , a woman operating a stand in Cincinnati reportedlyconfrontedtwo men who had diss her , tearing the coattails of one “ raucous ” clean off ; in 1873 , an unnamed student at Cornell University was state to be avail ante up his way through college bymanaginga stand in his student dorm .
These were probably heartfelt enterprises . The same could n’t be say of the artful peddlers in 1860s New York , who perceived the dockage immigrants as easy Simon Marks . Rather than put in calibre ingredient , lemonade merchants insteadfilleddirty wooden or tin pails with a murky nitty-gritty consisting of water , molasses , and vinegar . The dung was topped with sliced lemon rind to give it the appearing of something ingestible . For many the great unwashed looking for a brisk start in America , their first taste of exemption may have literally been a fetid concoction of cheap sugar piddle .
By 1880 , vendors were a usual sight throughout New York City [ PDF ] . In sulphurous heat , tonic fountains and bars often come up themselves being outstrip by lemonade stands that had comparatively short overhead and could charge just five centime a glassful or else of the 15 cents charged by shops . “ This chinchy lemonade job has come very much to the front in New York within the last year or two , and it is an fantabulous idea,”The New York Timesconcluded .
While many of these vendors were adult , the roadblock to entry was grim enough to entice business minds of all age . In the 1870s , a Dutch immigrant named Edward Bok — who may have seen and been repulsed by the sludge offered upon his household ’s entry into the country — noticedthat horse perambulator exceed by his home and head toward Coney Island often stopped so that the horses could have body of water and passenger could get a drink at a nearby cigar workshop . Bok determine it was peculiar that only the world would go inside the shop , entrust women and children to wait until they make it at their address to get a beverage .
sense an chance , Bok grease one’s palms a clear pail and attached three hooks to it to make three glass . When the horse cars stopped , he jump on and provide ice water to everyone on control board for one penny a glass . Bok made 30 penny for every pail he empty and did brisk business on weekend . But before long competitors moved in , and Bok was forced to up his biz . He began squeezing lemons into water system , tot up sugar , and sell the tastier deglutition for three cents a shabu .
While Bok was far from the only lemonade hustler in the res publica , he might have been the most influential . When he wasprofiledin an authorized life story in 1921,The Americanization of Edward Bok , the story of his childhood lemonade business struck a chord . Bok was already a celebrity thanks to his editorial duties with theLadies Home Journal , and his al-Qur’an deliver the goods a Pulitzer Prize . If a lemonade standpoint was good enough for Bok , it was good enough for any kid .
Throughout the twentieth century , the stand raise to becomeallegorical lessonsin loose enterprisingness . If a child wanted a wheel , a simple investment funds and a study ethic could potentially produce enough income to buy one . Baked into the business model were lesson in accounting , stock , and client testimonial — a interfering stand invited more onlookers to issue forth and sample the wares .
More late , some states have cracked down on stands , citinghealth and safety concern and forcing a line of work example regard permits and an understanding of zoning laws . Country Time , which seduce lemonade mixes , pledged$60,000 in grants this summertime to help kid pay fines related to their stand .
As for the poliomyelitis - devolve on lemonade stand in Western Springs : While unsanitary drill led to five malady , researchers also discovered an additional seven citizenry were carrier but showed no symptoms . The outbreak allow worthful information on how easily the computer virus could be transmitted and how long a carrier could harbor the contagion . By 1954 , Jonas Salk ’s vaccine was about to become widely uncommitted , and the March of Dimes — which publicized attempt to extinguish the disease — was endorsing fundraisers [ PDF ] to purchase vaccine Venus’s curse and cover treatment monetary value of those afflicted . In the hand brake drive to direct money toward those efforts , teens went door - to - door , host bake sale , and sold lemonade .
