Since it is now summer, unofficially if not meteorologically, it's time to get serious about ice cream. And it turns out an American dessert favorite got its start in the Keystone State.
It was 1904, and David Strickler was a 23 year old so-called soda jerk at a drugstore in Latrobe. That's Westmoreland County, east of Pittsburgh. One day, Strickler decided to play around a bit.
He cut a banana in half lengthwise and added three scoops of ice cream on top, all different: vanilla, chocolate, strawberry. On top went whatever he could get his hands on: syrup, marshmallow, nuts, whipped cream and a cherry on top.
Students at nearby Saint Vincent College caught on quickly. They'd frequent the drugstore and ask for a Dr. Dave. Within a few years, the banana split had become a national phenomenon and young Strickler, a dessert pioneer.
