more of the story:
"The first ice cream cone was produced in 1896 by Italo Marchiony. Marchiony, who emigrated from Italy in the late 1800s, invented his ice cream cone in New York City. He was granted a patent in December 1903 U.S. Patent No. 746971.
Although Marchiony is credited with the invention of the cone, a similar creation was independently introduced at the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair.
For folks who lived anywhere near St. Louis, Missouri, the biggest event in the summer of 1904 was the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, which took place in that city. No one knew beforehand, but that exposition was the occasion where ice cream cones were first made and sold. The person who did it was named Charles Menches and he was a seller of ice cream. But he didn't plan to invent the ice cream cone. This is how it happened.
Charles Menches sold his ice cream in dishes the way every other ice cream man did. That August when the Louisiana Purchase Exposition was at its height, was a real scorcher, however, and one day disaster struck Mr. Menches. There were so many hot and thirsty fairgoers wanting ice cream that he ran out of dishes. And it wasn't even noon. He had more than half a day of business ahead of him and not a single dish to serve his ice cream on. What did Menches do? He looked around him and thought fast.
Nearby was a stand where his friend, Ernest Hamwi, who was from Syria, was selling a Middle Eastern treat called Zalabia. Zalabia consists of a crisp, wafer-like pastry sold with syrup. "Give me Zalabia!" cried Menches. He rolled up the Zalabia, scooped his ice cream on top, and presto! ice cream cones were born." google ice cream cone inventor