Moline, Illinois · Founded 1908
A fourth-generation Moline confectionery and soda fountain founded in 1908, known for hot fudge, handmade chocolates, and a 2006 James Beard America’s Classics award.
Angelo and Luigia Lagomarcino began Lagomarcino’s Confectionery Company in Moline in 1908. The family business grew from a confectionery and soda fountain into a Quad Cities institution known for handmade chocolates, hot-fudge sundaes, and house-made ice cream. It remains family run at 1422 Fifth Avenue, where four generations have carried forward the business.
Angelo Lagomarcino arrives in New York from northern Italy before later returning to Italy to marry Luigia Schenone.
Source: Lagomarcino's official history
Angelo and Luigia return to the United States and settle in Burlington, Iowa, where Angelo works in his brother Carl's confectionery.
Source: Lagomarcino's official history
Angelo and Luigia Lagomarcino move to Moline and begin Lagomarcino's Confectionery Company.
Source: Lagomarcino's official history; Enjoy Illinois, "Lagomarcino's Old Fashioned Ice Cream Parlor"
Company history says Angelo and Luigia order custom lamps, booths, a soda-fountain bar, and a terrazzo floor. The same family story says Angelo buys the hot-fudge recipe from a traveling peddler for $25.
Source: Lagomarcino's official menu/history materials
Charlie Lagomarcino obtains Meadowbrook Candy Company recipes and equipment, and Lagomarcino's begins making its own ice cream.
Source: Lagomarcino's official history; Enjoy Illinois, "Lagomarcino's Old Fashioned Ice Cream Parlor"
Tom Lagomarcino's wife Betsy joins the family business, followed in later decades by children Beth, Tom Jr., and Lisa.
Source: Lagomarcino's official history
Beth Lagomarcino's husband, Terry Otten, becomes the business's candy maker.
Source: Lagomarcino's official history
Lagomarcino's receives the James Beard Foundation America's Classics award.
Source: Lagomarcino's official history; University of Illinois Family Business Center, "Lagomarcino's folds a fourth generation into their century-old family business"
Lagomarcino's celebrates its 100th anniversary in Moline.
Source: Lagomarcino's official history
Every claim gets rated. A business's own website can never earn "documented."
The company’s own history says Angelo and Luigia ordered custom lamps, booths, a soda-fountain bar, and terrazzo flooring in 1918. This conflicts with the claim that the furnishings came from the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair or were installed in 1907.
Lagomarcino's received the James Beard Foundation America's Classics award in 2006. The award recognizes locally owned restaurants with enduring appeal and food that reflects their communities.
Company history says a traveling peddler sold Angelo the hot-fudge recipe for $25 in 1918 after the family had invested in new fixtures. The business continues to tell this detailed family story, but this review did not locate a contemporaneous receipt, newspaper account, or independent food-history source.
Company and Illinois tourism materials describe Lagomarcino's as a continuous family business in Moline since 1908. No interruption was found in this review, but a full continuity audit would require business-license, closure, ownership, and corporate-record research.
Lagomarcino's was founded in Moline in 1907 by Angelo Lagomarcino.
Angelo and Luigia Lagomarcino began the Moline confectionery in early 1908 after living in Burlington, Iowa.
Source: Lagomarcino's official history; Enjoy Illinois, "Lagomarcino's Old Fashioned Ice Cream Parlor"
Lagomarcino's booths and lamps came from the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair.
The business’s own history says Angelo and Luigia ordered custom lamps, booths, a soda-fountain bar, and terrazzo flooring in 1918.
Source: Lagomarcino's official menu/history materials; Lagomarcino's official history
Lagomarcino's opened an East Davenport shop in 1988.
The official business site identifies its Iowa location at 2132 E. 11th Street in Davenport. This review did not verify an opening year or a 1988 East Davenport location.
Source: Lagomarcino's official website; Travel Iowa, "Lagomarcino's"
Lagomarcino’s has survived by preserving family knowledge while making its historic soda-fountain business relevant to new generations. The shop’s continuity includes handmade chocolate production, a hot-fudge tradition, house-made ice cream, and a family workforce extending across four generations. Its 2006 James Beard America’s Classics award gave national recognition to a business rooted in ordinary downtown Moline routines.
Lagomarcino's began in Moline, Illinois, in 1908, when Angelo and Luigia Lagomarcino opened a confectionery and soda fountain after moving from Burlington, Iowa. Company history places major interior improvements and its hot-fudge origin story in 1918, while house-made ice cream began in the 1930s. The shop remains family run at 1422 Fifth Avenue.
No verified evidence establishes Lagomarcino's as Illinois’s oldest ice-cream parlor. It has a documented 1908 Moline family-business history and has remained a major Quad Cities soda fountain and confectionery, but this review did not complete a statewide comparison of older Illinois competitors.
Lagomarcino's is known for handmade chocolates, house-made ice cream, hot-fudge sundaes, and more than a century of family operation in Moline. It also received the James Beard Foundation America's Classics award in 2006, recognizing its enduring local role.
1422 5th Ave, Moline, IL 61265
(309) 764-1814
Lagomarcino's is in downtown Moline; confirm current soda-fountain, lunch, chocolate-counter, and holiday hours before visiting.