Not only is today National Vanilla Ice Cream Day, but it's the ice cream cone's birthday as well! Charles Menches is credited with inventing the ice cream cone when he began scooping ice cream into pastry cones at the 1904 World's Fair. Nearby ice cream venders caught on and historians believe that there were over 50 ice cream stands serving ice cream in cones by the time the fair ended on December 1st.