The company, located at 455 N. Oakley in the Kinzie Industrial Corridor, was formed by their grandfather Sam Schy in 1917 under the name Chicago Soda Fountain Exchange. But though the industry has changed over the years, the display room in the front and parts shop in the back hasn't changed much.

Old shiny fountains and milkshake mixing machines line the walls, along with dozens of photos and magazine clippings of fountain shops throughout the 20th Century.

According to Terry, 52, the company originally sold what was then known as "liquid carbonic soda fountains" and various pieces of restaurant equipment. The fountains were originally installed in pharmacies around the turn of the century, and were used by pharmacists to make solutions to help cure different ailments.

"People didn't go to doctors in those days," she said. "People went to the pharmacist, and you would bet an elixir, you'd get a Coke, you'd get a tonic."

The pharmacies later evolved into counter restaurants where customers would order food, milkshakes and other treats. But after World War II, demand and production began to decline, and the company began refurbishing fountains for reuse.

She said the rise of fast food restaurants led to the further decline of the old-time soda fountain.

She said Ray Kroc, the Oak Park businessman who helped build McDonald's into a fast food phenomenon, started out as a milkshake machine salesman and regularly frequented American Soda Fountain Inc.

"I guess he had a client out in California that bought like 50 of these [multi-mixers] and he was like, 'Who is selling that many milkshakes?'" she said. She said the buyers were Dick and Mac McDonald, the founders of the first McDonald's restaurant.

Terry said the Internet has brought in a new crop of customers to their business over the last decade.

"If you looked up soda fountain even eight years ago on a computer, you'd get like 300 entries, now you get like 20 million," she said.

She said that in the past they regularly picked up the fountains, but now people ship them from all over the country

The company refurbishes roughly 50 old fountains for about $3,000 to $8,000 every year, she said. But much of the business is grounded in maintaining and installing soda fountains around town.

"We see a lot of people who are looking for a piece of nostalgia and we're basically just about the only ones who do this kind of restoration work," according to Phil, 58. "Restoration is a big part of it, but you still need the day-to-day service of keeping this going. It couldn't survive just doing the restoration work."

He said most of the fountains are shipped in but the company occasionally makes house calls, or in a recent installation boat calls.

Last April, Phil made a trip out to San Diego to install a fountain on the U.S.S. Halsey, a destroyer in the U.S. Navy.

"They were going to do an ice cream day once a week," he said. "But they said that before they hook anything up we have to have a tech from your company come out, so I went to San Diego for three days."