Fussell failed to establish a stove business. He then operated a dairy business for a Quaker. In 1851, Fussell sold dairy products from farms in
York County, Pennsylvania, via milk routes in
Baltimore. Fussell also sold cream to customers, but found the demand to be unpredictable. In the winter of 1851–52, Fussell started to use the excess cream to manufacture ice cream in
Seven Valleys, Pennsylvania, and ship it via train to Baltimore. After two years, Fussell abandoned his ice cream manufacturing operation in Seven Valleys and moved it to Baltimore. He built a factory at the intersection of Hillen and Exeter streets in Baltimore. A Seven Valleys resident, Daniel Henry, would operate the factory in Seven Valleys after he left. In 1856, Fussell served as a secretary at the
1856 Republican National Convention in Philadelphia. In 1856, Fussell opened a factory in
Washington, D.C. During the Civil War, the
United States Army offered to purchase his operation, but he refused. In 1870, Fussell added three partners to his business in New York City, Stephen Dunnington, Nathaniel V. Woodhill and James Madison Horton. The business operated as Jacob Fussell and Company and sold ice cream for per gallon to hotels and per gallon for orders of smaller quantities. Horton bought out the other partners and would rename the company as J. M. Horton Ice Cream Company. Fussell befriended and taught Perry Brazelton of
Mount Pleasant, Iowa, how to make ice cream. Fussell was an abolitionist and was involved in the
Underground Railroad. After the Civil War, Fussell financed a housing development for African Americans called Fussell Court. ==Personal life==