People have been using ice to keep things cold for a very long time. The first recorded instance of an ice house being used was in 1780 BCE (that’s almost 4000 years ago!) Ice houses were usually small, domed buildings that were mostly underground to help them stay insulated. Thick chunks of ice would be cut from frozen lakes or ponds and stored in these structures along with sawdust and/or straw that would help to keep the ice frozen. Ice houses remained in use until population growth made it impossible for every household to have their own ice house, there just wasn’t enough time, money, or space. So, in the 19th century (1800s) the more practical “ice box” was invented. They were invented in America by a farmer and cabinet maker named Thomas Moore. He used the icebox to transport butter to the market, this allowed him to sell firm, brick butter instead of soft, melted tubs like his fellow vendors. The first design consisted of an oval cedar tub with a tin container fitted inside with ice between them, all wrapped in rabbit fur for insulation.
To begin with, ice boxes were little more than small boxes with an area to hold a block of ice. Slowly, improvements were made and ice boxes became more and more effective. The majority of ice boxes were made out of wood, such as pine or oak. The walls were hollow and lined with tin or zinc. The space in between would be used for different types of insulation such as seaweed, straw, cork, or sawdust. Inside the box, near the top, would be an area to hold a big block of ice. As the ice melted, the water would drain into a pan, which would have to be emptied daily, or into a holding tank, which could be used for drinking. Both would usually be located at the bottom of the icebox. Wooden Ice boxes became beautiful pieces of craftsmanship and sometimes included carvings or other embellishments.
At the turn of the century, metal ice boxes, like the one on board, became popular. They were usually white to match the other household appliances of the period. They came in single compartment or multi-drawer style and ranged in material from lightweight tin to heavy cast iron. There were few metal ice boxes, the wooden style was much more popular. Ice boxes ranged in price from $15 to $50, depending on size and features.
The ice box allowed perishable food items to be kept in their original state for longer periods of time. Earlier food preservation methods such as smoking, drying, and canning, involved a lengthy process and altered the taste of what was being preserved. As the techniques for food preservation increased, so did the health of populations. This was due to the increase in fresh food readily available and the overall safety of stored food.
With the increasing popularity of household ice boxes there emerged a new career: the ice-man.
Ice would be harvested in the winter, then stored in ice houses to be delivered by the ice man. By the 1890s all but the poorest households had an ice box which made ice delivery very important, especially in big cities. The ice man would use a large pair of tongs or sling the ice over his shoulder to haul the ice inside the house/apartment. During the first world war, women took over, as they did with many jobs, while the men were overseas fighting. They were labelled as the ‘ice girls’.
Fun fact: Since Ice men had to physically go inside a home to deliver the ice and were usually in great physical shape, it was thought that housewives were having affairs with them. This is sort of a prelude to the common joke about the mailman. These rumours even inspired a song titled How’d You Like to Be the Iceman.
So where did the ice come from? It was harvested from snow packed areas and frozen lakes in the winter, then stored in ice houses until it was needed for distribution. Ice cutters would wait until the ice was at least a foot thick then clear the snow off with a plough or scrape it off by hand before scoring the ice into sections. Next, they used hand saws or other devices to cut through the ice. A pre-cut channel was then used to guide the blocks of ice to where they could be taken out of the water and placed on carriages for delivery. The job of an ice cutter was quite dangerous: the weather conditions could be extreme and it wasn’t unheard of for an ice cutter or a horse to fall through the ice. Ice was not only cut for commercial use, often more rural farmers could not depend on the ice man being by and so would harvest their own ice in the winter and keep it in their own ice houses.
In Montréal, ice would be collected from the St. Lawrence River or on the Rivière des Prairies. In Québec City it was collected from the Saint-Charles river or from nearby lakes. It was said though, that the best ice was that formed on the bay at Beauport (Québec). A long time ago
one could have seen up to 300 men working together to remove ice for Allan Shipping Line, Canadian Pacific Railway and for large Québec hotels. (e.g. Château Frontenac, Saint-Louis, Victoria) With the emergence of electric refrigerators there was no longer a need for ice harvesting. Today, the only time ice harvesting is practised is when used for ice sculpture competitions and for building ice hotels and other ice structures. In the Okanagan, ice was harvested on many lakes including Kalamalka Lake, Okanagan Lake, and many more.
One issue that began to emerge with the growth of urban populations (cities) was the contamination of natural ice sources. Pollution and sewer runoff quickly made many natural ice sources unfit to be used for food preservation. In response to this, by the early 1930s mechanical ice machines began to emerge. These machines could produce clean, sanitary ice all year round.
By the late 1930s ice boxes were being replaced in homes by electric refrigerators. The earliest refrigerators were available in the early 1900s but they were quite expensive: the first widely popular fridge was sold by General Electric in 1927 for $520. (about $8000 today!) These refrigerators grew in popularity and dropped in price as technology advanced. By 1944, 85% of American households had an electric refrigerator in their kitchen.
DID YOU KNOW? Seven-Eleven got its start selling ice. In the 1920s, electric refrigerators were becoming more common. As a result ice companies began selling other items to supplement their income. One store owner in Dallas, Texas began selling milk, eggs and other items, keeping them cool with the ice he was selling. His shop opened at 7am and stayed open until 11pm so working customers could get their ice. As the market shifted from ice to convenience items his shops were renamed Seven-Eleven (1952).
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