The Iceman Cometh

During the early nineteenth century, entrepreneurs recognized the commercial market for ice as a food preservative. As new ice-cutting tools, designed to harvest large quantities of ice, were developed, ice harvesting changed from an individual enterprise to big business. Ice harvesting and ice harvesting technology advanced rapidly through the 1820s and 1830s. Despite the improvements made in the ice harvesting business, the venture was still weather dependant. A mild winter meant a smaller ice harvest and more expensive prices for the ice that was available.

As harvesting technology advanced, home ice delivery blossomed. Most delivery companies offered their customers several tiers of ice delivery. A housewife could sign up for a seasonal contract or a weekly delivery plan. The seasonal plan meant that you received ice on a daily basis from May 15th until October. Weekly delivery was just as it sounds, the ice man came on the same day each week and delivered an eight to twelve pound block of ice to your ice box. Seasonal customers paid about $5.00 a day for their ice, while those on the weekly plan paid under a $1.00 for each block of ice they purchased. Ice was not generally available from November to April. However, this didn't pose much of a problem as wives and servants simply stored their foodstuffs in an unheated area of the home.

As the Victorians became more concerned about the quality of the food they ingested, many consumers began to question the purity of the ice they received. Because environmental standards were almost non-existent at the time, ice could be contaminated with the runoff from sewer drains and factory waste that was flushed into the water before it froze. The situation was dramatically illustrated in 1901 when Chicago suffered a devastating typhoid epidemic resulting from contaminated ice.

In response to the need for safe, clean ice, a number of individuals experimented with creating artificial or man-made ice. Using the same technology as the air conditioner invented by Willis Carrier, manufacturers were able to guarantee clean, pure, healthy ice to its customers.