An Icy Summer

For non-native New Yorkers like myself, surviving the hot, humid days of summer feels like an annual badge of pride. Grabbing a popsicle from the freezer or an ice cream cone from the neighborhood creamery has long been a favorite way to beat the heat. Today, most Brooklynites take access to cold and frozen food for granted thanks to modern appliances and cooling systems. But how did 19th and early 20th century Brooklynites keep things cool before widespread urban electrification? The answer: natural ice!

This week's POTW depicts a horse-drawn wagon from the American Ice Company delivering ice to the Emmanual House in Brooklyn, a local civic center run by the Young Men's League of the Emmanuel Baptist Church. During the early 1900s, the American Ice Company was the largest supplier of natural ice to New York City. Ice companies like the American Ice Company used both human and horse powered labor to harvest ice from lakes and ponds outside the city during the winter months. The large slabs of cut ice were then moved on conveyer belts or ramps to insulated icehouses constructed of wood or brick for distribution in the spring and summer. A robust network of workers, referred to as icemen, delivered ice to households, businesses, restaurants, and hospitals across the borough.  

By the early 1900s, most Brooklynites stored their perishables in iceboxes, a non-mechanical wooden chest lined with tin or zinc and insulated with natural fibers like sawdust, straw, and even seaweed. Ice was typically delivered to the home once or twice a week. The iceman would cut a slice of ice from his wagon, recording the weight on a receipt, and lug the melting block directly into the awaiting icebox.

As living standards rose and demand for natural ice increased, the "iceman" became an almost legendary domestic figure--similar to the milkman or postman. The Brooklyn Daily Eagle featured numerous poems, songs, and even a few scandals about Brooklyn icemen. While the introduction of electrified refrigerators and artifical ice eventually made ice companies obsolete by World War II, the memories and recollections of this bygone era remain preserved in CBH's collections. 

Interested in seeing more photos from CBH’s collections? Visit our online image gallery, which includes a selection of our images, or the digital collections portal at Brooklyn Public Library. We look forward to inviting you to CBH in the future to research in our entire collection of images, archives, maps, and special collections. In the meantime, please visit our resources page to search our collections. Questions? Our reference staff is available to help with your research! You can reach us at cbhreference@bklynlibrary.org.