Our Past Is Present July 6, 2018

July 6, 2018

            This is “Our Past Is Present” from the Geary County Historical Society. 

            Today’s story comes from an article written in The Daily Union newspaper by Katie Goerl, our Executive Director at the Historical Society.  She titled her article: “Iceboxes Capture History Frozen In Time.”  With the long and extreme heat we have experience this summer, perhaps the thought of ice and how it was gotten and used in homes after 1850.

            In fact, in our exhibit on the main floor at the Museum titled “Grandma’s Kitchen”, there is a large wooden box made of oak.  It is a “New Iceberg” made in Sheboygan, Wisconsin and was donated to the museum by Dan and Polly Stevens.  This icebox was how people kept food cold before the invention of refrigerators.

            Iceboxes were invented between 1850 and 1860.  They are hardwood cupboards with inner linings of tin or zinc insulated with material like cork, sawdust, rice husks, straw or seaweed.  They are built to hold blocks of ice on the upper shelf which allows cool air to flow through the food and drink cupboards below.  Water was collected in a drip pan at the bottom and needed to be emptied daily.

            To replenish the ice, the ice family would hang an ice sign in the window above the icebox.  The sign had different amounts on it.  The amount that was placed at the top is the size of ice block that the ice-man would deliver.  During the hottest part of the year they might have to deliver several times a week. 

            Ice was harvested from ponds and lakes in a labor intensive process that was dangerous.  Workers had to be careful that the ice did not have any weak spots where the men or horses could break through. Once the ice blocks were cut, they were hauled to the ice house where they were stored in sawdust to keep them insulated so they would not melt. The ice was not clean and could not be used for drinks. However, it did help keep food from spoiling during the hot summer months.

            By the early 1900s, Junction City was beginning to see commercially manufactured ice. During the early 1900s electric refrigerators started to emerge as a new storage option.  Refrigerators didn’t gain in popularity until the 1930s when Freon was introduced as a cooling agent. By the 1940s, they were common in homes with electricity and the ice box industry became a thing of the past. 

            And… that’s today’s story on “Our Past Is Present” from the Geary County Historical Society.