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How Things Worked
Before the Refrigerator: How We Used to Get Ice
How increased access to ice―decades before refrigeration―transformed American life. During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Americans depended upon ice to stay cool and to keep their perishable foods fresh. Jonathan Rees tells the fascinating story of how people got ice before mechanical refrigeration came to the household. Drawing on newspapers, trade journals, and household advice books, Before the Refrigerator explains how Americans built a complex system to harvest, store, and transport ice to everyone who wanted it, even the very poor. Rees traces the evolution of the natural ice industry from its mechanization in the 1880s through its gradual collapse, which started after World War I. Meatpackers began experimenting with ice refrigeration to ship their products as early as the 1860s. Starting around 1890, large, bulky ice machines the size of small houses appeared on the scene, becoming an important source for the American ice supply. As ice machines shrunk, more people had access to better ice for a wide variety of purposes. By the early twentieth century, Rees writes, ice had become an essential tool for preserving perishable foods of all kinds, transforming what most people ate and drank every day. Reviewing all the inventions that made the ice industry possible and the way they worked together to prevent ice from melting, Rees demonstrates how technological systems can operate without a central controlling force. Before the Refrigerator is ideal for history of technology classes, food studies classes, or anyone interested in what daily life in the United States was like between 1880 and 1930.
136 pages, Paperback
Published March 1, 2018
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86 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
March 10, 2018
I actually had a vested interest in this book. My late father in law would tell us stories about his employment in the ice industry, where he worked as a teenager, backbreaking work delivering ice to homes. His father had lost his job, and all the money he made delivering ice went to pay the mortgage on the house in which his family lived. So when I saw this book I wanted to see exactly what his job entailed.
This was not in any way handled as narrative nonfiction, it is more of a scholarly rendering. I did learn much, as the book is divided into definitive segments, each covering their own topic. The beginning of the ice trade, how is was cut and where, the means used to keep it from melting, how it was delivered, inventions that made it easier, and how what we ate changed because of ice. Seems like it was a common job for Irish immigrants, among others. At one point over 25,000 workers, cu ice on the Hudson River, which was not an easy job and dangerous as well. So parts were fascinating and I loved the black and white photos that were interspersed here and there. Very informative book for those interested in this subject from a historical viewpoint.
ARC from Edelweiss.
This was not in any way handled as narrative nonfiction, it is more of a scholarly rendering. I did learn much, as the book is divided into definitive segments, each covering their own topic. The beginning of the ice trade, how is was cut and where, the means used to keep it from melting, how it was delivered, inventions that made it easier, and how what we ate changed because of ice. Seems like it was a common job for Irish immigrants, among others. At one point over 25,000 workers, cu ice on the Hudson River, which was not an easy job and dangerous as well. So parts were fascinating and I loved the black and white photos that were interspersed here and there. Very informative book for those interested in this subject from a historical viewpoint.
ARC from Edelweiss.
May 5, 2019
3 stars Thank you to Edelweiss and John Hopkins University Press for a chance to read and review this book. Published March 1, 2018
More historical account than story telling, this non-fiction book takes us back to the time that ice was cut from lakes and delivered to homes and businesses. The book was very informative and very interesting how the ice was cut and stored, especially during summer months, and then delivered. There were a number of pictures and drawings that were also included in the book.
From horse and cart delivery to the first refrigeration was a critical journey for people in the 1800s and early 1900s. From the large ice houses, which I remember from the early 1960s, to the small distributing kiosks of today, the manufacturing of ice changed the way people lived their daily lives.
One of the small things we take for granted today was a thriving but dangerous industry well into the 1900s. This book makes that journey in fact and picture.
More historical account than story telling, this non-fiction book takes us back to the time that ice was cut from lakes and delivered to homes and businesses. The book was very informative and very interesting how the ice was cut and stored, especially during summer months, and then delivered. There were a number of pictures and drawings that were also included in the book.
From horse and cart delivery to the first refrigeration was a critical journey for people in the 1800s and early 1900s. From the large ice houses, which I remember from the early 1960s, to the small distributing kiosks of today, the manufacturing of ice changed the way people lived their daily lives.
One of the small things we take for granted today was a thriving but dangerous industry well into the 1900s. This book makes that journey in fact and picture.
August 13, 2022
Short but informative! Very thoroughly researched. The detail gets a bit dry after a while, but there are enough little nuggets in there to keep you interested.
*Favourite bits:*
- Liked the Laurel Ulrich-inspired museum thought experiment to introduce the book. It’s a great way to start a story like this, and gets you thinking about ephemeral materials and heritage.
- Liked the tension between all the highly technological cold chain infrastructure that was built up in the 1800s/1900s, and the fact that all of it was still heavily dependent on the whims of the weather.
- Loved the fact that people wrote to the editors of Scientific American asking for information about mechanical ice machines in 1890 – funny how our go-to sources of information change.
- Loved the fact that Icemen (ice delivery drivers) were considered ‘symbols of male virility’ because they often visited housewives when the husbands were out working (57). Did not expect this story about ice to get steamy.
*Favourite bits:*
- Liked the Laurel Ulrich-inspired museum thought experiment to introduce the book. It’s a great way to start a story like this, and gets you thinking about ephemeral materials and heritage.
- Liked the tension between all the highly technological cold chain infrastructure that was built up in the 1800s/1900s, and the fact that all of it was still heavily dependent on the whims of the weather.
- Loved the fact that people wrote to the editors of Scientific American asking for information about mechanical ice machines in 1890 – funny how our go-to sources of information change.
- Loved the fact that Icemen (ice delivery drivers) were considered ‘symbols of male virility’ because they often visited housewives when the husbands were out working (57). Did not expect this story about ice to get steamy.
August 1, 2022
This is a 2018 book by American history professor Jonathan Rees. The full title of the book is “Before the Refrigerator: How We Used to Get Ice” and its focus is mainly on the invention, development, and demise of the ice industry. It is a well-written history book and told readers a lot of information about the history of ice we have never thought of.
The book started out with the premise the way we use ice was an American marketing invention which subsequently developed into something that changed American’s diet forever and changed how food can be preserved and be eaten out of season. The history of ice started in 1806 by Boston merchant Frederic Tudor, who sent a shipload of ice to the Caribbean island of Martinique. It then discussed how the early ice industry harvested ice in the northern parts of the United States, stored them in ice houses (sometime for years), and transported them, especially in summer times, to places where they can be used to put in drinks. It also discussed tools of the trade of ice harvesting like the ice unger to measure the depth of the ice field, coupon books with which families can prepay their daily or weekly ice subscription and ice houses where ices can be stored after harvest in winter until the summertime. As time goes on, ice also found different uses, such as for preserving food and for cooling during hot summers, especially in the tenements of New York City starting in mid-19th century. The author also focuses a lot on the development of what he calls the cold chain, which is the refrigeration supply chain. It started with either the ice harvest or later the large ice plants and ends with the icemen who delivers ice to homes and businesses.
The author also gave a good history of how the ice industry, which started with harvesting of natural ice form lakes and rivers, have its shortcomings, such as ice having sediments, leaves or may even have sewage from polluted rivers. He then talked about how starting in 1860s, technology invented machines (originally very big and expensive) that can make artificial ice in factories. That dramatically pulled down the price of ice and stopped the huge fluctuation of ice prices in years when they have a bad ice harvest. At first, steam engines were still the prevailing form of power. That gave the artificial ice manufacturers an added advantage because they made ice with water purified from the exhaust of the steam engine than filtered and distilled the water so they are a lot cleaner than natural ice. By 1900s, at the time electricity took over steam, municipal water supply in the United States was good enough to be the source of safe artificial ice. In 1920s manufactured ice has pretty much completely made the natural ice industry obsolete.
With the abundance of ice, ice price dropped so much they began to find other uses such as to cool down tenements in hot New York City in hot summers. In 1850s people were content with preserving food just by canning and pickling. In 1880s. however, diet changed by easy availability of natural ice, which allowed food, especially meat, to be preserved and transported long distances in ice trains. That led to the invention of the ice rail car which led to the rise of the large Chicago slaughterhouses to centralize the slaughter of cows and allow the meat to be transported safely to the east coast. Prior to the mass adoption of ice transport, the animals have to be transported from the Midwest to the East Coast, oftentimes when they arrived they were a lot skinner given the harsh journey. Another interesting use was brewers, which apparently was a big user of manufactured ice. In late 19th century, lager was the most popular beer in the United States. However, to make lager requires cold brewing and cold storage. Therefore, historically they can only be made during the cold months. With ice machines, brewers can stay open year-round, which increased production capacity and brought down the price. Starting 1890s, small ice machines became available and were used in hotels and creamery that needed a lot of ice.
The author also discusses how families used ice in the 19th century. Before refrigerators, there were ice boxes, which are boxes with insulations to keep ice and food cold. It was surprising for me to learn that in those old days, in addition to the milkmen we all have heard of, there were also icemen who visited households daily or weekly so they can provide families with ice. However, unlike milkmen who can just leave your milk bottles outside, icemen had to coordinate with the household so when they arrived with the ice, someone was there to take delivery and put them into the ice box before it melts.
The author then discussed how electric refrigerator was invented and popularized in the 1920s, which replaced the ice box and ice deliveryman. The major success story was the 1927 introduction of the GE Monitor Top refrigerator, which became a best seller because for the first time it was both reliable and cheap. By 1930s, refrigerators have become an American household furniture except for many people living in farms because in 1930s only 1 in 9 American farms have electricity.
The book started out with the premise the way we use ice was an American marketing invention which subsequently developed into something that changed American’s diet forever and changed how food can be preserved and be eaten out of season. The history of ice started in 1806 by Boston merchant Frederic Tudor, who sent a shipload of ice to the Caribbean island of Martinique. It then discussed how the early ice industry harvested ice in the northern parts of the United States, stored them in ice houses (sometime for years), and transported them, especially in summer times, to places where they can be used to put in drinks. It also discussed tools of the trade of ice harvesting like the ice unger to measure the depth of the ice field, coupon books with which families can prepay their daily or weekly ice subscription and ice houses where ices can be stored after harvest in winter until the summertime. As time goes on, ice also found different uses, such as for preserving food and for cooling during hot summers, especially in the tenements of New York City starting in mid-19th century. The author also focuses a lot on the development of what he calls the cold chain, which is the refrigeration supply chain. It started with either the ice harvest or later the large ice plants and ends with the icemen who delivers ice to homes and businesses.
The author also gave a good history of how the ice industry, which started with harvesting of natural ice form lakes and rivers, have its shortcomings, such as ice having sediments, leaves or may even have sewage from polluted rivers. He then talked about how starting in 1860s, technology invented machines (originally very big and expensive) that can make artificial ice in factories. That dramatically pulled down the price of ice and stopped the huge fluctuation of ice prices in years when they have a bad ice harvest. At first, steam engines were still the prevailing form of power. That gave the artificial ice manufacturers an added advantage because they made ice with water purified from the exhaust of the steam engine than filtered and distilled the water so they are a lot cleaner than natural ice. By 1900s, at the time electricity took over steam, municipal water supply in the United States was good enough to be the source of safe artificial ice. In 1920s manufactured ice has pretty much completely made the natural ice industry obsolete.
With the abundance of ice, ice price dropped so much they began to find other uses such as to cool down tenements in hot New York City in hot summers. In 1850s people were content with preserving food just by canning and pickling. In 1880s. however, diet changed by easy availability of natural ice, which allowed food, especially meat, to be preserved and transported long distances in ice trains. That led to the invention of the ice rail car which led to the rise of the large Chicago slaughterhouses to centralize the slaughter of cows and allow the meat to be transported safely to the east coast. Prior to the mass adoption of ice transport, the animals have to be transported from the Midwest to the East Coast, oftentimes when they arrived they were a lot skinner given the harsh journey. Another interesting use was brewers, which apparently was a big user of manufactured ice. In late 19th century, lager was the most popular beer in the United States. However, to make lager requires cold brewing and cold storage. Therefore, historically they can only be made during the cold months. With ice machines, brewers can stay open year-round, which increased production capacity and brought down the price. Starting 1890s, small ice machines became available and were used in hotels and creamery that needed a lot of ice.
The author also discusses how families used ice in the 19th century. Before refrigerators, there were ice boxes, which are boxes with insulations to keep ice and food cold. It was surprising for me to learn that in those old days, in addition to the milkmen we all have heard of, there were also icemen who visited households daily or weekly so they can provide families with ice. However, unlike milkmen who can just leave your milk bottles outside, icemen had to coordinate with the household so when they arrived with the ice, someone was there to take delivery and put them into the ice box before it melts.
The author then discussed how electric refrigerator was invented and popularized in the 1920s, which replaced the ice box and ice deliveryman. The major success story was the 1927 introduction of the GE Monitor Top refrigerator, which became a best seller because for the first time it was both reliable and cheap. By 1930s, refrigerators have become an American household furniture except for many people living in farms because in 1930s only 1 in 9 American farms have electricity.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 19, 2019
Before the Refrigerator: How We Used to Get Ice by Jonathan Rees was a brief and enthralling history of the ways people kept their food cold before modern refrigeration. The first electric refrigerator that was produced on a mass scale came out in 1927, Before then, people had to rely on ice to keep their food fresh. Rees wrote about ice harvesting and the industry behind it, which started with cutting the ice from rivers and lakes and ended with a system of delivering the ice door-to-door. He supplemented the text with maps and historic photos.
Technological innovation led to the development of artificially manufactured ice. Places where ice could never form naturally now had the capacity to make their own. Rees provided a wonderful map from 1905 showing all the US states and the number of artificial ice establishments in each. Customers preferred manufactured ice because it was made from pure water and had no sediment as was always found in ice culled from rivers and lakes. Ice produced in manufacturing plants could be designed to turn out crystal clear, which in spite of it offering no additional benefit to the product it was refrigerating, was nevertheless always a crowd-pleaser. People gravitated to thick transparent slabs of ice produced in factories over cloudy gritty slabs found in nature.
The capacity for all states to have ice available year-round had the profound effect of changing the American diet by preserving perishable food:
"The advent of artificial ice broke that stranglehold by making ice available in places where it did not appear naturally. Lower transportation costs drove down the price of the perishable food, which in turn increased the consumption of California produce."
and:
"Besides expanding the range of distribution for perishable products of all kinds, refrigeration cut waste due to spoilage. This increased the supply of all perishable products, which in turn lowered their price and therefore made it easier for more people to consume it. In some cases, the increased availability of ice also made those products safer to consume since they were preserved better throughout their journey along the cold chain."
As artificial refrigeration developed, reducing the size of ice manufacturing plants, those in the ice harvesting industry could see the writing on the wall. It would not be long before people would be able to make ice in their own homes. There was still a market for natural ice as long as the places they were supplying it to lacked electricity and access to an ice manufacturing plant. The last ice deliveries in the US ceased in 1960.
As home refrigeration developed with the introduction of the electric refrigerator in 1927, consumers suddenly had a smorgasbord of foods to choose from. Natural ice wasn't as cold as artificial ice, yet with a refrigerator in your home you didn't need to worry about storing ice at all. You could set your fridge to whatever temperature you wanted and thus keep foods fresh for longer. Ice, regardless of its natural or artificial provenance, ironically spoiled food:
"The first attempts to use ice for cold storage involved placing the ice in direct contact with food. That method worked only with foods that could stand up to water--like fish. Anything else would end up soaking and moldy before too long. Once people realized that the ice had to be separated from the food, they built two-story warehouses with the ice on top and the food on the bottom, with holes in between to let the cold air circulate."
I learned that the term icebox is in fact a retronym. The first appliances used at home to chill food were called refrigerators. Ice was stored in the lowest compartment of these refrigerators and the cool air circulated throughout the sealed compartment. With the advent of electricity refrigerators did away with needing huge slabs of ice. Those who bought one of these fancy new electric appliances had a new refrigerator, while those who still relied on slabs of ice to keep their food cold created a new name for their outmoded device: an icebox.
Before the Refrigerator was a short book of 104 pages and filled with endnotes. I found it however to be highly repetitious, and I rolled my eyes whenever I encountered yet again the line about ice increasing the diversity of American diets. Still, I never thought that I would say a book about the history of refrigeration would be such an interesting can't-put-down read.
Technological innovation led to the development of artificially manufactured ice. Places where ice could never form naturally now had the capacity to make their own. Rees provided a wonderful map from 1905 showing all the US states and the number of artificial ice establishments in each. Customers preferred manufactured ice because it was made from pure water and had no sediment as was always found in ice culled from rivers and lakes. Ice produced in manufacturing plants could be designed to turn out crystal clear, which in spite of it offering no additional benefit to the product it was refrigerating, was nevertheless always a crowd-pleaser. People gravitated to thick transparent slabs of ice produced in factories over cloudy gritty slabs found in nature.
The capacity for all states to have ice available year-round had the profound effect of changing the American diet by preserving perishable food:
"The advent of artificial ice broke that stranglehold by making ice available in places where it did not appear naturally. Lower transportation costs drove down the price of the perishable food, which in turn increased the consumption of California produce."
and:
"Besides expanding the range of distribution for perishable products of all kinds, refrigeration cut waste due to spoilage. This increased the supply of all perishable products, which in turn lowered their price and therefore made it easier for more people to consume it. In some cases, the increased availability of ice also made those products safer to consume since they were preserved better throughout their journey along the cold chain."
As artificial refrigeration developed, reducing the size of ice manufacturing plants, those in the ice harvesting industry could see the writing on the wall. It would not be long before people would be able to make ice in their own homes. There was still a market for natural ice as long as the places they were supplying it to lacked electricity and access to an ice manufacturing plant. The last ice deliveries in the US ceased in 1960.
As home refrigeration developed with the introduction of the electric refrigerator in 1927, consumers suddenly had a smorgasbord of foods to choose from. Natural ice wasn't as cold as artificial ice, yet with a refrigerator in your home you didn't need to worry about storing ice at all. You could set your fridge to whatever temperature you wanted and thus keep foods fresh for longer. Ice, regardless of its natural or artificial provenance, ironically spoiled food:
"The first attempts to use ice for cold storage involved placing the ice in direct contact with food. That method worked only with foods that could stand up to water--like fish. Anything else would end up soaking and moldy before too long. Once people realized that the ice had to be separated from the food, they built two-story warehouses with the ice on top and the food on the bottom, with holes in between to let the cold air circulate."
I learned that the term icebox is in fact a retronym. The first appliances used at home to chill food were called refrigerators. Ice was stored in the lowest compartment of these refrigerators and the cool air circulated throughout the sealed compartment. With the advent of electricity refrigerators did away with needing huge slabs of ice. Those who bought one of these fancy new electric appliances had a new refrigerator, while those who still relied on slabs of ice to keep their food cold created a new name for their outmoded device: an icebox.
Before the Refrigerator was a short book of 104 pages and filled with endnotes. I found it however to be highly repetitious, and I rolled my eyes whenever I encountered yet again the line about ice increasing the diversity of American diets. Still, I never thought that I would say a book about the history of refrigeration would be such an interesting can't-put-down read.
August 1, 2024
I found the subject very, very interesting, and the book sparked a lengthy conversation with my older relatives about their experiences with ice boxes, ice delivery, and electrification. The book focuses on ca. 1860 to 1930, in large part because of the emphasis on human technologies for the production of ice (as opposed to harvesting natural ice). I would have liked to have more about ice harvesting and shipping in the antebellum period. I wouldn't normally call for something like that -- a historian sets the boundaries of their work -- but the book was rather repetitive, and so I think there would have been space for more if the approach to editing had been different.
Regardless, I learned a lot! (And also now have a lead for how the students who want to research the ice house fire at the World's Columbian Exposition might go about that more effectively than they've been able to do in the past.)
Regardless, I learned a lot! (And also now have a lead for how the students who want to research the ice house fire at the World's Columbian Exposition might go about that more effectively than they've been able to do in the past.)
October 22, 2022
This was quite an eye-opener about the technology of refrigeration, but a bit repetitive at times. I just had no idea about how recent the use of cooling was and how it allowed people to improve their eating habits.
March 31, 2025
3.6 ⭐️
Was overall fascinating but would’ve liked to see more numbers to corroborate the growth of the U.S. economically and health wise. Thought it was a tad dry around times which is ironic given the subject matter
Was overall fascinating but would’ve liked to see more numbers to corroborate the growth of the U.S. economically and health wise. Thought it was a tad dry around times which is ironic given the subject matter
November 21, 2023
Mark Twain said ice is like jewelry only the rich can afford to wear it. Oh how far we’ve come. Great read.
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