Vigo County Historical Society

Ice box brings fond memories of the 1920s

There was a movement in the front room window as my mother placed a large square sign there, which was usually every other day.

This orange sign was divided into four areas, with one part reading 25, the next reading 50, then 75 and the fourth space reading 100.

These numbers stood for how many pounds of ice you wanted delivered to your home by the local iceman. The amount wanted or needed would be the number displayed at the top of the sign or card.

The iceman drove slowly down our cobblestone street, busily straining his eyes, so as not to miss the ice sign in the front window of homes. When he came to our house, he would stop and lift back the canvas tarp, exposing one of the many 300-pound blocks of ice.

He would then take his ice pick and go along the scored lines, thus cutting off 25 pounds of ice at one time. Using big tongs to carry the ice, he would deliver the ice to our zinc-lined wooden icebox in the kitchen.

He had a special pad of leather fitted over his shoulder and I can still remember seeing him swing huge cakes of ice over his shoulder as he made his way into the various homes.

All this wonderful fun of waiting for the iceman stopped in the late 1930s for me. My parents bought an electric Kelvinator refrigerator and thus we were able to manufacture our own ice cubes.

I still miss the wooden icebox. It smelled sometimes, leaked frequently (I had to mop the floor when the drip pan overflowed) and had to be replenished constantly with purchased ice. I loved it, flaws and all.

The iceman delivered in town for about one more year, stopping at the beginning of World War II, and now lives only in my memory. A way of life was changing and I didn’t want to change all that much.

Checking the city directories for 1924, I found there were six places to order ice for home delivery. By 1931 there were three companies, which included Terre Haute Ice, Fuel and Cold Storage.

You may see two of these "ice wanted" signs in the museum among the exhibits on the lower level.