Many of us take ice for granted. It can be purchased at stores, easily made in the fridge and restaurants offer ice added to cold beverages if preferred. However, ice has not at all times been so easily available. Prior to the early 1800’s, ice was something that either fell from the sky in an ice storm or that accumulated on the ponds and rivers in the winter. That is, of course until a man known as Frederic Tudor, also referred to as “The Ice King” could understand the massive potential of harvesting ice off the ponds and shipping it to warmer places so that they could enjoy chilled refreshments.

In 1806, Frederic Tudor shipped his first load of ice to the Caribbean. On February 10, 1806, The Boston Gazette reported, "No joke. A vessel with a cargo of 80 tons of ice has cleared out from this port for Martinique. We hope this will not prove to be a slippery speculation."

While Tudor encountered many struggles in the process to realizing his aspiration, not the least of which was convincing people they needed ice to begin with, he did eventually become successful. After finally realizing some sort of profit in 1810, he had a tough time staying in the black as a result of war, weather, and relations needing bailouts. Between 1809 and 1813, when not inside debtors prison, he spent his time hiding from the sheriff.

Tudor employed many marketing ways to convince people of their requirement of ice including a "first one's free" pitch. People didn't realize how much they needed ice until they tried it. Once these people tried it, they could hardly live without it.

By 1821, Tudor's business was growing strong. Demand for his product grew in Savannah, Charleston, New Orleans, as well as Havana. Nathaniel Wyeth, Tudor's associate, industrialized ice harvesting with a horse-drawn plow to slice the ice into huge grids, which was a faster harvesting method. As Tudor’s foreman, he put an assembly method into place. Laborers sawed the blocks apart and put them into canals and floated them downstream. A conveyor belt would then hoist the blocks from the water and carry them up to icehouses, where they'd be stacked nearly 80 feet high.

The accessibility to ice changed the food and beverage industry and ushered in the invention of iceboxes which, from the turn of the 20th century, could be seen in nearly every home, grocery store and bar. The ability to keep foods cool allowed the transportation of fresh foods over longer distances as well as the storing of perishable foods for longer durations. America’s dependence on ice eventually generated the demise of the ice harvesting industry with the invention of refrigerators. Household ownership of refrigerators in the US went from 10% in 1930 to 56% in 1940 and by 1960 was up to 80%. (Strasser 1982: 265-267; Cowan 1983: 196)

Households, restaurants and stores equipped with freezers and ice makers have significantly reduced the marketplace for ice. However, you will find there's remnant of the ice industry selling bagged ice for utilization in portable coolers and for party needs. There is a modest market for specialized ice as ice sculptures and artist ice. We will take a closer look at artisan ice within our next post.

Next time that you are enjoying your cool beverage, remember the man with a vision that saw the potential for everyone to enjoy the benefits of ice in their home as well as the innovation that made it possible.