How did the Victorians get ice? (2024)

FAQs

How did they get ice in 1800s? ›

In the 1800s, people began harvesting ice in huge blocks cut from lakes and ponds in New England then shipping it all over the world by barge or railroad. By the 1860s, access to ice transformed the way meat and produce were stored and transported in the United States.

Ice was cut from the surface of ponds and streams, then stored in ice houses, before being sent on by ship, barge or railroad to its final destination around the world. Networks of ice wagons were typically used to distribute the product to the final domestic and smaller commercial customers.

Ice was methodically harvested from lakes and ponds and cut into bricks for transportation. "Filling the Ice House," 1934, by Harry Gottlieb. Smithsonian American Art Museum, transfer from the U.S. Department of Labor. The natural ice harvesting industry in America began to take off in the early 1800s.

For millennia, those rich enough got servants to gather snow and ice formed during the winter and stored it in straw-lined underground pits called 'ice houses'.

They believed that storing ice underground would keep it cold enough to not melt, or at least slow the process. Over the decades, various buildings, insulated with hay, straw, or sawdust were used.

Iceboxes were commonly found in homes. Similar to our modern day refrigerators, these ice and food storage devices acted as coolers. Of course the insulation was less sophisticated than what's available today, and even large blocks of ice typically only lasted for one day.

Their engineers developed an evaporative cooler structure called Yakhchāl (Persian for “ice pit”), which was a dome-shaped building up to two stories tall, with an equal amount of space underground. The underground area kept ice, as well as any other food, cool through the use of air flow.

Answer and Explanation: They cut blocks of ice from a frozen river or lake during the winter then stored the blocks in an insulated or subterranean building called an "Ice House." Ice houses were designs to keep ice frozen through the summer so it could be used at any time of the year.

According to the record in the Confucian classic Zhou Rites, the Zhou royal court had a specialized department called the "ice administration" which had 80 employees. The department collected natural ice blocks each December, and then transported them to the ice house for storage.

The ice was kept cold by insulating it with straw and sawdust and stored in warehouses until it was time to be used. People cut ice from lakes using hand saws. Eventually they started using horse drawn machinery to cut ice, but it was still hard and dangerous work.

How much did ice cost in the 1800s? ›

Moreover, it stated, shipping ice cost an average of $2.00 per ton in 1847. In Havana that same year, ice sold for 6 ¼ cents per pound with 1,112 tons consumed, New Orleans' price was set at 3 cents per pound – 28,000 tons, while Boston used 27,000 tons, with an average price of 13. 5 cents per hundred pounds.

An ice house, or icehouse, is a building used to store ice throughout the year, commonly used prior to the invention of the refrigerator. Some were underground chambers, usually man-made, close to natural sources of winter ice such as freshwater lakes, but many were buildings with various types of insulation.

Millersburg Ice is capable of producing up to 10 tons of ice per day in 300-pound blocks. To start the process, large containers called “cans” are filled with water and then placed in a massive vat of brine that is chilled to -32 degrees. Inside the cans are rods that shoot air into the water to keep it circulating.

The Sesquicentennial adds, “Ice could be stored for as long as two years, through a process which involved packing the frozen water in straw and sawdust.

An ice house is a building designed to store blocks of ice. Before electricity, the only way to access ice was to cut it from ponds and lakes during the winter, and to store it in ice houses to keep the ice frozen through the spring and summer. An ice house's system of vents, drains, and insulation kept ice cold.

Using ice to cool drinks dates back to the ancient Egyptians, Athenians, and Mesopotamians who put ice or snow into their wine or water.

Community cooling houses were an integral part of many villages to keep meat, fruit and vegetables stored. At various points in time ice houses were built often underground or as insulated buildings – these were used to store ice and snow sourced during winter, to keep foods cold during the warmer months.

They carved chunks off of the lake or river and stored them in buildings that were insulated with hay-like materials. The ice would be layered with the straw/grass or whatever and pockets left open for storage of meats. With a large enough volume of ice, the interior would stay cold until the next ice harvest.

Underground pits with the constant underground temperature of 12 °C (54 °F) had been used since Roman times to help preserve ice collected during winter.

This was typically made of wood with a tin or zinc lining packed with straw, sawdust, cork, or seaweed for insulation. A large block of ice held in a compartment or tray near the top of the icebox kept any food stored along with it chilly for a reasonable period of time.

How did they keep food cold before electricity? ›

Businesses specialized in delivering blocks of ice to fill ice pits during the summer months. At the end of the 19th century, many people kept their food fresh in iceboxes made of wood. These cabinets held large blocks of ice to keep food cool. Iceboxes were lined with tin or zinc for insulation.

Ice harvesting was a very large industry in America for about 150 years, from the early 1800s to the mid-1950s. It was called harvesting because it involved the gathering of a cold-weather “crop.”

Beer. Beer was often served at room temperature since refrigeration was mostly unavailable. Adolphus Busch introduced refrigeration and pasteurization of beer in 1880 with his Budweiser brand. Some saloons kept the beer in kegs stored on racks inside the saloon.

Fill the freezer with water and then place it in the sun. The water will slowly freeze and turn into ice. Once the ice is made, remove it from the freezer and enjoy!

But after the Civil War, beer started showing up in Western saloons and became very popular, as well. It had as many colorful monikers as whiskey: John Barleycorn, purge, hop juice, calobogus, wobbly pop, mancation, let's mosey, laughing water, mad dog, Jesus juice, pig's ear, strike-me-dead, even heavy wet.

The ice was brought in during the winters from nearby mountains in bulk amounts, and stored in a Yakhchal, or ice-pit. These ancient refrigerators were used primarily to store ice for use in the summer, as well as for food storage, in the hot, dry desert climate of Iran.

Ice, a common ingredient in many co*cktails, was at one point a rare treat for only the wealthy. For the bulk of human history, its creation was through purely natural means. Indian and Egyptian cultures used rapid evaporation to cool water quickly, sometimes quickly enough to make ice.

The answer was to store the ice in insulated icehouses and transport it aboard well-insulated ships. One of the best insulators available at the time was sawdust.

The latest ice age peaked about 20,000 years ago, when global temperatures were likely about 10°F (5°C) colder than today. At the Pleistocene Ice Age's peak, massive ice sheets stretched over North America and Eurasia.

Officially referred to as the “Last Glacial Maximum”, the Ice Age which happened 23,000 to 19,000 years ago witnessed an average global temperature of 7.8 degree Celsius (46 F), which doesn't sound like much, but is indeed very cold for the average temperature of the planet.

How did people keep warm in winter in 1800? ›

People wore layered clothing made of wool, flannel, or fur. Typical winter outerwear included hooded capes, great coats, scarves, cloaks, shawls, scarves, muffs, gloves, mittens, thick socks, stockings, long wraps, caps, hats, and ear mufs.

One man in particular, the Boston businessman Frederic "The Ice King" Tudor, engineered the change during the first half of the 1800s. Known for his pigheadedness as much as his marketing savvy, he revolutionized both the ice trade and the way we live.

Keeping cool

The Victorians didn't have access to electric freezers or ice cream machines. Instead they would have collected ice from rivers and ponds in the winter, and stored it in ice houses. Many large country houses had one, including Kenwood, Audley End House, Osborne and Battle Abbey.

Community cooling houses were an integral part of many villages to keep meat, fruit and vegetables stored. At various points in time ice houses were built often underground or as insulated buildings – these were used to store ice and snow sourced during winter, to keep foods cold during the warmer months.

Without the use of electricity, many families still rely on their yearly supply of ice to keep their food from spoiling clear through summer. Traditionally ice houses were made of wood, but now we see old freezer trucks and small buildings lined in styrofoam up to two or three feet thick built to store winter ice.

Once the ice was harvested, it was stored in the ice house, known in Persian as yakhchal. The ice was stored in a deep pit in alternating layers of ice and insulating straw. The structure of the ice house is very thick which helps keep it cool in the hot climate, thanks to the large thermal mass that regulates heat.

Freezing and Cooling

In castles and large homes with cellars, an underground room could be used to keep foods packed in winter ice through the cooler spring months and into the summer.

The creation of yakhchāls (a Persian word – yakh meaning “ice” and chāl meaning “pit”), a structure which worked as a cooler, allowed the freezing of water to take place. Yakhchāls were large above ground structures built with heat-insulating materials which served as coolers during the hotter months of the year.

It's not that the Amish aren't allowed to use electricity, it's that they believe too much reliance on electricity or access to public power grids will tie them too closely to the rest of the world and hurt their well-preserved culture. It's not necessarily against their beliefs to have power.

In modern times, icehouses can be used to provide backup or bulk storage for meat and other items, just for the novelty, or it can be a step towards living life off the grid.

How deep are ice houses? ›

"My Ice House is about 18 feet deep and 16 square, the bottom is a Coarse Gravell & the water which drains from the ice soaks into it as fast as the Ice melts, this prevents the necessity of a Drain ... the Walls of my Ice House are built of stone without Mortar (which is called Dry Wall) untill within a foot and a ...

These ancient ice houses were used to store blocks of ice that were gathered during winter – sometimes the ice was shipped in from mountain towns. Ancient Rome even had snow shops where spectators could cool off before heading into to the Coliseum to see gladiators in action.

Ice was cut from the surface of ponds and streams, then stored in ice houses, before being sent on by ship, barge or railroad to its final destination around the world. Networks of ice wagons were typically used to distribute the product to the final domestic and smaller commercial customers.

A yakhchāl (Persian: یخچال "ice pit"; yakh meaning "ice" and chāl meaning "pit") is an ancient type of ice house that functions as an evaporative cooler. The structure had a domed shape above ground and a subterranean storage space. It was often used to store ice, but sometimes was used to store food as well.

Many tons of ice were cut from a nearby river in winter, transported by wagon to the icehouse, and deposited into the ice pit. The blocks of ice fused into one giant mass. Gravel at the bottom of the pit drained water from melting, and thick stone walls and straw insulation minimized heat-loss from the icehouse above.

People cut ice from lakes using hand saws. Eventually they started using horse drawn machinery to cut ice, but it was still hard and dangerous work. People in cities also became accustomed to ice as an everyday necessity, and eventually, naturally harvested ice was eventually replaced by ice made in factories.

Community cooling houses were an integral part of many villages to keep meat, fruit and vegetables stored. At various points in time ice houses were built often underground or as insulated buildings – these were used to store ice and snow sourced during winter, to keep foods cold during the warmer months.

Well, it is a subterranean structure, built and used for the storage of ice and in turn for the preservation of food. When ice is packed together, its relatively small surface area slows down the thawing process.

Before refrigerators were commonplace, people kept cool by storing blocks of ice or snow. This practice dates back centuries, including to the ancient Greeks and Romans. The Romans had ice. They'd collect snow and store it in pits throughout the year to keep cool in the hot months and as a luxury for the wealthy.

How did they keep food cold before refrigerators? ›

Community cooling houses were an integral part of many villages to keep meat, fruit and vegetables stored. At various points in time ice houses were built often underground or as insulated buildings – these were used to store ice and snow sourced during winter, to keep foods cold during the warmer months.