Harvesting ice on Wenham Lake

The Wenham Lake Ice Company, operating out of Wenham Lake in Wenham, Massachusetts, United States, harvested ice and exported it all around the world before the advent of factory-made ice. Wenham-lake ice was awarded a royal warrant from Queen Victoria.

History

Wenham Lake Ice Company
Founders
  • Charles B. Lander
  • Henry T. Ropes
Headquarters
Wenham, Massachusetts
,
United States
Mrs Beeton's cocktail recipes with Wenham Lake ice

The company was founded by Charles B. Lander and Henry T. Ropes.[1]

In 1842-43, Charles Lander launched the construction of several ice houses around the Wenham Lake. According to Michael Faraday, the water of Wenham Lake was so pure from salts and air bubbles that it could withstand higher temperature than regular ice without melting. In November 1843, the town of Wenham granted Charles Lander the right to build a small network of railroads between the ice houses. In March 1844, Lander bought Peter's Hill for $75 and could plan the expansion of its ice-house operations. However, Lander was facing financial shortages and sold part of the company to George Wheatland and Judge Joshua H. Ward [2]

At the end of the 1840s, the ice from Wenham Lake became a luxurious commodity in London. The company opened offices all over Great Britain and Ireland.[2] In large institutions for poor sick people, wrote Florence Nightingale (1859), Wenham Lake ice stopped the milk curdling in summer.[3] By 1888 Mrs Beeton printed a cocktail recipe that used Lake Wenham ice; some Victorian households had refrigerators cooled with it.[4]

Advertising

A Victorian fridge chilled by Lake Wenham ice)

The company opened a storefront at 125 in the Strand, London in the summer 1844. Every day, workers would put a large block of ice in the window, and none of the typical neighborhood residents had ever seen a block of ice anywhere before. As a gimmick, the workers would put a newspaper on the other side of the block of ice so that passers-by could read the print through the ice, from outside the store looking into the window.[5]

The Ice Company advertised its product as "suited for table use, for mixing with liquids, or placing in direct contact with provisions, jellies, etc."[2]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Jonathan, Rees (2 October 2013). Refrigeration nation : a history of ice, appliances, and enterprise in America. Baltimore. p. 16. ISBN 978-1421411071. OCLC 861209914.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  2. 1 2 3 FOSTER SMITH, PHILIP CHADWICK (1961). "Crystal Blocks of Yankee Coldness - The Development of the Massachusetts Ice Trade from FREDERIC TUDOR TO WENHAM LAKE 1806-1886". iceharvestingusa.com.
  3. ↑ Nightigale, Florence (1859). Notes on Nursing: What It Is, and What It is Not. London: Harrison. Retrieved 11 December 2021., p.40.
  4. ↑ Beeton, Isabella (1888). The Book of Household Management. London: Ward, Lock. Retrieved 10 December 2021., pp. 88, 1050, 1225.
  5. ↑ Bryson, Bill (2010). At Home: A Short History of Private Life. Great Britain: Doubleday. pp. 71–73. ISBN 978-0-7679-1938-8.
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