“And ours was an ice box and the ice man delivered big blocks every other day...”
I’m not old enough to remember that, but I know now that’s why my grand parents called the refrigerator “the ice box”.
As I kid I had thought it was just an expression, a slang term.
I hadn’t known it used to be literally true.
“I’m not old enough to remember that, but I know now that’s why my grand parents called the refrigerator “the ice box”.”
We lived way out in the country, no ice delivery there!
We had a spring house. A shed built over the spot where the water came out of the ground.
The water was channeled into a trough and eggs, milk, cream, butter and other perishables were put in heavy crockery and kept cool as the water flowed around them. Even leftovers were put in metal pails and stored in the spring house until the next meal.
We bought our first refrigerator in 68. It was a second hand one we bought from my mother’s oldest brother. He had bought it new in 51.
It was such a hit we bought a second one.
Ended up with four.
One in the kitchen for daily use.
Four in the pantry, one for eggs and butter only, we sold a lot of eggs.
Two for milk and cream only.
I miss that spring house. It cost nothing to operate and upkeep was minimal.
My mother still has that original fridge in her house. It works better than her much newer one.