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Eagle Lake Remembers
The old ice wagon wheels rolling along our streets in Colorado County were unmistakable. They made crunching sounds whether on gravel or pavement. The sound of “Whoa” brought everything to a stop. Children jumped onto the wagons and chipped off cold pieces of ice on a summer’s day. The adults bought blocks of ice to take home. That was refrigeration at its finest, without electricity.
In Eagle Lake the ice man made his rounds throughout the streets carrying the ice blocks. From the old ice house near the railroad tracks behind the Prairie Edge Museum to the local businesses and homes, his days were busy. Many kept ice boxes on their back porches out of the sun for the iceman to fill. Ice was an important commodity for those who had a non-electric ice box.
The Ice House received carloads of blocked ice from the Houston train deliveries nearby. The ice was stored there and later delivered. Children especially liked the rush of cold air on their faces when the Ice House door was opened. It was a thrill to go to the ice house. The old ice house building area is still in Eagle Lake.
In Columbus there was the Meat & Ice Company built in a three-story plant in 1884. It was one of only three packing houses in Texas. Ice was important for preservation and shipping for business, as well as for home use. Saloons depended upon it.
We don’t think much about the cold drinks, ice cream, and frozen foods we enjoy today. Most don’t realize the process in early times of chopping ice from the northern lakes in winter, then putting it underground wrapped in straw for its later trip to the South.
It was work cutting and shipping the ice to our southern climates. Even at the White House there was an early ice house to store ice for presidential use. Trains were loaded with the sheets and blocks of ice. From cities like Houston the ice arrived to our small towns by train or wagon. First we knew, we held a cold sliver of ice like a popsicle from the old wagon bed under the watchful eyes of the driver and his mules.
Ice sales created the ideas for our first local drive-up stores where ice is still sold in quantity. The Texas ‘U Totem Stores were created from the ice sales market. Who hasn’t bought a bag of ice from the drive-up stores in Colorado County? In appreciation, let’s recall the old ice houses, the tongs and blocks of ice, the ice wagon drivers, the train cars, and the children’s delight of a frozen Popsicle. Summer is coming!
