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RE: Time Travelling in the Philadelphia Archives
"Knickerbocker Ice Co." in the background. I really enjoy zooming into these archival images, they're rich with hidden narratives!
"Knickerbocker Ice Co." in the background. I really enjoy zooming into these archival images, they're rich with hidden narratives!
Not so hidden @voronoi. For more on Knickerbocker and America's long addition to ice, see my post at PhillyHistory: https://www.phillyhistory.org/blog/index.php/2016/09/cracking-americas-ice-addiction/.
This ice addiction is pretty fascinating...
Thanks for clicking and reading @voronoi!
There's even more in a related post about the rise of the refrigerator: https://www.phillyhistory.org/blog/index.php/2016/09/the-iceman-leaveth/. Here's a tidbit: "In Philadelphia, ... Knickerbocker, had massive plants, one with 125 employees and storage capacity for a million tons throughout the city. With the help of 1,200 horses and mules, Knickerbocker drivers kept more than 500 delivery wagons mobile on the streets. At the start of the 20th century, America seemed to need every last one its 1,320 ice plants."
Addiction, indeed! But it all came to a rapid end with electric refrigeration.