@pamish 6 March 2021 more from that month

The use of ice for food preservation has been around for millennia. In the United States, people depended on a variety of methods to prevent food from spoiling, including canning, salting and drying. But the most effective method was to keep food cool with blocks of ice. In the early 1800s, ice harvesting as an industry took hold as horse-drawn ice cutters pulled thick blocks of ice from frozen lakes for use in insulated ice houses and cellars. By the late 19th century, household iceboxes, forerunners to the electric refrigerator, were common. Ice didn’t only provide convenience for individual homes. It was key to advancing mass production and distribution of meat and other perishables, which in turn supported urbanization and a variety of other industries. By the end of the century, however, pollution and sewage dumping had contaminated many natural ice supplies. This problem helped spur innovations that led to the modern electric refrigerator. While there were earlier versions in the 19th and early 20th centuries, GE’s Monitor-Top fridge, released in 1927, was the first to see widespread commercial success.