Before the icebox, people constructed ice houses. Although the dimensions and ambition varied, the basics were a pit in the ground, often lined with stone, and a structure above. Farmers, especially those who lived near water like Creve Coeur Lake, built relatively small ice houses while commercial ice harvesters like Polar Wave Company built massive ones. Regardless of the size, the ice house led to the creation of the icebox.

Like many inventions, the icebox solved a specific need. In 1802, Thomas Moore, an American farmer, wanted to take his butter to market and have it still be firm, not the usual soft tubs his competitors offered. So he made a portable icebox. His first one was an oval cedar box with a tin container inside, all packed with ice and covered with rabbit fur. That evolved into a larger icebox for home use.

Usually rectangular and made of wood, the box had hollow walls that were lined with tin and packed with cork, sawdust, straw, or seaweed for insulation. Some opened from the top for ice to lie across the whole box, but most, like ours, had a compartment high on one side for the ice block and wire shelves to allow free circulation of air. Finer iceboxes had drains and spigots to remove the melting water. Less expensive models had drip pans, which had to be emptied at least once a day.

The ability to chill food and thus retard deterioration changed the ways homemakers cooked. Instead of cooking one meal, they now planned for leftovers which would become the next day’s dinner. Indeed, newspapers and magazines promoted this reuse by offering recipes to turn them into delicious meals. For instance, roast beef could emerge as stuffed peppers or croquettes while chicken became molded chicken salad or stuffed tomato salad.

Of course, the iceboxes spurred the craze for icebox desserts, which could be prepared in the cool mornings and chilled until supper time. These were usually custards or gelatin-based such as this recipe for Chocolate Charlotte:

Line a mold with lady-fingers and then melt one two-ounce
cake of sweet chocolate in one-half cup of water, adding one
tablespoon of gelatine which has been soaked in three
tablespoons of cold water. Strain and cool. When just
beginning to set, whip until stiff, then fold in one cup of
sweetened whipped cream. Pour into the prepared mold and
set in the icebox to chill.

The icebox, though convenient, chilled food to only about 45 degrees, making it a welcoming place for bacteria, so it required thorough cleaning at least once a week to prevent food-borne illnesses such as ptomaine poisoning and lesser intestinal upsets. Newspapers regularly posted the recommended weekly procedure:

Remove any ice and all trays.
Wash thoroughly in boiling water in which washing soda has been dissolved.
Be particular about cleaning the corners as that is where food particles hide.
Wash again in plain boiling water.
Pour disinfectant in the drain.
(Occasionally remove the cups, traps, and other removable parts for a
thorough washing in a pail of hot soapsuds to which some washing soda has
been added. Then scrub and scald before replacing.)
Air thoroughly before putting in new ice and closing.

For some people, the maintenance was more trouble than the benefit. One offered a swap: “ICEBOX — Used short time, good condition. Will swap for chickens value to $10 or anything else. “

Our icebox was purchased from the Oberwein estate and refinished by Doug Meadows. Although it doesn’t display a brand name, it was sold by Shapleigh Hardware, a St. Louis company on Main Street in St. Louis that provided a wide variety of wares from nails and hammers to toys and iceboxes.

When electricity became widely available in the 1930s, housewives traded in their beloved, messy, labor-intensive iceboxes for electric refrigerators which did not require so much maintenance and which kept food colder.