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How the Ice Industry Heated Up and Cooled Off
One entrepreneur created a market, then technology killed it
You’ve probably enjoyed a nice, cool beverage today. If it’s a hot day where you are, you may have even plunked some ice cubes into your glass in order to keep your drink at an optimal temperature. Using ice for our personal comfort — today, among the most mundane of activities — was unthinkable in most parts of the globe a little over two centuries ago. In the nineteenth century, one entrepreneur’s unconventional thinking changed this, as he created a complex and expensive infrastructure for the delivery of ice around the world. Then, like so many other industries, the ice trade — a massive global industry — was killed by technology.
The making of the Ice King
For most of history, ice has only been available to people who don’t really want it. In cold climates during the winter months, there’s plenty of ice around, but nobody is interested in cooling off further. The use of ice for keeping drinks or food cold was, for most societies, a mark of extravagance. The Roman emperor Nero, for example, was known to enjoy a beverage on the rocks in between commissioning giant statues of himself. English King Henry III would show off to his guests by providing a mound of ice and snow for them to use in…
