Community Corner

Lake Zurich was Home to Ice Houses

Frozen water was a commodity at the turn-of-the century.

At the turn-of-the-century in Lake Zurich, the lake was a source of ice that was cut out. 

The ice was harvested in the winter after beaches were closed. Ice houses included the Bruce Ice Company, the Knickerbocker and Consumer's Ice. 

The ice was harvested by scraping off the snow first and then cutting furrows. The cakes of ice were 24-square inches. 

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Ice was also transported via rail lines to the metropolitan areas.

Ice was delivered and sold to customers bby horse and wagon. The iceboxes had a pan of water in the bottom that needed to be emptied twice a day.

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The Knickerbocker Ice House was torn down in 1928.


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