Before there was mechanical refrigeration, blocks of ice where used to keep food and beverages cool during the warmer months. This week’s Throwback Thursday Pic was taken circa 1909 and shows a group of men cutting blocks of ice out of the Detroit River at Brighton Beach near McKee Road to be used in refrigeration. The blocks of ice would be transported from the river to various ice houses in the region, where they would be stored through the year to be used in refrigeration in homes, business, and freight and passenger trains. During the first half of the Twentieth Century, the ice man would come by every couple of days to your home to replenish the block of ice in your icebox. This activity disappeared after the Second World War with the rise of mechanical refrigerators which replaced the icebox in people’s homes. If you are interested in other historic images of Windsor, please visit the library’s digital exhibits page “Windsor’s History and Picture” at https://windsorpubliclibrary.contentdm.oclc.org/. If you would like more information about Windsor’s Municipal Archives please contact the archives by email at archives@windsorpubliclibrary.com or by phone at 519-255-6770×4414.

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