Icebox

From RetroTech, the online museum of 20th century technology.

At the beginning of the 20th century, home refrigeration was only available by using iceboxes such as the one on display in the museum. Most homes did not have electricity, and the refrigeration machinery of the time was too large for home use. Ice blocks (cut and shipped from natural sources or made in industrial ice factories) were delivered to the home every few days and placed in the top of the icebox to keep items in the lower portion cool.

The icebox on display was made by the Sanitary Refrigeration Company of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin in 1916, and used by the F.H. Schulze family in Needville, Texas from 1918 to 1939.