Founded as ICE in 1906, Refrigeration Magazine has covered the life and business of the Ice Man for 107 years. Ice was a commodity in the early 20th century, in demand alongside coal, heating oil, and electricity. Delivered by horse-drawn wagons, blocks of ice were important to any household that wanted to store fresh food. Natural ice was cut and drawn in the winter from lakes in those areas with a cold enough winter, then stored in caves or specially built insulated warehouses for summer delivery. Artificial refrigeration, developed in Florida in the mid 19th century, had developed to the point that machine driven ice plants were widely developed by 1906. These massive operations, a few of which still exist in working order, use giant brine tanks refrigerated to well below freezing to immerse tens or hundreds of galvanized cans, each of which would freeze a 300 pound block of freshwater ice. My grandfather John Yopp was an entrepreneur who saw huge opportunity in this fast growing industry. ICE was a trade publication that had been started by Robert Kerr in 1906 to provide business information, technical articles, and support the community of ice producers. In 1919, John Yopp struck a deal to buy the publication, changing the name to Refrigeration in an effort to broaden the market for the ice producer. Most producers sold iceboxes along their routes, and he felt the title was more appropriate for the intended use of most of the product. In the 20s and 30s, mechanical refrigeration in the home was a distant idea. Refrigeration systems were charged with ammonia, sulfur dioxide, methyl chloride, or flammable gases prior to the development of CFC synthetic refrigerants in the early 30s. These chemicals would commonly leak noxious and corrosive gases or liquids, and people didn’t want them in their homes. The oak icebox with the massive chromed latch was a standard item in most kitchens. Refrigeration Magazine was a weekly paper throughout the 20s and 30s, publishing between 12 and 24 pages weekly in an 11 x 24 format. We ran advertising for many companies that are still around today, though perhaps in different forms: Henry Vogt Machine Co., York and Frick compressors. Cork and rock wool insulation companies advertised, along with ice can sellers, truck body makers, and suppliers of the ice boxes themselves. We once calculated once that in 1930 the publication billed over $1 million in advertising in 1990 dollars, and our historical records show some 20,000 subscribers. During conventions for the National Ice Association, held in swanky hotels in New York, Washington, Philadelphia and other cities on the train line (Orlando and Las Vegas were still wilderness), we published special daily show editions. In the 30s the new refrigerants took hold, electricity was becoming universal in developed areas, and homes began to install electric refrigerators. The ice box was becoming old fashioned, but the ice industry resisted the trend. It was understandable - they had millions of 1930s dollars invested in their ice plants and trucks, and employed thousands in plants and as deliverymen. They collectively protested, telling Mr. Yopp that “Electric Refrigerators are a fad,” that. “They will break down, spoil food, make people sick, and our reputations will be ruined forever.” Refrigeration Magazine stood shoulder to shoulder with the ice man, running editorials and stories about how to counter the “ice substitute” and sell the virtues of “natural” ice refrigeration. This was about as effective as a horse trader protesting the Ford dealer, and the story of the home refrigerator is one that everyone knows. Post World War II, the combination of massive excess production capacity and a massive middle class hungry for consumer goods killed the delivered ice business for good. Those few plants who stayed in business supplied mostly fisheries, agriculture, transportation, and other niche markets. Prior to the development of the transport refrigeration unit in the last 1950s - the Thermo-King - trucks and train cars were still iced down. By the mid 1950s our publication - thriving only 20 years prior - had dwindled to a monthly broadsheet, sometimes only eight pages in total. How we stayed in business is a mystery. Our refusal to embrace the growing trends of air conditioning and home appliance sales kept the undying loyalty of those few ice producers left, leaving those lucrative publishing opportunities open for other companies to exploit. The middle class that bought electric refrigerators and killed the ice box later provided a way to revive the ice house: they all wanted to go on picnics. They bought coolers and needed a convenient supply of ice to fill them and ice down their drinks. The 50s saw the rise of cutting those 300 lb blocks into ice cubes, and in supplying equipment to package those cube in kraft paper bags that were sewn shut, like grass seed or dog food. A number of coincidences helped form the packaged ice industry we know today. In the late 50s, a little company in Wisconsin called Leer made the first purpose built refrigerated cabinets for selling packaged ice. A chemical development in the late 1950s made possible the production of clear polyethylene film that was stable at low temperatures, strong enough to hold 8 pounds of varying shaped product, and of course waterproof. Henry Vogt Machine Company had already started making their Tube-Ice machine (an accidental discovery while backflushing one of their heat exchangers, I’m told). An ice company in Dallas called Southland had formed small stores at their retail ice sales locations to sell milk, eggs and other staples, and they kept them open from 7 am to 11 pm. The roots of the current packaged ice industry were there. Plant based ice manufacturing grew in the 1960s for the first time in 30 years, but none of it was old fashioned block plants. The structure of the industry we know today was in place and growing: fragmented or tubular ice packaged in clear polyethylene bags, driven in owned trucks and stocked in owned boxes at the growing number of convenience stores, grocery stores, and recreational locations. Southland became 7 - 11 stores, the pioneers of the convenience store industry. The National Ice Association became the Packaged Ice Association, then eventually the International Packaged Ice Association. We were partners in the rise of the packaged ice industry to its multibillion dollar status today. Refrigeration Magazine was still published in its newspaper tabloid style into the 1990s. Only under pressure from our advertisers did we transition to a conventional 8 ½ x 11 four color magazine. Looking back, it is difficult to remember why we clung to that outdated format, any more than why we clung to the iceman when appliances and air conditioning would have built a much larger publishing company. Focusing on other markets is a double edged sword. While you want to be true to your roots and stay focused on what you do best, sometimes not pursuing what is obviously a sea change in technology can wither your industry. Refrigeration Magazine has stayed true to her roots. We publish news and trends specific to the packaged ice industry. We are the only family-owned publication still serving you today, and if history has her say, we always will be.
Posted on: Wed, 05 Mar 2014 01:44:27 +0000
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