|
| The ice cutting industry in the Waterloo-Cedar Falls area dates back to the 1850s. In 1858, the first icehouse was built by J.M. Overman and operated by G.W. Clark. One of the first men in the area to actually cut ice was Amos Wood, Sr. He was a businessman from Waterloo who owned an ice cutting business from 1860 to 1907. In 1902, Wood bought the Cedar Falls Ice Company. This business was operated by his son, Amos, Jr., until 1910. |
|
| The first icehouse was built by J.M. Overman and owned by Amos Wood, Sr. This rectangular wooden structure held almost 5,000 tons of natural ice. But in 1917, Hugh Smith purchased the icehouse from Weart Frisby and established the Cedar Falls Ice and Fuel Company - selling ice in the summer and coal in the winter. During Smith's first few years in the ice cutting business, the newly formed Spring Lake Company provided Smith with some competition. Despite the Spring Lake Company's efforts and claims that their ice was more pure, their business was short lived, leaving Smith with the only local ice company during the 1920s. |
