October 21, 2026 - A bit of nostalgia always overtakes me as I turn north off W. Columbia street on to N. Bolivar street in my small town. At what used to be 107 N. Bolivar stands the remains of the San Augustine Ice Company. At one time this thriving business contributed greatly to the welfare of the citizens of San Augustine.
To me, a pre-teen in the middle forties, the ice house meant a twenty-five pound block of ice used to make mother’s fabulous ice cream. Usually on Friday afternoons my father, Cecil, would drive up to the platform and ask Mr. A. H. (Top) Cartwright to get him a block of ice. Soon Mr. Cartwright would bring this sparkling cold commodity to the front of our 1941 Chevrolet, and gently place it between the front bumper and fender with his metal ice tongs. It would ride quite nicely there as we drove home.
While dad used an ice pick to chip up the block of ice, mother made her ice cream recipe, using a packet of “Junket” mix. My job was to sit on top of the old hand cranked ice cream maker so that dad could turn the handle. Usually after about twenty minutes the creamy delicacy was ready to eat.
I recall the time that the ice house installed an ice crusher machine. Now one of the jobs of ice cream making was eliminated. Instead of dealing with a block of ice, it was placed in the crusher and out came crushed ice, being much more convenient to use.
Ice was a very important commodity in the very early days of San Augustine. Most homes had ice boxes which kept food cool by use of a block of ice in the top. During WW II there was a German prison camp here. The local folk always resented the fact that the prisoners received the first supply of ice in the morning. I never knew why this was so, but do remember the complaining.
The San Augustine Ice Company, phone number 67, was much more than the maker of refrigerated ice. It was also a meat curing and storage facility. In fact, 1938 saw 10,747 pounds of pork, beef, and venison cured by the Morton method, and stored in their vaults. In 1940 the ice company introduced the “Belshaw Snow-Ice Merchandiser” which was installed in Metteaurer’s Food Market. It involved crushed ice being placed in trays under the fruits and vegetables which kept them crisp and fresh much longer.
Belshaw later became a large restaurant supplier of various equipment.
Also in 1940, the ice company introduced the Coolerator, which was an ice conditioned refrigerator. It claimed “Ice cubes in 5 minutes” for a mere $84.50, or a smaller version for $54.50. The more expensive of the Coolerator Ice Refrigerators contained a special copper ice cube maker whom the manufacturer, Duluth Refrigeration Corporation, claimed could make ice cubes using hot water.
This ice cube maker looked like an ice cube tray, but had a container across the top in which to pour in hot water. The Coolerator was them placed upon the top of a block of ice and melted down into a special ice pick that cut the cubes loose through a small hole. The final result was a perfect square ice cube that could be used in front of the finest company. The feeling was that crushed ice was rather common and not suitable for Sunday dinner.
An interesting fact about the Coolerator was that each of the spindly wooden legs was immersed in a one pound coffee can half full of kerosene. This kept crawling or climbing insects out of the ice box. Screen wire sides and doors kept out the flies and gnats.
The year was 1934 when the largest hog ever brought for curing weighed over 600 pounds. It was owned by Clabe Byley of the southern part of the county.
The San Augustine Ice Company had as its board of directors: Mr. J. R. Greer, President, Mr. B. J. Butts, Vice President, Mr. A. O. Rushing, Mr. John D. Clark, and Mr. R. C. Downs, with the General Manager being Mr. A. H. Cartwright.
As the Deep East Texas Electric Co-Operative expanded electricity into the rural areas, more people purchased electric refrigerators which not only did not need ice, but made ice themselves. Thus began the decline of the demand for ice and other facilities. The San Augustine Ice Company began a slow death and eventually closed down, thus ending an era that saw our community no longer needing their services. I suppose that was progress.
