BOXBOROUGH'S LAST ICE HOUSE

 

 

The last ice house in Boxborough, as far as we know, is on land owned by Liz West known as the Richardson farm. The ice house was built between 1900 and 1905. It is not in a phototgraph of the farm taken in 1900, but is listed in the Assessor's register in 1905 as one of a dozen ice houses in Boxborough that year. It must have also been the largest ice house in town because it was assessed at $100 while all the rest were assessed at $50. Mr. Richardson built the ice house to serve his dairy farm as well as sell ice to neighbors throughout the year. There are four ponds within 2,500 feet of the ice house, the closest being Flerra Meadows Pond at a 1,100 foot distance; and because of its close proximity, Flerra Meadows Pond was probably used as the ice source.

 

The ice house measures 12 feet wide by 14 feet long by 18 feet high and has triple doors in the front and a peaked roof. It holds about 130,000 pounds (65 tons) of ice, worth $1,300 at a penny a pound in 1905. It is wooden shingled, both roof and outside walls. The walls are wood studs with outside rough cut chestnut boarding and finished cut inner wall lining chestnut boards up to the eaves. The outer doors are hinged and there is a slot on both inside door casings for sliding in chestnut gater boards to form the inner wall at the door. It has a stone foundation and dirt floor. The insulation was most likely saw dust poured in between the inner and outer wall boards to form an air barrier. Saw dust was placed on top of the ice, probably 8 to 12 inches thick and on the floor to form a level area, an insulation barrier, and to absorb melted ice water. The saw dust in the walls was most likely replaced when it got saturated with water after the summer and when the ice got low in the early winter. Once the pond froze, new ice was cut in 150 pound blocks, hauled to the ice house by horse and sled, and lifted into the ice house by rope and metal bar hooks drawn tight by horses. The ice was stacked tightly against the inner wall boards in layers, with saw dust between the layers until the ice house was full by end of winter.

 

The ice house was given to the Boxborough Historical Society in 1997 as a gift. The members of the Society have dismantled the ice house and stacked up the pieces which are being stored in Ms. West's barn, and the walls, which are still intact, outside under plastic cover. It is the intent of the Boxborough Historical Society to re-erect the ice house at a suitable location, making needed repairs such as new roofing boards and shingles, new sills, and stone foundation. Once re-erected, we hope to make the ice house a functioning structure for educational purposes by re-insulating it with saw dust from a local saw mill and storing some cut ice blocks in it for the summer to determine how long the ice lasts. It hopefully will inspire both young and old as we see if the old ice house really worked.

 

Duncan M. Brown

Boxborough Historical Society

April. 26, 1998