The Ice Man Cometh Compiled by  Gord Conroy

Selling ice was an important business in the days before electric refigeration and the ice harvest was an annual event on the Avon River in Stratford.  Armour "Icy" Keene (see North Street) was the city ice dealer from 1927 until 1939. He paid $800.00 a year to the Parks Board for exclusive use of the river surface from Waterloo Street to North Street. His ice house had its entrance on Morenz Drive just at the west end of the arena.  

Starting in December, Keane's men would begin testing the ice with braces and bits, until they determined it was at least six inches thick. It was then strong enough to hold the horses and snow scrapers. 

When the snow was cleared, a horse pulling a marking device would walk up and down, across and back, until the ice had grooves approximately 10" deep. The ice surface resembled a giant checkerboard. We do have a phot0 of this work in progress but it is not from Stratford. (see photo at end of article). 

As the horse moved on to the next section, men with crosscut saws began to separate the long strips of ice. They were pushed with lumberjack pikes to the conveyor belt that ran from the shoreline to the ice house, where they were separated again, into blocks, and transported inside for storage. Once inside, the ice was stacked in huge piles and toppped with four feet of marsh hay insulation. 

The men worked round the clock with lights strung across the river. It was a major event and crowds of people came to watch. 

Each spring as the weather turned warmer the delivery of ice began. The iceman, along with his horse and wagon, became part of the summer street scene of every town including Stratford. Everyone knew "punch", Armour Keane's horse who pulled his ice wagon. Keane's  office was at 82 Water Street. In the 1940s and 1950s, trucks had replaced horses for ice delivery though milk and bread were still delivered by horse and wagon. Source: Mary Jane Lennon, A Stratford Album. 

Jack Wilkins Frosted Food and Ice Company was located at 315 Front Street by the Train Station (see Shakespeare Street) and was sometimes referred to as the old ice house. Before trucks were in use, the wagons were pulled by horses who often knew the route so well that it pulled the wagon ahead to the next house while the ice man was delivering the ice.  Source : Dean Robinson

Tongs were used to lift and carry ice by the men that delivered ice to homes and businesses. When the ice truck arrived at a house the delivery man would pull a block of ice out of his truck using his ice tongs. He would then lift the ice block on to his shoulder, which was protected from the cold and dampness with a thick sheepskin pad. If the ice block did not easily fit into the ice-box, the ice man would use an ice pick to trim the ice.  

And while that happened, kids would collect ice chips from the backs of the delivery wagons. Ah, the memories. 

The Little Lakes just east of Stratford were another source for ice for the City of Stratford in years past. Wilkins’ large building was constructed to hold enough ice to supply city residents for the spring, summer and fall seasons. Teams of horses with sleds would be used to load up ice blocks that had been cut from the Little Lakes and taken to Stratford. 

 By the time trucks started to make ice deliveries in the 1930s, Armour Keane had a fleet of trucks to take over from his horses to deliver ice from ‘Pure Spring Water.’ Keane himself never drove a car or truck. He still kept some horses even when they were not used for deliveries and looked after the swans for the city.

Early refrigerators relied on blocks of ice to be placed in the top.  Keane was one of the ice dealers whose product was used in many homes and businesses. 

Armour Keane also invented a safety device to insure that a horse who fell through during the harvesting of the ice would not drown. A catch released the harness and plow to the river bottom and the horse  was pulled to shore by another horse where it was taken to the barn, washed down, curried and generally fussed over, and back on the job the next day.