Just east of Ice House Park stood two large wooden structures to store ice harvested from the lake during the winter. Inclined wooden ramps led from the frozen lake to storage within the buildings whose walls were 12 inches thick and filled with sawdust. Packed in additional sawdust for insulation, the ice was preserved through the summer. Storage capacity was approximately 12,000 tons. Ice was shipped by railroad throughout the eastern United States to markets that included Pittsburgh, Cleveland, and east as far as New York City. Conneaut Lake ice was known for its purity.
The Conneaut Lake Ice Company was founded in 1880 at the end of the canal era, and as railroads were becoming a dominate method of transportation. Ice harvesting, storage, and shipping was an important business for Evansburg, now Conneaut Lake Borough, employing 200 men in the winter and 100 during the summer. The Meadville and Linesville Railroad transported 100,000 tons annually from Conneaut Lake.
The business flourished until the 1920's when electric refrigeration replaced blocks of ice. The last ice was harvested for the Conneaut Lake Ice Company in 1929.
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