Photo of all that remains of the Knickerbocker icehouse. (Courtesy of J. Michael Morrison.)
On November 11, 1894, one of the large icehouses of the Knickerbocker Ice Company caught fire. Even though the icehouse was built partially of stone, it was destroyed since there was no volunteer fire company in Upper Merion at that time. Bridgeport Fire Company Number One responded to the alarm with its horse-drawn apparatus. The building was consumed. A shift in the wind saved the other icehouses and two dwellings for the company employees.
Huge icehouses along the Schuylkill River in the Abrams section of King of Prussia provided jobs for hundreds in the wintertime. The river was shallow, and the ice could be cut and pulled ashore and stored in the vast facilities. The Knickerbocker Ice Company was the largest in the area. Knickerbocker employed 400–500 men in one facility, cutting and transporting ice whenever its thickness reached six inches or more.
To find out more about the Knickerbocker Ice Company, read the Winter 2013 issue of the King of Prussia Gazette. A benefit of Society membership, the King of Prussia Gazette mailed quarterly to Society members, features articles about our local history and other valuable information.