Shelby’s First Ice Was Cut from a Pond Behind a Theater

Before any commercial ice plants existed in Shelby, local ice was gathered the old-fashioned way. Albert Green built an ice house on East Marion Street, on the site where the Rogers Theatre later stood, and cut ice from a pond located just behind the building. The ice was packed in sawdust and stored so it would last into the warmer months. Green sold this natural ice to drugstores, where it was used mainly for cooking and cooling food. This meant that some of Shelby’s earliest “refrigeration” came from a backyard pond rather than a factory.