“Freezing Ice in July!”

When artificial ice was first discussed, many people could not believe it was possible. Mamie Jones records an old Black man’s reaction when someone suggested showing him through an ice-manufacturing plant:
“What! Freezing ice in July! Why de good God himself can’t do that.”

Artificial ice was first manufactured in New Orleans about 1866, but no satisfactory method for commercial use was found until 1880–1885. Long before man-made ice was common, people managed without it for centuries by using spring-houses built beside flowing water or by lowering food into wells to keep it cool.

Source: Mamie Jones.