The Iceman Delivers

​Popeye and His Special Tokens 
 
Today ice cubes are dispensed right from the door of every home refrigerator but it was not always so easy.  A family’s food was kept safe and chilled in old fashioned wooden ice boxes that relied on giant frozen ice blocks for cooling rather than electricity.
 
Greensboro’s ice house was located in a valley where several natural springs flowed together.  The site is at the north curve of Main Street, just beyond the Episcopal Church.
 
Ice was manufactured year-round in very large blocks and customers would come to the ice house to place an order for the size and amount of ice they needed. Patrons pre-paid for the product and received special tokens to give to Popeye, the ice wagon delivery man. The look of each token informed Popeye of the size and amount of ice to deliver to the customer. 
 
Popeye would drive his horse-drawn wagon to the homes in the city and carry the blocks directly to the door.  There, he chipped each block down to size.  Some of the homes did not have an ice box and so Popeye would leave the ice in a big tub on the back porch. The tubs were filled with sawdust and the ice block was covered with a quilt to prevent melting.  In the heat of summer, children would follow Popeye’s truck and catch shavings for a cool treat, just like a snow cone.