By Elliot Carter

The American Ice Company once operated five ice factories and numerous storage facilities in Washington, supplying 85% of the city's ice.

The American Ice Co. was a massive New Jersey-based conglomerate that dominated the ice trade along the East Coast. It was formed in 1897 by business tycoon Charles W. Morse who in unrelated business ventures would go on to cause the Panic of 1907 and be indicted for war profiteering during World War I.

Ice was a new and important industry on the East Coast in 1800’s. Ice King Frederic Tudor first developed a method of exporting Maine lake ice on a commercial scale in 1806. He marketed his ice as a luxury good to customers in the South and the Caribbean. Large profits also came through business-to-business sales to breweries, pork packers, butchers, and hotels.