Long gone are the days when things were delivered to our homes, such as milk, bread, eggs, and especially ice. These days, the only home deliveries are the mail and packages from UPS or Federal Express. Let’s go back to the by-gone days before electric or gas refrigerators were in existence. Instead, every home had an icebox, with its drip pan underneath.
It seems incredible, but ice was made in the winter and was preserved all year long, using ice houses with sawdust; thus, in the hottest times of August, the Iceman was able to bring his delivery truck up your street and stop at your house. On cold, frosty mornings, the patient horse would wait, its hot breath showing, just like the steam from the great iron horses of the same era.
The Iceman would look at the card in your window. It had four numbers, one facing each direction — 25, 50, 75, and 100 — so when it was turned one way, he knew how many pounds of ice you wanted left at your place. Using the ice tongs, he’d pull one of the giant, 300-pound cakes of ice to the tailgate of the truck, and chop off the size you wanted. Then, putting it on his shoulder, he’d head to your icebox. During warm summer days, the slices of ice that remained on the tailgate were delicious treats for youngsters in every neighborhood — long before Pez, popsicles, or even ice-cream cones. No, the Iceman didn’t mind the kids getting treats at his wagon or truck. It was part of the fun for him.
In the winter, many families used a window box to keep things chilled. And farm families usually built a “cold house” or a cold room in the cellar.
There were several places in Tyrone for ice. The prime one was along Logan Ave., where Flavored Nuts later was. Moses Wertner ran this business. At the Logan Ave. entrance, kids could buy penny candies, or ice cream treats, when they became popular. To pick up ice, folks would go down the alley across from Christ United Methodist Church. They’d place their order, and the right-sized ice cake would slide down the chute. There was a shredder there if you wanted to use it. Lots of people can remember going there for ice to use when homemade ice cream became popular not too long ago.
Later, the ice facility was moved down the alley and around the corner on Cottage St. Still later, people would go to Muncy St., behind the VFW, to get ice.
In the earliest days, milk wasn’t delivered in bottles, and certainly not in cardboard containers. Instead, each home had an enamel pail with a lid. The Milkman would come down the street, and just as the horses with the ice wagons, the Milkman’s horse would wait patiently. According to Ralph Hall, each family put a card in an envelope in the pail, with the number of quarts they wanted. The Milkman looked at the note and poured the requested quantity in the pail. Keep in mind that in those days, all of the milk was “raw,” meaning that no one had begun to pasteurize it.
Horses and wagons were used by Harpster’s Dairy, and later, motorized wagons were used by them, as well as Hagg’s, Hoffman’s, and Waple’s. Kids in the neighborhoods of the dairies loved to go to the delivery doors and slurp up a tongue full of milk.
In later years, milk came in bottles, including the deluxe “cream top” ones that enabled moms to take out the cream for special purposes such as making goodies for the kids. Milk boxes became popular, not just to keep the milk cool in the summer, but perhaps what is more important — to prevent the milk from freezing in the dead of winter and raising the frozen milk four or five inches up out of the bottle.
Many people can remember when George Lake, the Egg Man, would come around to his customers and bring fresh eggs each week. Eggs never stayed unused to become rotten, because every day, moms used them as part of the family’s meals.
In the “good old days,” mothers didn’t need to go out for food. If they or a neighbor had a telephone, they could call, and the grocery store would deliver. Or, mom would send a child to the store with a list, and the store’s delivery man would come shortly. All families had a charge account, with the slips kept on a big “register” with individual springs like mouse traps for each family.
Share your memories