Our house was built in the late 1930s and has a lot of character. While it is in a pretty ‘busy setting’ now, it was once on the outskirts of town and a lot like an old farmhouse. We wanted to keep it decorated with things that have some age to them and that would remind you of walking into a house years ago.

In our back hall, we added an antique ice box – the kind that once had room for a big block of ice and shelves to put meat and other perishables inside. It is made of oak and quite attractive. Of course, we use it for holding canned goods and baking items, not fresh foods. It is rather amazing to see that it still has the original label, even after all these years. Nice to know it got the “Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval.”
To maintain the ‘old-fashioned look’, we began a search for items that might have been used with it.

One very obvious choice was a set of ‘tongs’ used for picking up blocks of ice. We thought they’d be fairly common, but it took a while to find.

We headed to a favorite antique store (School Days Mall in Sturtevant, Wisconsin) and there we found them, quite inexpensive too.

We continued the hunt for more items.
While on a trip to Minnesota, we stopped at a flea market and there we found a cool item, quite literally “cool.” It was a Coolerator Brand Ice Cuber.

Patented in the late 1930s, these were made to use with Coolerator refrigerators. It is made of metal and measures about 11-/2” x 3-1/2”. It has a screw on/off spigot on one end. At first, we were unsure as to its use. But then we turned it over and all at once, we understood. The idea was to pour hot water into the opening, then press the piece down onto a block of ice.

The compartmentalized side would sink into the ice block and form cubes! We have only seen one other like it.
Another item was purchased at the Elkhorn Flea Market (Wisconsin) It is an ice shaver, made by Logan & Strobridge Iron Co. of New Brighton, Pennsylvania. It’s nice and solid, heavy-duty and still has a blade. We keep that away from the grandkids!

If you used ice back then, you’d have to have picks and we found three – one from the Blue Wagon Ice Co and another from Wisconsin Ice. The one that has a lot of teeth is also from the Coolerator Company, a real coincidence.

We still had some room on top of the ice box and wanted other items from the “dairy state.’ Of course! A mini-milk bottle from Borden’s and some ephemera from the old dairies. My husband’s grandfather worked at Gridley Dairy, which became Borden’s, so these were naturals. We even found an old advertising wood and metal print block from Borden’s at an estate sale.
We took it a step further. If you have milk – you want to be able to make butter. So, this neat oldie called the White Cedar Cylinder Churn was our next purchase (found at an auction.) Everyone who enters wants to pick up the lid and view the insides. Yep, the blades are still intact, even after all these years.
It is a lot of fun to decorate with antiques and collectibles from days gone by. Our oldest daughter appreciates these oddities; our younger one, not so much!
The top is of the old ice box is pretty full now but we continue to search for other items – we can always add on. At least until my husband hears my latest ideas.

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Today my collections are limited to a very few, difficult to find items. The most fun is my Neenah Foundry collection. Anything with Neenah Foundry on it, but with a preference for manhole covers. Second is the fire hydrants, now limited to looking for Waterus of St. Paul, and lastly I have a collection of Ice Buckets.

I currently have two fire hydrants, seven ice buckets and still no manhole covers. Wifey gets upset when I’m asked “what do you collect”? I tell people “Manhole covers, Neenah Foundry, turn of the century, preferably with city or location names”. (Nobody has had any, Phew.) She’s so concerned that if one goes missing from the area, the authorities will be at my front door.

I have yet to find one for sale and if I did, I can assure you it would be too expensive, too heavy or one I already had. Wink wink. I do have a tie clasp advertising a manhole cover and a metal step we use as a boot scrape both from Neenah Foundry.

The fire hydrants were both purchased at yard sales. The first one was a discard form the Village of Wauwatosa. The lady wanted to get her purchase price back and I paid about what retail was at the time. Wifey found the second one. Someone just trying to get it out of their yard, so the price was lower than the scrap metal value. Lucky for her, the garage sale was held by the Heavyweight Ironworkers Benevolent Society, (HI-BS) or she never would have gotten it into the van.

Everybody can understand those kind of collectibles, but how do I explain the need for more than one ice bucket?

I have one from the 1960s, large and made of plastic with a soft outer body and it has bar utensils hanging on its side. I use this one for outside parties where the fear of breakage keeps me from using any of the others. This one was popular when ‘wreck’ rooms were the rage in the basement with a dry bar, 3 bar stools, beer signs, possibly a pool table and a 20 year old refrigerator with a freezer that would hold two ice cube trays IF it ever got defrosted.

My first real purchase was an Oaken bucket design, clear glass with bale handle. It’s common to find and useful if the crowd is small. (We have very few friends, because I serve cheap beer and watered down drinks, and have a specially built wine cooler that holds 3 boxes, red, white and off white.)

The collection grew with the addition of a small handle-less Polka Dot pattern bucket in the shape of an over sized shot glass, which one guest used for her own drink. I think this one was made by Anchor in the early Sixties. Purchased at a yard sale, it’s no beauty and I am not sure why I keep it around.

Then came the pink Depression glass bucket with bale handle. All the ones from that era have the applied glass nubbies that hold the handle to the bucket. The pattern on it is called “Tea Room” by Indiana Glass Co. It’s used from time-to-time to impress all four of our friends. (They always show up and leave together out of fear of being talked about, if one doesn’t come along.) (I wonder what they say about us, on the way over.)

Next came the amber colored bucket. It has an etched swag pattern with Fuchsia, appearing to be from Tiffin Glass Co. in the early Thirties. It has the familiar bale handle and glass nubbies. It’s very attractive and large. It holds lots of ice when the Rellies descend on our place.

I also have a Hazel Atlas Glass Co. “SailBoat” set that includes an ice bowl in cobalt blue with white. This set goes well with our Moderntone dish set and was part of a gift from my Mother. A collection she accumulated in the Thirties.

Last I have this Heisey Tangerine colored, paneled bucket with concave circles in the upper panels. I know my picture does not capture the richness of the red-orange thick glass that we have tried to identify in our ‘Elegant Glassware of the Depression Era’ book from Gene Florence. (Collector Books.)

All but the Tangerine and Cobalt, which were gifts, I purchased at very reasonable prices at flea markets or garage sales. They were all purchased as useful items, not for their possible profit at resale. That some have value is an added bonus, but usefulness or decorator appeal played the major role in the decision to buy. When not in use, they enhance our entertainment “Deco Room”.

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