Greenwood Lake’s ice age

In the mid 19th century, 23rd Street’s Flatiron District was the center of Manhattan, home to theatres, restaurants, parks, and a growing number of hotels with guests who liked their cocktails adorned with ice, a treat for some travelers and an important ingredient for bartenders. As the growth of hotels continued through the turn of the 19th century, larger hotels like the Plaza began to locate in Manhattan’s “country” district, later to become 59th St. and the demand for ice grew, so that hoteliers needed a steady and clean supply of pure ice for their guests. They got that ice from the spring fed waters of Greenwood Lake.

Ice houses were used extensively by the Greeks and Romans whose upper class could afford to build dome shaped buildings (a design borrowed from the Middle East Persians and Indians) packed with ice from the Alps, smothered with straw and wood. That combination worked well as insulation, keeping the ice from melting quickly. In New York city, however, hotels relied upon the ice houses from nearby lake regions for their purity and their ability to have it delivered by rail car, barge, and horse and buggy.

The start of Greenwood Lake’s Ice Age witnessed the beginning of what was called “ice farming,” a major industry in the area since the mid 1850s, before the advent of modern day refrigeration. Winters were much colder then and lasted throughout several months. Consequently, 150 years ago, hundreds of tons of ice from Greenwood Lake were shipped by train to New York City and other local cities. Orange County’s largest fresh water lake, a nine-mile body of water that lies half in New Jersey and half in New York became fertile ground for a burgeoning ice farming business for The Greenwood Lake Ice Company, started by Edward Cooper and Abram Stevens Hewitt. The Mountain Ice Company of Hoboken eventually took over the ice farm operation at Greenwood Lake.

The Centennial Celebration of the start of the Village of Greenwood Lake will be in 2024. Plans are underway for a series of events that will reveal the history of this Orange County village, including the involvement of celebrities from the sports world, Hollywood, television, and other realms. For more information about Greenwood Lake’s 100 year anniversary, like and follow its Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/gwlcentennial.