Re: Ice industry ruined.

On Tue, 1 Apr 2025 2:13:17 +0000, Ed P wrote:
 

Ice houses were great and provided employment for people.  Someone came
along and destroyed the thriving industry.
>
It might be one of the world's most transformative inventions when it
comes to our diets, but the refrigerator was initially met with a frosty
reception. Although ice houses such as the one pictured were relatively
popular with the upper classes, everyday people relied on techniques
such as pickling to preserve their food.
>
When electric refrigerators were first brought to market in the early
1900s, they were dismissed as noisy, expensive, and difficult to
maintain.
>
To make matters worse, ice was America's second-biggest export after
cotton at the time, and critics widely slammed the refrigerator as they
believed it would harm the domestic ice industry.
>
However, following a series of developments from the likes of General
Electric, refrigerators became much more practical for home use.
Consumers began to "warm up" to the world of electric refrigeration and
never looked back.
>
>

Thank goodness for refrigerators.  Let's add automatic
washing machines to that list, too.
--