Frye Village Stories" Keeping it cool
A Shawsheen Village 100 Story
Before Shawsheen Village Frye Village Stories: Ice harvesting
Ice house on Hussey's Pond, Frye Village
Mergers & acquisitions
Although there were a number of small start-up ice companies in Andover, George Abbot, who lived on Gray Road, was the first recorded ice harvester. His original ice house was moved to Brook Holt's South Main Street property where he also built a dam and made an ice pond.
In 1899 Joseph H. Nuckley started a one horse-and-wagon ice company in Ballardvale. In two years he had acquired the Hayward ice houses in Ballardvale and his brother-in-law William Haggerty went into business with him. A few years later Joseph's brother, T. Frank Nuckley, bought out Haggerty, and the Andover Ice Company was formed.
In 1905 this company was bought out by Holt's company and it would be another year before the Nuckley brothers had established a new company, the People's Ice Company, which merged with Holt's company in 1914. As the company grew, it required as many as 24 horses for deliveries.
Ice was harvested from Hussey's Pond and Pomps Pond, along with a number of smaller man-made ponds.
Newspaper advertising boldly proclaimed the ice's purity and year-round availability of ice to businesses and individual families alike. Ice was even available on an emergency basis, guaranteed delivery 24 hours a day, if needed.
ACHC #2019.104.1, harvesting ice on Pomp's Pond
Rodent damage to the dams of the man-made ice ponds could also create trouble. The story of Holt's dam, which needed some repair, was that it was holding water almost ready for harvest when some "enterprising muskrats" undermined the dam, letting all the water out. Unable to harvest any ice, the business had to go to another pond to fill their ice house.
Hussey's Pond and Frye Village
The spring-fed water of Hussey’s Pond provided high quality ice. In 1899, Brooks F. Holt’s Holt Ice had two ice houses, on each side of Hussey's Pond, one on Poor Street the other on Iceland Road. Construction of the Iceland Road ice house caused problems. Holt had failed to get permission from Charles Hussey (son of Elijah Hussey) to harvest the ice. Hussey had contracted with the Ward family for their own consumption, not for sale, so Holt moved his ice harvesting to another pond.
ACHC #2017.026.53, harvesting ice on Haggett’s Pond
In January 1917, the Andover Townsman reported that "The People’s Ice Company began cutting their supply yesterday on William M. Wood’s pond in Frye Village. The ice is eleven inches thick, of excellent quality and between 400 and 500 tons will be harvested. If the weather conditions favorable the company expects to cut on Pomp's Pond next week, where the ice at present is ten inches thick and also an excellent quality."
Until 1926, The People’s Ice Company supplied the residents of Andover with ice. In hot weather of the summer, two deliveries were sometimes made. And no emergency call, regardless of the time, was every denied.
At the time of their retirement in 1926, the People's Ice Company had seven horses, three wagons, six trucks and employed 30 men. During their ownership they owned 131 horses, 50 of which died in service. Several horses to which they were especially attached were kept and set out to pasture.
The ice houses were located at Pomp's Pond, Hussey's Pond on Iceland Rd., and Ballardvale on River St. 10,000 tons of ice were cut yearly in Andover. Ice was also shipped by train in carloads from Milton & Brookline, NH. When demand was at its highest, it might require a train carload a day. In October 1926, the People's Ice Company was sold to the Metropolitan Ice Co. of Milbury, Mass. The deal included the ice houses at Hussey's Pond and Pomps Pond, the land that they stood on and all the equipment.
Click here to read more about ice harvesting in Andover on our website.
Click here to watch a video on ice harvesting in New England.
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