Does anyone remember the Verdun Ice House situated on Beurling near Woodland way before Champlain Blvd existed. Set back in the field this Big Black Barn Like Building stored the ice for Verdun ice boxes before the fridge came along.I must admit I never saw it but my husband told me he would help the iceman deliver the ice to the houses in Verdun.
Maybe Guy would have pictures of this Verdun Landmark? It must have been a very important building in that time. Pauline
PS
Does anyone remember the ICEMAN????
21 comments:
Pauline,
I never heard of that barn but I do remember a similar building the early 40s at 1136 Hickson (near Cool) owned by Albani Pilon who stored ici and had horse delivery wagons, one wich was driven by one of his sons. He would hire us young kinds (10+ years old) to help deliver ice blocks way up to the 3rd floor of those rickety narrow Verdun sheds. After a hard days work we asked to be paid and he refused. I told my old man who went over to speak to the owner but I can't remember if he was successfull in collecting. That experience is still in my mind today.
Guy
Hi Guy Thanks for that information.There must have been two Ice Houses. Andre definitely remembers the one on Beurling near Woodland he did the same as you help deliver the ice up to the 3rd. floor.
The kids did the 2nd. and 3rd. while the ice man did the 1st.floor. He said it was something to do during the summer and he is pretty sure he was paid or he would not have gone back. My mother remembered that one too.Do you think there would be pictures of any ice House?
I can remember having an ice box out back and the iceman bringing huge blocks of ice up the stairs, I think a couple of times a week. Guess that ages me...lol.
I slip sometimes and call the fridge the ice box . When I realize what I did it makes me smile.Old habits never die.I still have a chesterfield in the parlor etc.
I remember the iceman delivering through the shed (3rd floor). Must have been exhausting climbing all those twisting stairs. I also remember our neighbour's son used to take the trash down the three flights and my Mom would pay him. One week, Mom wasn't home and Dad paid him (apparently too little). Next thing we knew, the trash was back in our shed!...Diane
Pony, Now your back in the old days...the iceman?? I could never figure out how the iceman could carry a block of ice on his shoulders and lug it up 14 outside stairs on 3rd ave! Probably in the humid hot summers he started with a block of ice and reached our door with only an icecube...left.
cookie
Sandra what can I tell you, I am old .
Can just imagine the poor guy , he must have been melting too.I bet he was a skinny little guy by the end of the summer.They should of had ropes to pull stuff up and down or something to make life easier.Maybe only buy can stuff during the summer so you didn't need ice. Chuck the ice box
Thats the nexr blog 'WHY DID THE BUILD THREE STORY HOUSES'y
Diane talk about garbage do you remember the garbage men when one man would be on the top of the garbage in the truck stepping in the boxes of garbage because the garbage wasn't in plastic bags. The trucks were open in the back and the man on the street would through the garbage up to the man on the truck, he would catch it or miss it then place the garbage somewhere in the truck.I guess the iceman had a pretty cool job compared to the garbage man.It's ok to talk garbage on this site eh????Pauline
Pauline, awe comeon now..your not as old as moi.....I just turned 67
yikes!
cookie
Oh no absolutely not THAT old .I'm only a 64 year old kid.Will be 65 in January.But really my brain is stuck at maybe 40 max max.Sandra or Sam... not Cookie, I still see you as a cute little teenager.Where did the time go????
Pauline
Pony, One good thing you will enjoy when you turn 65 is pension. I hope you celebrate it big-time!Thanks for the cute compliment,I still see you with that lovely ponytail bouncing and your gorgeous figure, I can also picture your sister Irene! Why don't you post a photo on your multiply website, if you do,I will also post one as soon as I figure out how to do it?!? Did you know Gail Vokey back in the old days?
cookie/sandra/sam
cookie/sandra/sam yea real bubble gum money. Most likely spend it on the grand kids not that I don't blow my money on them now . I just love getting them what they want. After painting that picture of me don't hold your breath.There's no more ponytail ,what figure lost that many years ago and can't find it anywhere.If I do I'll warn you so you don't go in shock. Sandra the name Gail Vokey sounds familiar but I can't put a face on that name.Was she from Kosta's? Irene lives in Edmonton and has been there for 30 years.
Pony, Yes, Gail Vokey hung out at Kostas and married a man who played the records for Mike Stevens dances on saturday nights,but you being a couple of years younger,may not recall her. Did you know Nora Wasniak who dated & married Billy Tainge back around 1959?Last time I bumped into them was in Woolco in Lasalle around 1968...geez,where did the time go?
Sam
Sam after I meet Andre I didn't do the Kostas thing hung around with his friends and the gang that went up North skiing.Wallie ,Diane, Barbara Mauchan John Tahamont Lucie???? and Ray Pregent Lorna Brown and Earl Pregent.Then we all started getting married and that was that like yesterday and now here we are 45 years later.Shocking !!!!!
Just thinking back then everyone was older than me because they were all Irene's friends your age and she got stuck with me because if she didn't let me tag along then my mother wouldn't let her out.Little did my mother know that we would go to Kosta's and split up and then meet back there when it was time to go home.
Sam when did you become Mrs. Penner?
While we're taking about men the Ice Man the Garbage Man I just thought of another man that you don't see anymore is The Sand Man not the one the comes when you can't sleep....The one that would walk on the sidewalk with a shovel full of sand and a stick and spread sand on the sidewalk so you didn't fall. Remember wearing your skates and trying to skate to the rink with that sand on the sidewalk ,it would stop you dead in your tracks.
There was an ice house in the east end of Verdun also. It was located about two blocks from the Point/Verdun border. Set back from Wellington St, there was a tunnel under the boardwalk/berm at the back of the property that allowed the men, with their horses and wagons, known as rigs, to access the river. I believe that the Meldrum family (of moving and cartage fame) were the owners of that particular ice business. When he arrived from Ireland in the late 1920s, my Dad got his first job cutting and hauling ice off the St. Lawrence.
-Ken
Pauline, I remember the sand man. That's why I used to skate on the streets and laneways to get to Willibrord Park. What do they use nowadays to prevent slippery sidewalks?...Diane
To tell you the truth I don't do a lot of walking on the sidewalks ,you just jump in the car and go but in Brossard they have a little sidewalk tractor that blows the snow and some pull a wagon full of salt that spreads it at the same time.I live on a street with a school so the snow removal is excellent but as you know most streets around my way don't have sidewalks so you have to count on them cleaning and salting the streets so you don't kill yourself and walk on the road to get to a main street.I don't know what they do in the city all you hear is that after we get dumped on it takes a while to get back to normal before they remove the snow. Pauline
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