The New England entrepreneur transformed how Charlestonians ate, drank, and kept cool in the 19th century
In the early 19th century, Boston-born Frederic Tudor, “The Ice King,” built a global business, harvesting pond ice from New England and shipping it around the world.
When Boston native Frederic Tudor was born on September 4, 1783, no one could have imagined he would transform life in sweltering Southern cities. By the time he died in 1864, Tudor had earned the nickname “The Ice King” after building a global business harvesting New England pond ice and shipping it to warmer climes—including Charleston, where his enterprise turned the once- rare luxury into an everyday necessity.
Charlestonians had been searching for ways to beat the heat since the city’s founding in 1670. Homes were oriented to capture prevailing breezes, ceilings were built high to vent hot air, and wide piazzas provided shade. Later, physician John Gorrie, believed to have been born in Charleston in 1803, became a pioneer in mechanical refrigeration, while in the 20th century, local inventor Maurice Glasser patented an improved oscillating ceiling fan. Long before those innovations, however, residents prized one commodity above all others: ice.
In the late 1790s, a ship delivered a cargo load of ice, which was stored in an icehouse near where the Gaillard Center stands today. Before long, a Broad Street shop was selling ice cream, a novelty that many regarded with suspicion. What would the shock of something so cold do in Charleston’s oppressive heat? Perhaps those early customers had experienced brain freeze. Despite advertisements warning there was no danger in consuming the chilly treat even “in the greatest state of perspiration,” the venture failed.
It wasn’t until Tudor came on the scene that attitudes toward ice began to thaw. In 1816, he partnered with local businessmen to establish a dependable ice trade, and icehouses sprang up near the Charleston Market. Tudor’s company supplied restaurants, taverns, households, and businesses that relied on cold storage, making ice increasingly accessible throughout the city.
The Civil War disrupted that supply, cutting off shipments of Northern ice. Deliveries from the Tudor Ice Company resumed in 1865, and some 25 years later, local entrepreneur Alva Gage (1820-1896), whose name lives on in the Unitarian Church’s Gage Hall, helped usher in the era of manufactured ice, with his company producing more than 20 tons a day.
Some Charlestonians insisted they could taste the difference between “artificial” and natural ice. Still, by 1891, the newspaper declared that “ice is no longer classed among the luxuries; it is a necessity.” More than a century later, few would argue otherwise.
