Berwindale is a small community in Jordan Township. It traditionally has been made up of the families of farmers, laborers and miners.
The name, Berwindale, comes from the giant coal conglomerate, the Philadelphia-based Berwind-White Coal Company, which owned and operated numerous mines in Clearfield County.
During the 1890’s and the early 20th century, Mariposa Park skirted the shores of a man-made dam in Berwindale. It contained the elegant New Atlantis Hotel (for more, please see Throwback Thursday archives of March 21, 2019), which was quite a sight for locals and visitors alike. Railway lines connected Berwindale to other area towns.
During the winter months, a frozen body of still water in a lake, dam or pond was often put to good use as blocks of ice were cut, stored and transported to markets.
Workers in Berwindale used large and specially made ice cutting saws to cut ice. The blocks were often taken to be processed into uniformly cut segments and then stored in “ice houses” that were constructed of thick lumber or stone.
Sawdust sometimes served as an insulator. The ice was then loaded on to often insulated railway boxcars or simply on to wagons for transport.
The Pennsylvania Railroad operated the Berwindale ice house. The ice was used for its passenger and refrigerator cars.
Ice has been made as an essential cooler since ancient times long before electric refrigeration and freezers were used for medical purposes and most commonly for keeping meat dairy products and other food products from quickly spoiling.
More and more homes, prior to the widespread use of electricity in Clearfield County, were using kitchen or pantry iceboxes.
Iceboxes were usually made of wood and contained thick insulation. They had storage compartments, one of which contained the block of ice.
As the ice slowly melted, it cooled the contents. A drip pan beneath the ice box caught the water and needed to be emptied regularly. They did not compare to modern refrigeration, but they did the job in a pre-electric world.
Horse-drawn ice delivery wagons and later early trucks were common sights in the small towns and rural areas of Clearfield County. Berwindale contributed to sustaining the area’s economic growth.
The photos show the chute and structure used for loading ice and two young ladies posing on blocks of ice on a cold winter’s day in Berwindale.
