The Street Seen: Imperial Ice Company
2435 Main Street @ Hollister
From 1908 to 1946, the Imperial Ice Company produces artificial ice, distilled water, and flavored carbonated bottled water at an ice-making plant on Main St.
Before the advent of the home refrigerator in the late 1920s, ice is an important household commodity.1 In 1905,2 A.E. Beane and J.D. Blanchard, who are associated with the downtown Los Angeles Imperial Dairy,3 make plans4 for an artificial ice-making plant5 south of Hollister between Main St. and 2nd St. The Imperial Ice Company is incorporated by Alton E. Beane (1865 – 1956),6 John D. Blanchard (1862 – 1916),7 Godfrey Schmidt (1845 – 1909),8 Charles W. Anderson (1877 – 19??),9 and Herman Michel (1872 – 1969). In 1905 H.X. Goetz (1861 - 1944)10 has the contract to build a 1-story brick, 70 ft x 80 ft plan, ice-making plant on the 100 ft x 200 ft site.
Imperial Ice Company produces pure ice, distilled water, and flavored carbonated bottled water. The water comes from an on-site artesian well.11 The ice-making machinery runs on steam (produced by burning oil), and electric lighting is provided by an on-site generator. In 1907, the Santa Monica Dairy Company operates a pasteurization plant at the facility, and Imperial Ice uses some of the milk to make ice-cream.
In 1911, George D. Snyder (1859 – 1953)12 is the contractor for a 1-story, red brick and glass window, 70 ft x 50 ft plan, office addition at the front on Main St.
In 1913 Herman Michel is president of Imperial Ice, W.B. Hamblen13 VP, and J.D. Blanchard secretary and general manager. The plant is daily making 12 tons of ice from distilled water. In 1914 all Santa Monica Dairy operations (Michel is president of both companies) move to the new Rose Ave. Venice dairy plant. By 1918, the 70’ x 200’ (20,000 sq-ft) ice plant building now extends all the way from Main St. to 2nd St. There is an on-site barn for 50 horses and hay.
By 1921, the plant is producing 50 tons of ice per day using both artesian well and city water. Electricity, not oil, fuels the ice making machinery, and delivery trucks have replaced wagons and horses.14
When the home refrigerator begins to appear in the late 1920s, the ice business changes significantly.15 From 1931 to 1935, US sales of ice drop from 60 MM tons to 35 MM tons annually.
Following the end of WWII, the ice-making operations at the aging plant on Main St. are evaluated. In 1946, after 40 years of ice making, Imperial Ice Company ceases operations.16
Natural ice is cut from the surface of ponds and streams, and then stored in ice houses (including caves), before being sent by ship, barge, wagon, or railroad to its final destination. On the West Coast, Edward W. Hopkins (nephew of Mark Hopkins) forms the Union Ice Company in San Francisco in 1882. Union Ice ships Lake Tahoe natural ice from the Truckee River to Santa Monica.
In I888 John F. Korte is the sole agent for Union Ice Co in Santa Monica. The Steele Brothers take over the Santa Monica Union Ice franchise in 1890. In 1892 Schader & Dunne become the sole agents.
In 1888 in downtown Los Angeles, Hendrick Ice and Cold Storage Company opens an ice-making plant, located on 7th St. near the Santa Fe tracks, that can produce 60 tons of ice daily. In 1893 in Redlands, Union Ice Company opens an ice plant producing 32 tons daily, replacing a facility that has previously received natural ice shipped by rail from Truckee.
The Imperial Dairy, located at 7th & San Julian Los Angeles, is owned by A.E. Beane and C.F. Smith. In 1903, the Bingham creamery at the same location is found guilty of selling contaminated milk. In 1907 the Santa Monica Dairy Company buys out Imperial Dairy.
In 1905 Beane and Blanchard buy 20,000 sq-ft (100 ft x 200 ft - lots 13 to 16, and 40 to 43 Block P, Santa Monica Commercial Company Tract) of land between 2nd and Main Street, south of Hollister Avenue for Imperial Ice Company.
By 1946, the Imperial Ice property has expanded to 35,000 sq-ft (lots 9 to 16, and 38 to 43 Block P, Santa Monica Commercial Company Tract).
To manufacture of artificial ice, anhydrous ammonia (ammonia free from water) is compressed by pumps; then liquified by passing cool water over the pipes containing the ammonia (condenser). The cooled liquid ammonia is injected into pipes larger than the liquid can fill (expansion coils), where the ammonia evaporates rapidly and exerts its chilling effect. The pipes in which the evaporation takes place are immersed in brine (salt water), which, by furnishing heat for evaporation, is cooled to a point below the freezing point of water. Water in containers immersed in the brine freezes creating ice. The ammonia gas is pumped back to be used again.
Alton Earl Beane (1865 – 1956) is born in Vermont. In 1901 Beane is involved in a serious accident while driving a Bingham creamery van in Los Angeles. He recovers and marries Ida Brassfield Barton (1865 – 1927) – they are divorced in 1916. In 1906 Beane and Blanchard open the Imperial Ice Company - Beane is president. Beane lives at 2607 and 2619 3rd St, in Ocean Park. In 1907, he sells the 3rd St. property, and in 1913 buys a 10-acre farm in Van Nuys. But only stays there for 1 year before moving to a house in Los Angeles. In 1915 Beane attempts to drown himself near the Santa Monica pier.
John Damon Blanchard (1862 – 1916). Born in Massachusetts, he grows up in Houston and then comes to California. Blanchard is in Beaumont for several years before becoming involved with the Imperial dairy and cream business in Los Angeles. He is an owner and general manager of the Imperial Ice Company. Blanchard serves on the Santa Monica School Board and Police Commission. In 1889 he marries Jamesetta Crockett (1851 – 1931). From 1906 they live at 2617 3rd St in Ocean Park.
Godfrey Schmidt (1845 – 1909) born in Denmark, comes to the US in the early 1860s. He returns to Denmark to marry Hulda Volchsen in 1868. They are back in Southern California in 1869 and acquired a 160-acre dairy farm near Wilshire and Vermont. While maintaining a dairy farm over the next 25 years, around 1890 he begins to sell parts of the original tract to residential developers. In 1906 Godfrey Schmidt is VP of the Imperial Ice Company.
Charles W. Anderson (1877 – 19??) is born in IL. In 1902 he marries Almira Scudder (1871 - 1959) in Los Angeles. In 1905 he is one of the incorporators of the Imperial Ice Company. In 1907 Anderson is the general manager of Santa Monica Dairy. In 1910 he is farming sugar beets in Westminster and in 1920 is farming in Burbank. By 1930 he is a real estate broker in Burbank.
Henry X. Goetz (1861 - 1944) born in Canada, comes to Santa Monica in 1887. He is the contractor for many early buildings in Santa Monica, Ocean Park, and Venice. Goetz is a Santa Monica City Trustee, president of the Santa Monica Board of Trade, and a shareholder in Santa Monica Investment Company. Marries Catherine Genevieve Wood (1864 -1903) in 1887, and Marguerite M. Ward (1876 -19??) in 1909.
The on-site artesian water supply is important. It is not clear how Beane and Blanchard knew that adequate artesian water existed before they bought the property.
George Daniel Snyder (1859 – 1953). Born in MI, Snyder comes to California in 1886, and is a carpenter working for the building department of the Southern California Railway Company (Santa Fe). He settles in Santa Monica in 1895, and is a home builder and general contractor - he builds the Holborow Hotel, as well as schools and many houses. He serves on the Santa Monica Board of Trustees and is elected to the Santa Monica City Council in 1906. He marries Jennie C. Keeler (1858–1923) in Michigan in 1883 - she dies in Santa Monica and he marries Elizabeth P Depue (1871– 19??). He lives at 2821 2nd St.
William B. Hamblen (1861 – 1933) born in Maine, grows up in Massachusetts, and works for Boston Rubber Shoe Factory. Hamblen works in the cold storage business in Port Angeles, WA before coming to Ocean Park with his wife Irene K Hamblen (1861 – 1925) in 1906 as general manager of Imperial Ice Co. In 1910 he lives at 2631 4th St and in 1920 at 2503 4th St.
In 1920 the Santa Monica Ice Company opens a competing ice-making plant on NEC 12th & Colorado. The Santa Monica Ice Company is incorporated by C.E. Nichols, Harvey A. Hildebrandt, and J.M. Noell. The Santa Monica Ice Company ceases ice making operations in the 1940s and focuses on cold storage.
In 1928, the newly organized California Consumers’ Company purchases several Los Angeles area ice manufacturing companies - including Los Angeles Ice Cold Storage Company, Merchants Ice Cold Storage Company, Pasadena Ice Company, Holywood Ice Company, Southern Counties Ice Company, and Pomona Valley Ice Company. In 1933, following the stock market crash of 1929, California Consumers’ Company is forced into receivership.
Although ice making operations cease in 1946, the Main St. buildings will continue to be used for cold storage until 1981. Imperial Ice Company ceases to exist in 1971 when it is absorbed by the Michel Brothers.