The Archeology of the Peel Mansion Ice House

HOW DID THE PEEL'S GET ICE?
WHY WAS THE BUILDING NO LONGER USED TO STORE ICE?

Adequate annual supplies of ice might have been difficult to obtain before the first railroad was completed to Bentonville and Rogers in 1882. Samuel Peel surely used whatever natural ice sources were available (from a nearby pond or bluff ice). He possibly even had ice delivered by wagon from Tipton or Springfield Missouri where rail service was available. In 1882 the St. Louis and San Francisco Railroad was completed which allowed products to be shipped in and out of northwest Arkansas by rail. According to oral history, Samuel Peel used the railroad to have ice delivered to Bentonville for storage at his home in the icehouse. He likely continued to ship ice by rail until around 1895 to 1900 when local ice factories began to produce ice in great quantities negating the need to import it.

Prior to the time when ice was manufactured locally in Bentonville, Rogers and other area towns, it seems ice was not something most people had available on a year round basis, except for a very few residents. Due to its scarcity before the late 1890s, it is likely ice was viewed as something unique to have available in the summer months in northwest Arkansas. The fact that no local residential icehouses have been documented with the exception of the one for the Peel house certainly supports the idea that ice was a rare summer commodity and probably considered a luxury item.

When locally produced manufactured ice became available in Bentonville there was no longer need for residential icehouses because even modest households could afford ice that was delivered regularly to the door and stored in an icebox. At this time, around the turn of the century, the icehouse began to be used for other purposes such as a coal bin and general storage and work shed.

The first ice plant in Bentonville is mentioned in the 1903 Plat Book of Benton County and obviously was under full operation by that time.

"The cold storage and ice plant is owned by a stock company, composed entirely of Bentonville people. It has a storage capacity for 20,000 barrels and ice making capacity of twelve tons per day. The cooperage plant in connection has a capacity of 800 barrels per day. The plant now represents an outlay of $20,000 (Plat Book of Benton County 1903:81)."

Benronville Cold Storage & Milling Co. from the 1904 Sanborn Insurance map.

The Sanborn Insurance Company map plat shows this facility in 1904 as the Bentonville Cold Storage & Milling Co. in the southeast part of town west of Knott Street and north adjacent to a railroad spur of the St. Louis and San Francisco Railroad. Neighboring Rogers had a smaller ice factory in 1896 known as King Brothers that included an ice factory, electric light plant, cider mill, bottling works and vinegar factory (Sanborn Insurance Company 1996).