Daily AncestorIceman
An iceman sold and delivered blocks of ice from a wagon or truck to homes and businesses for their iceboxes.
Families without refrigerators kept food cold in an icebox that needed a fresh block of ice every few days. The iceman made the rounds, carrying blocks in with tongs.
The job lasted into the 1930s and 1940s in many places, until electric refrigerators became common.
As seen in a recordOccupation column of the 1880 to 1920 census
Tony Russo, 30, Iceman, N.Y.
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Daily Ancestor. "Iceman." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/occupations/iceman. Last checked 2026-10-01.