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In
the spring and summer 1913, having experimented with harvesting ice the
previous winter, the City of Willimantic , through its peddlers, was
able to save its citizens 20 cents per hundred pounds of ice, a savings
of 33 percent. “Jubilant” at the prospect of similar future savings, 600
– 700 voters came to a special city meeting on August 26th,
1913. Several businesmen spoke against the resolution that the city go
into the ice business. Several others also spoke against the resolution,
“and the meeting became restless and a vote was called for”. The
resolution, “was adopted by a large majority” and Willimantic became the
first city in the state to go into the municipal ice business. Eight
thousand dollars was appropriated so that the city could build sheds and
the tools necessary to harvest ice. Next, Louis
Girouard and Dielore Delage
(shown in this week’s photo), the men who had been peddling the city’s
ice agreed to enter into a contract with the city for a period of five
years, “ to peddle city ice and charge the customers 20 cents a hundred
(pounds) for the wholesale trade and 30 cents a hundred for the retail
or domestic trade. Girouard and Delage also promised that Saint Joseph’s
Hospital would get a 25% discount . Finally, the contract stated that
the ice was to be sold only within the city
or to employees of the American Thread Company. “Several
overseers of the American Thread Company appeared before the common
council and told the members that, if the city harvested ice for the
benefit of the poor people of Willimantic, the employees of the Thread
Company were entitled to consideration.” By February, 1914, 6,400 tons
of ice had been harvested and city officials hoped that the weather
would hold out long enough to get 10,000 tons into the sheds. For the
next few years, things went smoothly. Approximately sixty men worked
during the harvesting seasons and the harvests were abundant enough to
assure continued low prices. In June, 1915, Former President William
H.Taft visited Willimantic for the Old Home and School Week celebration.
The aldermen appropriated $250 to be spent in having the city government
represented in the parade”. The aldermen the suggested to Mayor Dunn
that since he was considered to be the “father of municipal ice” he
should drive the municipal ice wagon in the parade. Mayor Dunn said he
wouldn’t object to doing so. Through February, 1918, ice harvests were
bountiful. “The men working on the pond are receiving $3 per day and
those handling the cakes of ice are paid $3.50 per day”. In July, 1919,
a fire in one of the ice sheds threatened 4,000 tons of ice but thanks
to the Willimantic Fire Department, “the blaze was extinguished with
only a small loss”. However, on August 8, 1923, a disastrous fire
destroyed the five ice houses of the municipal ice plant. For ten years,
Willimantic’s ice business had saved people thousands of dollars. At a
special city meeting a vote was taken and $14,000 was appropriated for
the rebuilding of the plant. For three more years, municipal ice was
available. By 1926, ice sales wre once again conducted by local
businessmen. Willimantic, though, gained fame by showing that a
municipality could efficiently manage an ice business. Willimantic’s
willingness to deal with the matter
led not only to local benefit but helped establish a precedent
for other communities. Willimantic never sought profit from the endeavor
but always looked more to the savings for its citizens. Mayor Dunn and
the city government had shown that it cared about the citizenry.
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