2010-4 Remembrances Special EditionCity of Schertz
Remembrances Publication Special Edition 2010-4
19'resented by: Schertz Historical Preservation Committee
The American playwright Eugene O'Neill wrote a play in 1939 called "The Iceman
Cometh" that had little or nothing to do with the delivery and/or use of the then needed
refrigeration material (ice). But the later success of the play (1950s and beyond) allowet
the title to be a long-time reminder of a since abandoned profession, the ice man.
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The "Iceman Cometh" to Schertz would best be identified with a caption from a
newspaper article (The Guadalupe Gazette-Bulletin, September 25, 1930) written by staff
correspondent C. F. Blumberg. Blumberg reports that Walter Meurin was for years the
man who kept Schertz citizens and those traveling the Old Spanish Trail Highway (FM
78) cool by providing soda water and ice from his ice house store situated at the comer of
FM 78 and First Street. At the time he wrote, Meurin reported that ice sold for thirty
cents per 100 pounds or fifteen cents per 50 pounds.
The recollections of Pedro "Pete" Perez go back to the late 1940s and early 1950s when
as a boy he built his first four wheeled vehicle out of wooden planks found around the
neighborhood. The wooden wagon he built was designed such that he could carry a large
block of ice he would purchase for his mother at the Schertz Ice House situated on FM 78
near First Street, He would travel nearly a mile to buy the ice, place it in the wagon, an(il
Walter Schertz confirms that the ice houses he recalls operating in Schertz obtained their
i-ce from a larger ice plant • in Seguin, Texas. Walter recalls that Mr. Bolton, the Drugest
sold ice from his drug • store along • Highway 78.
Well, while we may have lost our dependency on ice as a means of refrigeration and no
longer depend up on a man in a wagon to deliver our ice, ice still occupies an important
place in today's society. When an athlete suffers a knee, ankle or hip injury, the first call
is for ice to keep the swelling down. When families pack for a picnic, the drinks and
other perishables are placed on ice in a cooler. When families want homemade ice cream
or smoothies, ice is the key ingredient. When children want to ice skate during summer
months, artificial ice must be produced. Ice cubes supply cool refreshment to many
drinks routinely served in homes and restaurants.
Next time you enjoy the refreshing taste of an ice cold glass of tea remember the days
when it was only possible by the good grace of the ice man who delivered from door to
door the cool chunks of crystal ice.