The ice box was common prior to electricity.  This ice box was manufactured by the D. Eddy & Sons Company of Boston Mass.  The company was established in 1847 and remained in business through 1906.

Ice was provided by the “ice man”  who, in the winter, harvested large pieces of ice from nearby lakes and ponds and preserved them in his ice house, a building with double walls filled with saw dust to act as insulation.