| City/Town: • Caney |
| Location Class: • Industrial |
| Built: • 1900's | Abandoned: • 1980's |
| Status: • Abandoned • Private Property |
| Photojournalist: • Emily Cowan |
This Caney Ice Plant Storage House was built between 1895-1900, it now sits in a back alleyway covered with vines. During winter months large slabs of ice were pulled from the nearby Little Caney River. Blocks of ice were placed in sawdust and stored to preserve them from melting. In addition to the sawdust, the two-story large building with minimal windows was made of native sandstone which doubled as more insulation.
Soon after in 1904 work started on a more sophisticated Ice Plant at a different location. It would be a 15-ton ice plant and would allow for ice to be cheaper than residents were paying at the time. By 1905 the Caney Ice & Cold Storage Company was completed and immediately reached full capacity. Storage capacity was two hundred tons and output was ten tons per day. After great success in the coming years by 1910, an enlargement of the plant was due and it was to double in capacity.
It was then used as a welding shop and garage in the 1970s-80s and has been used as storage since. Hidden behind downtown buildings and a multitude of vines this historic structure is easy to miss but once noticed, hard to forget.
Gallery Below of Caney Ice Plant Storage House
“22 Apr 1910, 1 – The Caney Chronicle at Newspapers.com.” Newspapers.com, www.newspapers.com/image/427004553/?terms=caney%2Bice%2Bhouse.
“30 Jun 1905, 1 – The Caney Chronicle at Newspapers.com.” Newspapers.com, www.newspapers.com/image/427145536/?terms=caney%2Bice%2Bhouse.
https://www.loc.gov/resource/g4204cm.g4204cm_g029141900/?sp=2&r=-0.251,-0.045,1.065,0.823,0
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I was born in Little Caney, located in Chautauqua County, west of Caney. My foster grand parents ran a dairy and delivered raw milk to the grocery stores in Caney. They stored meat in the Ice Plant located on W 6th Ave. I remember going to the ice plant to get frozen meat for a meal.