Melbourne Ice Plant
This building is on the National Register of Historic Places
This building was started in December, 1926, by Florida Power and Light Co. as a 150-ton ice plant. The plant was to be built in units, with the first unit having a 50-ton capacity. Cost of the building was about $100,000.
However, the ice plant never went beyond the 50-ton capacity, probably because other ice plants were built closer to the South Florida vegetable fields.
Before this plant was built, one in Fort Pierce shipped ice to Melbourne on the Florida East Coast Railway. Someone would meet the train with a horse and wagon and deliver ice door-to-door.
Those who wanted to make ice cream in hand-cranked home units would bury a block of ice in a hole in the ground until Sunday rolled around, then they made ice cream for the whole family.
Marker can be reached from the intersection of South Harbor City Boulevard (U.S. 1) and Tangerine Street.
Courtesy hmdb.org
