01/26/2026
Another blast from the past – from the archives of the Cuyahoga Falls Historical Society museum
Here’s the next in a continuing series of posts from the Cuyahoga Falls Historical Society museum, 2083 Cook St. Hope you enjoy them!
While most of us aren’t big fans of the type of extreme cold we’ve been experiencing the past few days, the Ralph Lodge family – which operated Silver Lake Park – appreciated the opportunities presented by icy weather.
For a number of years, the Lodges operated a succession of increasingly larger ice houses near the northwest shores of Silver Lake. Much of the ice harvested from the lake was used at the park in the summer; some was provided to the railroads for "refrigeration."
Typically, ice harvesting required a crew of 10-15 employees. In addition to having employees with strong arms and backs, park owner Ralph Lodge had one additional requirement for his crew. He wouldn’t hire any ice harvesters who chewed to***co, because he didn’t want the ice – which would be used for lemonade and drinking water at the park – to be contaminated.
Ralph Lodge was not the only ice harvester in the area. Frank Jones, who operated a candy store on Front Street between Broad Boulevard and Portage Trail in the late 1800s and early 1900s, was also skilled at ice making. (David Fosdick, who operated a park in the Gorge in the late 1800s, is also said to have harvested ice in the Gorge.)
After working in Cleveland, learning the art of ice cream making from Telling Brothers, Frank Jones harvested ice from the Cuyahoga River, behind his store, which he later used to supply ice cream to Cuyahoga Falls residents and Silver Lake Park.
According to the memoirs of Silver Lake Park’s manager, William Lodge, “Frank Jones cut his ice on the river between the Portage St. and Broad Street bridges, having an ice house on the river bank just back of his store, when the river yielded ice, but many winters a rain or a January thaw would often so flood the river that all the heavy ice would be washed out, then he would drive out to Silver Lake along with Roethig Bros. (who owned the local meat market) and others and cut their ice there when it was possible to get it.
“Some years this was difficult because of thaws or not sufficient cold weather to make thick enough ice, or because of heavy blankets of snow. Frank used to often haul the ice from Silver Lake in the winter to the Falls, then in the summer he would haul it back again packed around delicious ice-cream. He continued to supply our needs for many years.”
After Silver Lake Park closed in 1917, other individuals operated ice houses on the lake. As refrigeration became more common, the last ice house on Silver Lake was removed in 1924. So, for more than a century now, there has been no ice harvesting on Silver Lake.
Many thanks, as always, to the marvelous folks at the Cuyahoga Falls Historical Society museum, who have continued to provide a wealth of amazing images from the museum, Aren’t you glad we have such a marvelous resource in our community – with such dedicated volunteers? I sure am!
