Claremont is known for its hot summer days and the afternoon of July 14, 1955 was no different.

For some local youngsters, however, the day was anything but commonplace. Good fortune struck when several chunks of ice fell off a Union Ice Co. truck, landing near the corner of First and College Street in the Village.

The Claremont kids obviously enjoyed the cool treat—a taste of winter in the summertime—and a COURIER photographer snapped a photo of the impromptu celebration. 

The Claremont plant of the Union Ice Company was established to pre-cool and ice the train cars that carried fruit to the east coast. The orphan ice may have been meant for home delivery, a practice that was fading by the mid-‘50s but still continued, or may have had a more industrial purpose.

An ad for a Servel Gas Ice-Maker Refrigerator that ran 2 weeks later in the COURIER foretells the looming demise of home ice delivery. What household needed a truck to drop off ice when their own appliance made cubes aplenty?

Although the Claremont location of the Union Ice Co. is no longer in business, there are still 2 thriving arms o the Union Ice Co. in southern California, one in Van Nuys and the other in Vernon. 

Along with providing ice for the food and trucking industries, the company also provides party pleasers like ice sculptures, non-seasonal snow and even entire ice bars. Chilled vodka, anyone?

For information, on the business and the services the Union Ice Company provides today, visit www.unionice.com or call the Union Ice Company at (888) 830-8383.

—Sarah Torribio

storribio@claremont-courier.com