January 1947: Alfred Hilgers Sr. of Spring Park muscled an ice block onto a truck on Cedar Lake in Minneapolis. I didn't know his identity until his daughter, Karen Hilgers Schuler of Minnetrista, dropped me a line after recognizing his face in the paper after this photo appeared in print in 2001. She shared this memory: "He told us children many stories of the importance of ice harvesting and the part it played in homes and businesses in the days of pre-electric refrigeration."

Plaid jackets and Elmer Fudd caps were all the rage on Cedar Lake during the January 1947 ice harvest. (Photo courtesy mnhs.org)

An employee of the Cedar Lake Ice Co. directed blocks onto a conveyor belt. (Photo courtesy mnhs.org)

More of the January 1947 ice harvest on Cedar Lake. (Photo courtesy mnhs.org)

Employees of the Fargo-Detroit Ice Co. lined up for a photo in or near Detroit Lakes, Minn., in 1897. (Photo courtesy mnhs.org)

Big commercial operations weren't the only ones harvesting ice. Here three men cut up pond ice for use on a Le Sueur County farm in 1910. (Photo courtesy mnhs.org)

Ben Welter, Star Tribune

October 1936: Trucks awaited their load of ice at a Cedar Lake Ice & Fuel Co. storage building, most likely the massive brick structure that now houses the Icehouse Studio at 25th and Nicollet. (Photo courtesy mnhs.org)

An employee of the Cedar Lake Ice & Fuel Co. slipped a cold one into the ice box of a Minneapolis home in about 1930. (Photo courtesy mnhs.org)