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69 TALCOTT RD. WEST HARTFORD, CT 06110 WWW.TROUTBROOKTREE.COM (860) 888-8472
JANUARY 2021 Tree Care
INSIDE
THIS ISSUE
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Prune Away the Branches of 2020 What Are Ice Dams? How Habit Tracking and Daily Resolutions Could Transform Your Life Getting to Know our Community — Starting With the Past!
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Easy One-Pot Lentil Soup West Hartford Knows Ice
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WEST HARTFORD’S FROZEN HISTORY
The corner of Farmington Avenue and Trout Brook Drive is a location steeped in history. If you drive through that intersection today, you’ll see a Dunkin’ and a funeral home. But if you rewind time by about 140 years, you’ll find something very different: the Trout Brook Ice & Feed Company. West Hartford was once known for its ice. In 1879, the Trout Brook Ice & Feed Company was founded by Edwin Arnold. At the time, Trout Brook Drive did not exist, but Trout Brook, which now runs along Trout Brook Drive, very much did. And that’s where Arnold decided to set up shop — right next to the brook that would be the source of his famous ice for years to come.
come winter, dozens of ice harvesters descended on the frozen brook. They chipped away at the ice, cutting out large blocks. The blocks were then moved to ice houses and barns where they were insulated with a layer of sawdust as they awaited transport to their destinations over the course of the spring and summer. The company was also known for its signature red horse-drawn wagons (and eventually trucks) that it used to deliver ice to customers all over the area and as far away as New York City. As the area grew in size, demand for ice increased — and it increased even more with the approach of World War I. To meet this demand, the company built a second ice source
However, the ice boom was short- lived. After World War I and into the 1920s and ‘30s, home refrigeration started to take off. With the invention of home refrigeration in 1913 and the development of Freon refrigeration in the ‘20s, they knew time was limited. In 1927, Frederick Arnold (Edwin died in 1905) sold Trout Brook Ice & Feed to the Southern New England Ice Company. By 1936, that company folded, along with many others. While the ice industry faded into history, the legacy of Trout Brook ice is still very much alive in West Hartford. It’s alive in Trout Brook Drive and in Woodridge Lake (and even in our company, Trout Brook Landscaping!). It’s alive every time Trout Brook or any of the local ponds freeze over and everyone rushes out to play on the ice. We may not harvest it anymore, but we do love our West Hartford ice.
outside of West Hartford — Woodridge Lake. They also built several ice barns to store all the ice.
Arnold built a dam on Trout Brook. Then,
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