I was surprised to see an advertisement for refrigerators in a 1919 issue of Ladies Home Journal. Was the refrigerator electric? And, was the electricity dependable enough to ensure that food stayed cold in the refrigerator?
1919 White Frost Sanitary Refrigerator Advertisement
A Hundred Years Ago 
When I saw that raised lid on top, I grew suspicious and went poking around. Indeed, the White Frost refrigerator wasn’t electric. It was a brand new, spiffy version of the old wooden ice box. There’s a bit more about it here.
Happy Independence Day!
Spiffy indeed! I think it is actually quite pretty. It probably liked nice along side the round wringer washing machines, like the one my aunt had in her “modern white kitchen.” 🙂
I agree – it has a nice design, and the white enamel makes it look more modern than most appliances from a hundred years ago.
Thanks for researching this. It is really interesting to learn more about the White Frost Refrigerator. It’s interesting that the term “refrigerator” was used prior to the development of the electric version.
I thought it was an icebox also, based on the top, and the water cooler feature. The water ran through the ice via gravity, and it was cooled before coming out the spigot. I think his hook line about saving half of the ice meant the design made the ice last longer. It is interesting how many older persons still say “icebox” instead of refrigerator.
Language is fascinating. It’s interesting how some terms just stick even when they are no longer technically correct.
I like the revolving shelves ; )
It makes me think of the lazy Susan in one of my cupboards.
What a great find that ad is! Seems the White Frost folks were capitalizing on the traditional ho hum ice boxes of the times. My mother always said, “ice box” and because that is what she called it, so do I.
I have a vague sense of my mother calling the refrigerator, the “frigidaire.” I don’t that that it had anything to do with the brand, but was just her general term for refrigerator – sort of like how people sometimes call copies, “xerox.”
I like the way he signed the ad as, Yours truly, HL Smith.
It makes me think of advertisements today where the president or owner of a company appears in the ad.
That was most interesting. My folks used icebox for refrigerator, because that is what they grew up with. I’m sure that’s what I called it, too. Living in NY cured me.
It’s interesting how the words we use change when we live in a different place.
I didn’t think they had refrigerators so long ago. My grandmother always called her fridge “the ice box” because that was what she had for most of her life. Electric refrigerators were a huge improvement.
I can’t even picture what it must have been like back in the days when “ice boxes” actually used ice It sounds like a lot of work to ensure that there always was ice in them.
How neat! Be fun to try one out! Wonder how they performed here in the south…
I bet they needed more ice in the South. 🙂
We have this same 1919 Whitefrost model . It’s in perfect condition. My wife and I love it.
Wow, it’s amazing that you have a refrigerator that is more than 100 years old and still in perfect condition.