Tradition, and a sworn statement, before a notary public, by the late
Mr. B. J. Benefield, an honored citizen of Jefferson, gives to
Jefferson, Texas, the honor of having had within its city limits the
first artificial ice plant in the United States and many say in the
world.
Old settlers claim that it was in operation in the late 60’s but Mr.
Benefield places the date at 1874 or ’75 because he returned to Marion
County from Red River County in 1874 and began working for Boyle and
Scott, as the first dispenser of artificial ice, using his own wagon and
teams, and sold the ice for ten cents per pound. He states that the ice
was made in cakes four or five feet long, two or three feet in width and
one inch thick.
The plant continued in operation about one year, when Mr. Boyle, who was
the originator of the idea that artificial ice could be made, went north
in search of some one to finance the making of the product.
Mr. J. E. Hasty says that Mr. Boyle raised money before he went north,
to finance his project but he was never heard of after he left and his
partner, Henry Scott, went into bankruptcy, while someone else profited
by their pioneer efforts.
Old citizens of the state say that the plant was moved to Harrisburg,
Texas, near Houston, at the time Mr. Boyle went north.
One incident remaining clear to Mr. Benefield was that one of his
customers, a prominent citizen, bought one thousand pounds of ice and
placed it in his cistern so that he and his family might have an
unlimited supply of ice water through the summer. However, the
experiment failed, of course, and the man remained a daily customer of
Mr. Benefield.
It was Mr. Benefield’s understanding that the machine was patented in
the U. S. Patent office.
The gas used in the manufacturing of the ice was made at the plant and
the machinery was run by steam power. The old site of the plant is
within the City Limits, just beyond Willard Hill on Highway 49.
Mr. Henry Scott, one of the founders, has a son and daughter now living
in Dallas.
At a meeting of the Southwestern Ice Association on December 3rd., 1926,
Mr. F. R. Senor presented a motion, which was accepted by the
Association, the erection of a memorial in Jefferson to the honor of the
man and place where the first artificial ice was manufactured in the U.
S. However, that monument has never been erected.