Ice industry

The ice industry in Wakefield likely began in the late 1840s, when the Quannapowitt Railroad Company was charted to move ice from the lake to the Boston & Maine train line into Boston. By 1855, ice taken from Lake Quannapowitt and Crystal Lake amounted to 27,000 tons.

Companies doing business in Wakefield included the New England Ice Company, Morrill & Gowing, People's Ice Company, J.H. Cartland, and later the Morrill-Atwood Ice Company. The focus of ice production harvesting and storage was the southwestern corner of Lake Quannapowitt, from Spaulding Street west, encompassing most of what is now Veterans' Field.

References

• Wakefield : 350 years by the lake : an anniversary history / compiled by the Wakefield 350 Writing Committee ; edited by Nancy Bertrand, 1994, p117-121.
• The frozen-water trade : a true story, by Gavin Weightman