I was looking forward to reading this! The Glacière station is prominently mentioned in that "Monstre dans le Métro" book I mentioned to you previously. It's also my favorite line. But I had never, ever, given any thought to the origin of the name.
I plan to write a short piece about natural ice and mechanical ice as it applies to the US. One of the questions remains, even after the implementation of ice machines, how long and under what circumstances did people continue to harvest mechanical ice? I would not have expected harvesting ice from the Bievre into the early 20th-c.
For me, I love the ingenuity of ‘harvesting’ ice from the river. Who came up with that idea?! Especially before refrigerators were invented. It also helped bring ice cream to Paris because it was now possible to keep things that cold.
Interesting that they would use it as ice for their food even though it was not in direct contact. Was it not until later (1912) they discovered that it was carrying disease. I wonder how many became ill due to using the ice. I had no idea about this so thank you.
I thought about this too- people getting sick from the ice. But then I thought because the river flowed in the outskirts of Paris maybe out there it was more pure? 🤷♀️ It’s definitely something to think about!
I really enjoyed this — how something as ordinary as a metro stop can hide such charm and history! Thanks a lot for sharing!
I was looking forward to reading this! The Glacière station is prominently mentioned in that "Monstre dans le Métro" book I mentioned to you previously. It's also my favorite line. But I had never, ever, given any thought to the origin of the name.
Fascinating ‼️ I didn’t know any of that stuff about the ice houses in Paris.
Interesting history. Like you, I love an elevated metro line!
🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼
Love your posts, so different from the usual. Mille mercis, Jenn.
Merci a toi Lynne! ❤️
I plan to write a short piece about natural ice and mechanical ice as it applies to the US. One of the questions remains, even after the implementation of ice machines, how long and under what circumstances did people continue to harvest mechanical ice? I would not have expected harvesting ice from the Bievre into the early 20th-c.
For me, I love the ingenuity of ‘harvesting’ ice from the river. Who came up with that idea?! Especially before refrigerators were invented. It also helped bring ice cream to Paris because it was now possible to keep things that cold.
There is archaeological evidence suggesting that ice harvesting is an ancient practice, but one that was very limited in access.
This book covers refrigeration in North America, but it’s a good place to start.
https://archive.org/details/refrigerationnat0000rees
Interesting that they would use it as ice for their food even though it was not in direct contact. Was it not until later (1912) they discovered that it was carrying disease. I wonder how many became ill due to using the ice. I had no idea about this so thank you.
I thought about this too- people getting sick from the ice. But then I thought because the river flowed in the outskirts of Paris maybe out there it was more pure? 🤷♀️ It’s definitely something to think about!
Love this! By the way, I've always found the story of the buried Bièvre fascinating.