In Yankton, the beer's on 'Ice'
By Tim Gallagher Journal staff writer | Posted: Sunday, June 10, 2007
The loading dock is the place to be at The Ice House in Yankton, S.D., where regulars gather daily to shoot the breeze while downing a few cold ones. (Staff photo by Tim Hynds)
YANKTON, S.D. -- Welder Steph Waters downs an ice-cold bottle of Bud Light beneath the afternoon sun and throws the empty under a wooden loading dock. The bottle smashes into several dozen pieces.
Welcome to The Ice House, a Yankton tradition since 1928. T-shirts featuring a broken bottle capture this under-the-dock tradition with a saying, "I got SMASHED at The Ice House."
"I'm always amazed people find this place unusual," says owner Carla Anderson. "I guess it's not to me. I've been here since I was 12."
The Ice House is unusual. Built as an ice plant eight decades ago, the facility has served beer since the 1930s. It's been featured on The Today Show, The Late Show with David Letterman and, now, in Esquire magazine's "Best Bars in America" feature published in the June edition.
Why? Answers exist in that pile of broken glass under the dock and the beer drinkers up top who talk farm sales, politics and whether walleye are biting in the Missouri River that flows 400 yards south of the bar.
"There are no pretenses here," says Waters, who shows two scars from recent carpal-tunnel surgery. "This is kind of a family."
Family roots
The Anderson family founded The Ice House. Carla Anderson's great-grandfather Keller built the brick structure at 101 Capitol Street in 1928. The people he built it for lost their financing, so he had his son-in-law, Iner Anderson, take the building and run the Pure Ice Company within its walls.
"They had brine tanks with an ammonia cooling system," says Carla Anderson. "They made 300-pound blocks of ice. It was the first place around here that could produce ice year-round."
Residential and commercial customers drove here in droves to buy ice before the advent of in-home cooling systems. Iner Anderson applied for and received his first beer license in the 1930s, probably 1933 when prohibition ended. The Ice House has chilled and sold beer ever since.
"There were train tracks where the sidewalk is now," says Dennis Auch while pointing about 20 yards from the south side of the plant. "People unloaded the beer from the train. Back then, you drank it warm or cold."
At The Ice House, of course, it was always served cold, often delivered by an Anderson to a vehicle waiting outside. Patrons ordered ice and a six- or 12-pack of beer and downed a few behind the wheel while visiting with others parked here. That sudsy tradition continues.
"We still deliver to people's cars if they want it," Anderson says.
Her father, Donald, and his brother Darrell, assumed operations in the early 1950s. They chipped, hauled and bagged ice with their children -- while serving beer -- until 1982, when they took the ice fields out.
"The ice equipment was old and we couldn't get replacement parts any more," Anderson says. "Plus, the demand wasn't there as people all had ice machines in their homes."
However, the beer stayed, allowing The Ice House to continue its reign as one of Yankton's oldest bars. The Walnut Bar, also known as The Dead Animal Bar, also began serving beer in 1933. The Walnut is two blocks north of The Ice House.
Darrell Anderson, who still resides in Yankton, sold out to his brother in 1990 and retired. Donald Anderson, who, like his brother, officiated high school and college football and basketball for about 50 years, died three years ago and left The Ice House to his six children. Carla runs the place with brother Jim, a Yankton resident who parlayed his time at the business into a "Stupid Human Tricks" appearance on the Letterman show.
"Jim could hop on one foot and smash 50 aluminum cans in a minute," Carla says.
He got plenty of practice as it's Jim who collects the aluminum cans to be recycled. He also sweeps the broken glass under the dock. The one-paragraph description of the place in Esquire claims the owners don't care for the glass-smashing tradition.
"Jim has to clean up under the dock, so he doesn't like it," his sister says.
Today "pub"-licity
Tom Brokaw, a Yankton native and University of South Dakota graduate, gave The Ice House national exposure during the country's bicentennial celebration in 1976. His "Today Show" featured highlights from each of the 50 states. "We got almost as much air time on 'Today' as Mt. Rushmore did," Carla recalls.
Since the Esquire piece ran, Anderson has taken more calls for The Ice House koozies. More visitors have also stopped, but usually just for one. They sit on the dock or venture inside to a place that's more garage than bar. It seats about 20 in various stools, at tables or on a seat taken from a van that met its demise hitting a deer. A big-screen TV is often tuned to the weather channel, Fox News or the Oakland Raiders.
"The regulars buy six-packs and 12-packs," says Dana Nelson, a regular here since 1970. "The tourists buy singles."
Regular customers scoop ice and package their own sales in 12-pack boxes or plastic buckets. Potato chips and peanuts are sold as well, but little else. There are no plans to add a grill. Here, it's beer, ice and lively talk.
"The only music we have is if someone pulls up and turns their car stereo on," Anderson says.
"In the fall they'll stand around their trucks looking at a deer someone shot," says Waters, pulling another Bud Light from her bucket. "Or if someone is redoing a house, they'll pull the paneling off the inside and bring it here for people to look at.
"These are just regular folk," she adds.
"It's a good working man's bar," says Jim Larsen, a retiree sporting a camouflage hunting shirt with the words "Beer Crossing."
"You come here just as you are," he says.
"People with fancy cars fit in just like everybody else," says Auch, adding he's come here since he was "almost old enough to drink."
Construction worker Roger Hagen, 58, rests his right arm atop a portable cooler. The Yankton resident slips a cool PBR into his koozie and lights the cigarette he'll smoke in his left. Hagen, a regular at The Ice House for 41 years, worked as a car-hopper in the 1970s. He now opens the joint Saturdays at 7:30 a.m.
Does he brew coffee at that hour?
The question brings a look of astonishment from Hagen. "Coffee?" he asks, voice rising. "No. No. No. This ain't no damn restaurant!"
A bottle breaks outside, punctuating his answer.
The Ice House at 101 Capitol Street in Yankton closes around midnight during the summer.
About Carla
Carla Anderson, who didn't want her photo taken for this piece, has managed The Ice House for years. Anderson, a carhop since she was 12, earned a political science and education degree at the University of South Dakota in nearby Vermillion. A semester of student teaching at Freeman (S.D.) Junior/High School convinced her to return to run the family enterprise.
"I decided I didn't have the ability to discipline kids," she says.
Good decision?
"Probably for me and for children everywhere," she adds.
Welcome to The Ice House, a Yankton tradition since 1928. T-shirts featuring a broken bottle capture this under-the-dock tradition with a saying, "I got SMASHED at The Ice House."
"I'm always amazed people find this place unusual," says owner Carla Anderson. "I guess it's not to me. I've been here since I was 12."
The Ice House is unusual. Built as an ice plant eight decades ago, the facility has served beer since the 1930s. It's been featured on The Today Show, The Late Show with David Letterman and, now, in Esquire magazine's "Best Bars in America" feature published in the June edition.
Why? Answers exist in that pile of broken glass under the dock and the beer drinkers up top who talk farm sales, politics and whether walleye are biting in the Missouri River that flows 400 yards south of the bar.
"There are no pretenses here," says Waters, who shows two scars from recent carpal-tunnel surgery. "This is kind of a family."
Family roots
The Anderson family founded The Ice House. Carla Anderson's great-grandfather Keller built the brick structure at 101 Capitol Street in 1928. The people he built it for lost their financing, so he had his son-in-law, Iner Anderson, take the building and run the Pure Ice Company within its walls.
"They had brine tanks with an ammonia cooling system," says Carla Anderson. "They made 300-pound blocks of ice. It was the first place around here that could produce ice year-round."
Residential and commercial customers drove here in droves to buy ice before the advent of in-home cooling systems. Iner Anderson applied for and received his first beer license in the 1930s, probably 1933 when prohibition ended. The Ice House has chilled and sold beer ever since.
"There were train tracks where the sidewalk is now," says Dennis Auch while pointing about 20 yards from the south side of the plant. "People unloaded the beer from the train. Back then, you drank it warm or cold."
At The Ice House, of course, it was always served cold, often delivered by an Anderson to a vehicle waiting outside. Patrons ordered ice and a six- or 12-pack of beer and downed a few behind the wheel while visiting with others parked here. That sudsy tradition continues.
"We still deliver to people's cars if they want it," Anderson says.
Her father, Donald, and his brother Darrell, assumed operations in the early 1950s. They chipped, hauled and bagged ice with their children -- while serving beer -- until 1982, when they took the ice fields out.
"The ice equipment was old and we couldn't get replacement parts any more," Anderson says. "Plus, the demand wasn't there as people all had ice machines in their homes."
However, the beer stayed, allowing The Ice House to continue its reign as one of Yankton's oldest bars. The Walnut Bar, also known as The Dead Animal Bar, also began serving beer in 1933. The Walnut is two blocks north of The Ice House.
Darrell Anderson, who still resides in Yankton, sold out to his brother in 1990 and retired. Donald Anderson, who, like his brother, officiated high school and college football and basketball for about 50 years, died three years ago and left The Ice House to his six children. Carla runs the place with brother Jim, a Yankton resident who parlayed his time at the business into a "Stupid Human Tricks" appearance on the Letterman show.
"Jim could hop on one foot and smash 50 aluminum cans in a minute," Carla says.
He got plenty of practice as it's Jim who collects the aluminum cans to be recycled. He also sweeps the broken glass under the dock. The one-paragraph description of the place in Esquire claims the owners don't care for the glass-smashing tradition.
"Jim has to clean up under the dock, so he doesn't like it," his sister says.
Today "pub"-licity
Tom Brokaw, a Yankton native and University of South Dakota graduate, gave The Ice House national exposure during the country's bicentennial celebration in 1976. His "Today Show" featured highlights from each of the 50 states. "We got almost as much air time on 'Today' as Mt. Rushmore did," Carla recalls.
Since the Esquire piece ran, Anderson has taken more calls for The Ice House koozies. More visitors have also stopped, but usually just for one. They sit on the dock or venture inside to a place that's more garage than bar. It seats about 20 in various stools, at tables or on a seat taken from a van that met its demise hitting a deer. A big-screen TV is often tuned to the weather channel, Fox News or the Oakland Raiders.
"The regulars buy six-packs and 12-packs," says Dana Nelson, a regular here since 1970. "The tourists buy singles."
Regular customers scoop ice and package their own sales in 12-pack boxes or plastic buckets. Potato chips and peanuts are sold as well, but little else. There are no plans to add a grill. Here, it's beer, ice and lively talk.
"The only music we have is if someone pulls up and turns their car stereo on," Anderson says.
"In the fall they'll stand around their trucks looking at a deer someone shot," says Waters, pulling another Bud Light from her bucket. "Or if someone is redoing a house, they'll pull the paneling off the inside and bring it here for people to look at.
"These are just regular folk," she adds.
"It's a good working man's bar," says Jim Larsen, a retiree sporting a camouflage hunting shirt with the words "Beer Crossing."
"You come here just as you are," he says.
"People with fancy cars fit in just like everybody else," says Auch, adding he's come here since he was "almost old enough to drink."
Construction worker Roger Hagen, 58, rests his right arm atop a portable cooler. The Yankton resident slips a cool PBR into his koozie and lights the cigarette he'll smoke in his left. Hagen, a regular at The Ice House for 41 years, worked as a car-hopper in the 1970s. He now opens the joint Saturdays at 7:30 a.m.
Does he brew coffee at that hour?
The question brings a look of astonishment from Hagen. "Coffee?" he asks, voice rising. "No. No. No. This ain't no damn restaurant!"
A bottle breaks outside, punctuating his answer.
The Ice House at 101 Capitol Street in Yankton closes around midnight during the summer.
About Carla
Carla Anderson, who didn't want her photo taken for this piece, has managed The Ice House for years. Anderson, a carhop since she was 12, earned a political science and education degree at the University of South Dakota in nearby Vermillion. A semester of student teaching at Freeman (S.D.) Junior/High School convinced her to return to run the family enterprise.
"I decided I didn't have the ability to discipline kids," she says.
Good decision?
"Probably for me and for children everywhere," she adds.
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Betty Lou Geelan Keigley wrote on Mar 9, 2008 7:19 PM:
We all remember the ice house and Majestic. Brought back memories fo good ol' days.Loved reading this.
Thanks, from Betty Lou Geelan Keigley "
Inez L. Harris wrote on Jan 24, 2008 7:47 PM:
While rhe Ice House has been a "beer drinking place" for all these years, I remember going with my family on a hot summer night to drink "grape pop". Good memories, too! "
Charlie Hatfield wrote on Oct 10, 2007 7:42 PM: