We can either use the installed screen or stuff our ginormous screen into the Ice House and blow the roof off with our 5.1 surround sound and HD1080P projection.

Directions from the North
Route 22 to Route 378 South – take Exit 3 for Center City Historic Area
Turn left onto Third Avenue, turn left again onto West Broad Street
Take W. Broad St. to Main Street and turn right onto Main St.
Take Main St South past Hotel Bethlehem, continue on Main Street as it curves to right and left under the bridge. Turn left at corner to stay on Main Street, straight through the stop sign and use the parking lot on your right. Walk across the bridge over the Delaware & Lehigh Canal and follow the signs.

 

Directions from the East and South East
Take Route 78 east to the Hellertown (Rt. 412) Exit. Turn right onto Route 412 North into Bethlehem
Stay on Route 412 until New Street where you turn right and cross the bridge
Turn left onto West Lehigh Street at first traffic light at the end of the bridge
At stop sign, turn left on Main St. and park in the lot on your right. Walk across the Delaware & Lehigh Canal and follow the signs.

Parking for Stoketoberfest at the Ice House is at the surface lot below just prior to crossing the canal on your right. It will be marked and attended.

 

Ice House History

In 1899, Mineral Spring Ice Company bought the lots on which the present building stands. Two additional lots on the south side of River Road were acquired in 1900. Mineral Spring built outbuildings including a weigh house, a barn and a shed on these lots.

Construction of the original brick section of the ice house began during the winter of 1899 and was completed in early spring of 1900. Ice was manufactured and stored in this section.

Mineral Spring leased water power rights from the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company. A raceway drew water from the canal into the vanes of a ten-foot turbine that powered refrigeration apparatus in the building’s west side. Ice was stored in the east side.

In 1904, a freezing-tank house was built (the large wood frame addition on the canal side, north of the original building, survives today). A one story frame extension, east of the original section was built next. By 1912, a large frame storage house was added at the east end.

By the 1920’s a one story frame exension was increased to two stories. The front wall was rebuilt in brick and moved forward to align with the original building, creating the facade that exists today. With these expansions, the ice house reached it’s greatest overall dimensions.

The City of Bethlehem purchased the Ice House in 1963, as part of a plan to restore recreational use to Sand Island as seen in the 1890’s and during WW1. The City continued to run an ice vending operation until 1976. For one season in the 1980’s, the Lehigh Navigation Canoe Rental operated from the canal side addition. Except for this and some seasonal storage, the building was vacant from 1976 until it’s renovation in the mid 1990’s.

The Mineral Spring Ice House, unique for it’s water-driven ice making machinery and manufacture of plate ice, has survived for over a century. The large freezing tank room of the former ice house has found an appropriate re-use as a performance space, and the facility continues to serve as a reminder of the relatively short-lived, although economically important heyday of artificial ice making in America.

From time to time we may use the Ice House for rain dates for Movies Games & More events, for fundraising events such as Stoketoberfest and other film events. We also use the Ice House for public meetings, volunteer meetings etc.