The ice company on Smallman Street

Pennsylvania · United States · Haunted site

The Chautauqua Lake Ice Company stood here until it caught fire and exploded on 9 February 1898.

This building in the Strip District of Pittsburgh was the Chautauqua Lake Ice Company, and on 9 February 1898 it caught fire and exploded.

It was renovated a century later and now houses the regional history centre.

Several members of staff, including the overnight security guards, have reported things in the building.

An ice house is an unlikely place for an explosion until you know how they worked. Commercial ice plants of that period used ammonia under pressure as the refrigerant, and an ammonia system in a fire is a bomb. Plant explosions of exactly this kind killed workers across industrial America.

That a museum of this region's history is housed in a building that is itself part of that history is fitting, and the institution does not hide it.

The history centre is open to visitors.

FAQ

Where is The ice company on Smallman Street located?

The ice company on Smallman Street is in Pennsylvania, United States.

Image: phil.d.howard / CC BY 3.0 / Wikimedia Commons