Puritan Ice operated in Lompoc from 1926 through 1959.
The plant in Lompoc received extensive coverage in The Lompoc Record, and started by shipping in ice from the Guadalupe plant, then grinding it and shooting it over boxed vegetables loaded on trucks and then rail cars.
Don’t forget to buy the book, The Puritan Ice Companies: The Ice Empire of California’s Central Coast.
And check out images from other regions where Puritan flourished.
Burpee Seed catalog showing the Lompoc sweet pea. An earlier agricultural business in the valley.
1939 aerial showing Puritan Ice’s Lompoc property. Rail cars are queued in the upper corner of the lot.
A 1965 aerial showing the Puritan Ice property after it was converted to use as a lumber yard.
Circa 1950 aerial of the Puritan Ice plant in Lompoc.
Clarence Frederick Bacon, front, assistant manager in Guadalupe, reassigned to oversee the Lompoc plant during construction, and became first manager of the plant.
Clarence Birdseye’s frozen foods inventions and patents eventually helped cause the downfall of rail ice. Puritan felt this in Lompoc where they iced more trucks.
An effective Birds-Eye ad from the 1940s convincing shoppers to buy frozen vegetables.
John Fritsche tours the interior of the old ice plant in 2010.
2010, exterior of the old Puritan Ice plant, Lompoc.
Return to the Puritan home page.