#11 Icehouse– 125 West A Street (250)

The Dixon Ice Company has the largest storage depot and deals in Prosser Creek Ice. J D Grady is the manager. He not only supplies the public of Dixon with that luxury, but Elmira, Vacaville, and Suisun.

Prosser Creek near Truckee, Calif. This operation took ice cuts from mountain lakes and floated them down a flume to refrigerated rail cars of the Western Pacific Railroad to transport vegetables and fruit to the east.

For natural ice to reach customers in the 1800s, it had to be cut out of ponds, lakes, and rivers and transported to the customers. Shockingly, only 10% of the ice that was harvested ever made it to the customer, the rest simply melted en-route.

Ice distributors would deliver ice daily using a horse and carriage, filling the ice boxes with new ice. Blocks weighed between 25 and 100 pounds.

Dixon Tribune May 29, 1903, the old icehouse opposite the depot has been torn down and a new and much larger building is being erected on the same site.

In 1923, The Pacific Coast Ice company was started by Moulten and Matthews.

The Union Ice Company owned by the Robben brothers announced permanently closing the Dixon storage facility on October 30, 1926.

Dixon Historical Society & Museum resides in the old icehouse building. The Dixon Historical Society is dedicated to preserving and sharing the rich history of Dixon through educational events, research, oral histories, websites, archives, artifact exhibits, and photos.#11 ice house Arcade Hotel

1878/01/05Arcade Hotel - A St.; P. Willott, Prop. (just purchased this well known and popular hotel).

1875/09/01

---The Arcade, is the name given by Wm. Straub to his new quarters on A street. there are now four hotels in Dixon.

1877/11/01

--Mr. Willott has ornamented the Arcade front with a handsome lamp.

3/22/1878 SNNC pg 3 "Work has commenced Tuesday on the Arcade Hotel, a contract having been awarded to Plummer & Ward, of Winters.

1883/01/13

A Street. P.R. Willott - Proprietor. Arcade Hotel and Livery Stable

1883/09/01

CHANGED HANDS. P.R. Willot, for many years proprietor of the Arcade Hotel, has disposed of that property, to Mr.

Johnnie Lyons, and will give possession today.

--P.R. Willot, late proprietor of the Arcade Hotel, will shortly replenish the stock and take charge of the O'Neil livery stable.

--Johnnie Lyons has purchased two lots east of the Arcade Hotel, 50 x 140 feet, for $1,200. The lots were formerly the

property of J.H. Wilson, and the sale was made by W.A. Dashiell.

1883/10/01

--Johnnie Lyons has moved the dwelling house formerly occupied by Professor Lilliard, near to the Arcade Hotel, and it will

be occupied by his family. It is his intention, as soon as carpenters can be secured, to raise it up and build a second story

under it, in order to provide more accommodations for his hotel.

1883/12/??

Dixon Fire 1883 After-math

-- Johnnie Lyons, proprietor of the Arcade Hotel, will construct a brick building two storey, 46 x 70 feet. The first floor will be

part of the hotel and the second floor will be used as a town hall.

1884/01/05

IMPROVEMENTS UNDER WAY. Johnnie Lyons has abandoned the idea of building a brick addition to the Arcade, at least

for the present.

1885/01/01

L. Kumle of the Arcade Hotel, has been quite ill but is convalescent,

1885/01/03

Jan. 3 ,1885

DIXON -1885 - from Dixon Tribune

Description of Silveyville Township -

"The improvements of the past year have been of a substantial character,- as the following partial list will show:

I.0.0.F. Building, brick, cost $13,000.

Addition to Arcade hotel, $2,800.

1885/01/17

JANUARY 17, 1885

ARCADE HOTEL - L. KUMLE, Propietor - A ST.

1891/06/01

June

1892/06/03--Alec McClain has opened the Fashion Stable adjoining the Arcade Hotel and will conduct the same as a first-class livery

and feed stable.

1893/01/01--L. Kumle is having a small addition built to the east end of the Arcade Hotel.

--L. Kumle has retired from the livery business. He disposed of his stable to J. Brayden and will hereafter devote his entire

attention to the hotel business. Mr Brayden was already proprietor of the Arcade stable, and by the purchase of Mr.

Kumle's stable he controls the entire livery business of the town.

--C.E. Barnhart has leased the newly fitted up Fashion Stable, adjoining the Arcade Hotel, and will open it on or about 1893/04/01

April - 1893April

15th, with an entirely new outfit, including first-class horses, buggies, carriages etc.

1894/05/01

--L. Kumle has named his saloon "The Pearl." It is a handsome room and the furnishings are of the latest and most

approved pattern. It is located in the extreme east end of the Arcade Hotel building adjoining the Fashion Livery Stable.

1898/09/16

Sept. 16; ---The Vendome Hotel is to no longer be known by that name, but will here-after bear the name of Hotel Schley.

---The explosion of a coal oil lamp in the lavatory connected with the Arcade Hotel created a little excitement last Sunday

evening about 8:30 o'clock. Services were in progress in each of the churches when the fire alarm was sounded. There

was an immediate cessation of worship and the audience filed out rapidly and orderly. Both hose companies were out,

ready for business in surprisingly quick time, but their services were not needed. A few buckets of water extinguished the

flames and the hose comopanies returned their apparatus to the engine house and most of those who had been attending

church services returned to their seats, the sermons being taken up where interrupted.

1900/08/01

DIXON, Aug. 22.— L. Kumle. one of the oldest pioneer hotel men In the State, died at the residence of his daughter In

Suisun last night. For sixteen years he has been landlord of the Arcade Hotel at this place. He leaves a widow and nine

children. L. Kumle, Pioneer Boniface.

1900/12/28

December 28, 1900 - AN OLD LANDMARK GONE. Arcade Hotel Destroyed by Fire In Last Thursday's Fierce Norther.

The hottest blaze that Dixon has experienced since the memorable fire of 1883 occurred last Thursday morning at 10:30

o'clock.

The wind was blowing almost a gale from a point west of north when smoke was seen issuing from the roof of the Arcade

hotel near the northwest corner of the building. An alarm turned in and the volunteer fire department responded promptly

but before a stream could be brought into effect the flames had made their appearance and were being rapidly driven by

the high wind to the east and south wings of the structure. It was soon evident that the hotel was doomed and the hose

companies withdrew from the building and devoted their attention to saving adjacent buildings.

One of the companies managed after a heroic fight to prevent the flames from catching the Arcade Livery Stable Which

was separated from the hotel on the west by space less than ten feet in width. The other hose company mounted the roof

of the I.O.O.F. building in the meantime and was playing a stream onto the east wing of the hotel, retarding the progress of

the fire and preventing it from attacking the Fashion Stables as fiercely as it would had nothing been done in that quarter.

The company afterward relieved the pump crew which had been working on the inside of the Fashion Stable. a frame

structure sheathed with iron but were soon driven from their position by the dense smoke that roiled into the barn and the

intense heat from the hotel fire. The flames were then attacked from a position protected by the I.O.O.F. building and

strange to say the stable was saved although it was on fire many times in different places.

Early in the course of the fire the citizens turned their attention to saving the furniture in the bedrooms and other

apartments of the building about one-half of the contents being carried to places of safety.

The fire is supposed to have originated in the garret from a defective flue. The garret was stored with furniture, mattresses,

and other inflammables and the fire once started soon transformed that portion of the building into a seething mass of

flames.

The building contained nearly fifty rooms and was one of the oldest buildings in Dixon. The main part, that portion which

has served as a dining-room, was constructed in 1872 by Jas. E. Apperson. It was then a one-story building but

subsequent purchasers added to it above and on both sides until it assumed the proportions destroyed by the fire. The

property cost approximately $25,000 and was insured in two companies, the policies aggregating $5,500.

Dixon's hotel accommodations being limited the loss will be keenly felt. Mrs. Kumle, who owned the hotel and has

conducted it for the past seventeen years, is so much overcome with the loss of her property and home that she cannot say

whether or not the building will be replaced.

Special Dispatch to The Call. DIXON, Dec. 27.— One of the most disastrous fires in the history of Dlxon broke out in the

Arcade Hotel on A street at about 10:30 this morning. The wind was blowing a gale from the north and that any of the

southern portion 6f the town remains seems miraculous. A defective flue is presumably responsible for the conflagration,

and after the fire broke through the roof a few moments after smoke was first seen issuing from the building It was evident

that the building could not be saved, and the volunteer fire department devoted Its attention to saving surrounding property.

The Fashion stables. Arcade livery stable and Odd Fellows' Hall, all adjacent to the destroyed building, were saved after

most desperate fighting on the part of tne fire companies and others who volunteered. While the hose companies which

compose the fire department were busy fighting the flames willing hands were removing as much of the furniture as

possible from the burning building and about ,three fourths of the contents were saved. The hotel was erected in 1872, and

was one of the towns oldest landmarks. It escaped the fire which swept the business portion of Dixon In 1893[?], although it

was badly scorched, and has since had several narrow escapes from destruction by fire. The building was insured in two

companies for $5,500, which only partially covers the loss. The property represented an outlay of nearly $25,000. Dixon,

possessing only limited hotel accommodations, will- feel 'the loss of the hostelry keenly. It is not known whether or not Mrs.

Kumle [?], the proprietress, will reconstruct the building. Firemen and Volunteers Save Furniture From the Burning Build.

Ing and Check Spread of Flames.

1894/07/01

--J.D. Grady has been making a strong effort to keep hs customers supplied with ice. He ordered three tons from the

Buffalo Brewery in Sacramento last week. It came by boat to Maine Prairie and the rest of the distance by team. Only 2800

pounds remained when it reached the ice-house.

1907/03/01

March 1907:

---The Union Ice Company are tearing down their old ice house, chic was inadequate for the business, and will build an

entirely new one on the latest improved plans.

09/01/1913

Roy Mayes has bought the Kumle lot, 120x140, between the Odd Fellows building and the Watson livery. The price was

$6,500. A corrugated iron shed occupies the lot, but a new building for some purposes will be erected, and it is safe to say

that it will be a good one. At one time a hotel occupied this lot, but was burned down.

W.H.Gerlach bought the restaurant business of George Froome adjoining the bakery and resold to F. Towne and wife, who

are now in charge. The latter are competent to conduct a good restaurant and have had a regular bill of fare printed.

Roy Mayes has added to his city real estate by buying the 30 foot Eames' lot between the Tribune office and the Baptist

Church, for $2750. It joins the Kumle lot on the rear, so he has fronts on First street and A street.

05/01/1923

BIG ICE PLANT TO BE BUILT IN DIXON. Thos. V. Moulton and A.J. Matthews, now of San Francisco, but permanent

residents of Dixon within a week, have purchased of J.P.Thomsen the lot between the Fordson Garage and the Odd

Fellows building and will immediately have erected a 20x70 foot building for a modern ice plant.

1931/02/01

Feb.

UNION ICE CO. IS BUILDING. The first building improvement of the new year is under way at the plant of

the Union Ice Co., an office building 19x15, which is being built in the front of the main building. This

office has been a need for some time, as the old one was so small that only one customer could be

handled at a time and then he had to sit on the desk. George Bachand, local manager, is elated at the

prospect of better accommodation for himself and customers, and over another improvement at the

plant, which will consist of a scoring machine, by which blocks of ice will be creased into customer units,

requiring only the tap of a pick to give the buyer the size he wants.

The Union Ice Company V. Fisher Dixon manager Tribune ad JUNE 01 1934 page 8

1935/11/01

Nov. -1935

MRS. KUMLE DIES AT 89. Mrs. Louise Kumle died at the age of 89 at her home on the west side Friday morning. The

young woman came in 1863 to the home of her sister, who was the wife of Lamber Kumle and mother of four smal children.

In the following year her sister died, and Louise in the course of a few months assumed care of the children as wife and

mother. The family arrive her the year after the big fire, and the father with the aid of his wife operated the Arcade Hotel,

which occupied all the space on which is now located the Union Ice Co. plant and the Ford Garage. The well-known hotel

man passed on in 1890. Mrs. Kumle then made her home in the Coleman residence and houses later occupied by Herman

Fischer and J.D. Johnson on first Street. A few years ago she bought the Thomas house on the west side, where she

passed away last Friday

Feb. 14 1936 -

DEATH OF MRS. LOUISE WILLOT. Mrs. Mary Louise Willot, who had been in a San Francisco hospital for over ten years,

died last Saturday at the age of 86. The body was brought to Dixon for interment,

Mrs. Willot was a sister of August Fischer of this place. The Fischers located in the town of Sacramento, which had many

crudities in those days. Her father built the first all-brick house in the place, at O Street near where Crocker Art Gallery is

now located. From there they went to the Winters section. Miss Louise became the wife of Peter Willot who finally located

in Dixon, where he bought the Arcade Hotel and livery stable from Lyons. He later sold the Hotel to L. Kumle just before the

big fire. After the death of her husband, Mrs. Willot continued to live in Dixon in the house now occupied by August Fischer.

Three children were born to the Willots, two dying several years ago, and lately the supposition is that the missing son,

Frank, is also deceased.

Prior to the museum it was The Barn & Pantry owned by Trey and Lindsey Hickman. She had the Coast Ice Co sign on the wall restored...

Esther Bryce

Founder / Interior designer

Lianne Wilson

Broker

Jaden Smith

Architect

Jessica Kim

Photographer

Other businesses in this building...