As we continue to delve into the ice harvesting businesses of South Portland, we take a look this week at the operations of Royal R. Burnham.

Born in 1838 in Stroudwater Village (Westbrook), Royal Burnham learned the ins and outs of the ice business while employed for D.W. Clark for over 15 years. In 1871, he went into direct competition with D.W. Clark when he formed a partnership with John Leavitt.

Under the business name of Leavitt, Burnham & Co., they obtained office and storage space on Cross Street in Portland and ran their first business advertisement in the local newspaper on March 9, 1871. Leavitt, Burnham & Co. served both wholesale and retail customers.

The business lasted for only about three years. They dissolved their partnership on April 27, 1874, and sold the business to D.W. Clark & Co.

Royal Burnham kept a pretty low profile over the next five years. He was still listed with the occupation of ice dealer in the Portland directories, but we found no advertisements for him during this time. In 1879, however, he started up again with another competing company.

This time he partnered with Melvin R. Dyer. The new company, Burnham & Dyer, placed their first newspaper ad in February of 1879. Like the previous partnership, Burnham & Dyer was located on Cross Street in Portland and dealt in both the retail delivery and wholesale ice business.

During the time that Burnham was operating his ice business as Burnham & Dyer, we have learned about two locations in South Portland where he was harvesting ice. In the Jan. 28, 1882, edition of the Cape Elizabeth Sentinel, it was reported that Royal Burnham had a crew of men and was harvesting ice in Ligonia. Also in 1882, Burnham & Dyer started running ads for the sale of “Kimball Brook ice.” Kimball Brook runs through what is today known as Hinckley Park. In 1882, however, the park did not yet exist and all of the land there was privately owned.

Burnham & Dyer remained in business together through March 10, 1883, at which time they dissolved their partnership. Melvin Dyer left, and Royal Burnham continued in the business, but with a new name, Burnham & Company.

On Oct. 20, 1883, Royal Burnham signed a 10-year lease with Cornelius K. Hawes, who owned a large tract of land which had a cow pasture and Kimball Brook running through it. This is in the area where the two ponds at Hinckley Park are today.

According to a story in the Portland Daily Press on Oct. 27, 1883, “Mr. Burnham is at present building a dam, and will use the pond for the purpose of cutting ice. As this brook is supplied by springs its entire length, Mr. Burnham expects the coming season to cut some of the choicest ice to be found in this vicinity.”

Per the lease agreement, Burnham had the rights to build an ice house next to the pond, and to close the water gate on Oct. 15 each year and have access to the property for ice harvesting through March 30. Between April 1 and Oct. 14 each year, Hawes and his family continued to have full use of their cow pasture.

Throughout Burnham’s time in the ice business, he often featured “Kimball Brook ice” in his ads, so that he became known for the high quality of the ice that he cut here.

The ice harvesting operation at Kimball Brook would later be operated by John A. Skillings (who signed a similar lease with Cornelius Hawes in November of 1900), then was later operated by Deering Ice Company (George Lamport) and then City Ice & Coal Co. (Jacob Lamport) through roughly 1954. The city of South Portland acquired the land through eminent domain in 1972 in order to create Hinckley Park.

Burnham & Company also had ice houses on Sebago Lake and in Brownfield. The three ice houses at Brownfield were all destroyed by fire in 1891. It was a big loss, but there was some insurance on the buildings. Royal Burnham died in November of 1896 and his widow put the business up for sale on Dec. 16, 1896.

An advertisement of the sale gives a good description of the existing business at that time: “The Burnham & Co. ice business, Deake’s wharf, consisting of ice houses, stable, horses, carts, tools and all appliances necessary to carry on the retail ice business in Portland, and a good list of customers; also three ice houses with machinery and tools necessary for cutting and storing ice at Lake Sebago, with facilities for shipping.”

The business was purchased by Frank C. Abbott the following month. In a paid advertisement in the Portland Daily Press on Jan. 16, 1897, Abbott announced that “I have purchased the ice plant and good will of the late R.R. Burnham for the purpose of doing a Wholesale and Retail Ice Business in Portland and hope to retain all his old friends and customers and add as many of mine and a host of new ones as will favor me with their patronage. Will continue under the name of Burnham Ice Co.”

Burnham Ice Company experienced another loss by fire on Sept. 8, 1900, when its Sebago Lake ice houses in Standish were destroyed. With all of the sawdust used in storing ice, the threat of fire was always a consideration by any ice company.

In April of 1904, the Burnham Ice Company was purchased by E.G. Beechwood. He incorporated the business in 1904, then changed the company name to the E.G. Beechwood Ice Company in 1905. As we learned last week, by January of 1912, Beechwood had resigned and sold out his interest in the company due to ill health. The stockholders decided to change the company name to Portland Sebago Ice Company. That company name is familiar to a lot of South Portlanders, as it was the last company to maintain an ice cutting operation at Clark’s Pond on Westbrook Street.

Note: The South Portland Historical Society is holding its membership drive. If you enjoy reading about South Portland history, please consider renewing your membership, or becoming a new member of the South Portland Historical Society. A one-year family membership is only $25 and supports our mission of preserving local history. Donations can be made through our Online Museum website at https://sphistory.pastperfectonline.com, or if you’d prefer to donate by check, please make it payable to South Portland Historical Society and mail to us at 55 Bug Light Park, South Portland, ME 04106. Thank you. If you need to contact the society, we can be reached by email at sphistory04106@gmail.com or by phone at 207-767-7299.

Kathryn Onos DiPhilippo executive director of the South Portland Historical Society. She can be reached at sphistory04106@gmail.com.

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