Ice House Mall History

Nestled in the heart of Downtown Barrington, Illinois, the Ice House Mall & Village Shops was orginally built in 1904 as the Bowman Dairy. Farmers would bring their milk cans to town by wagon, pour the milk into vats, the cans were washed, steamed and slid down an outside ramp to be picked up again. The dairy bottled whole milk in pints and quarts, seperated the whole cream and sold the skim milk to farmers for their hogs.

 In 1926, the Bowman Dairy closed down the plant and was bought by Suburban Ice Company which tranformed the dairy to an ice plant. Jefferson Ice Company purchased the plant in 1930 and enlarged the ice making and storage facilities. They began make artificial ice around 1920. Up until that time lake water was used. Water for the manufactured ice came from wells on the property. Huge brine tanks were cooled by cold pipes filled with ammonia gas to 18 degrees above zero. Pure water in cans, immersed in the brine, froze solid in 24 hours. The cans were dipped in vats of warm water to allow removal of the 400 pound blocks of ice, which were then stored. The ice was shipped out as block ice, in cubes or crushed and bagged . During World War II ice plants were classified as essential because of the need to perserve food. The east portion of the ice company housed the refrigerated locker-rooms. People would rent lockers where they could store their food until ready to use in their home.

In 1974,the Jefferson Ice Company was purchased by a group of Barrington businessmen and the renovation of the Ice House Mall began. In the summer of 1978 and estimated crowd of 400 gathered to watch the 62 year old Barrington train station being moved across town to the west side of the Ice House Mall. In 1980, a restaurant and shops were opened. A major renovation and an addition have transformed the original building into today's charming village of specialties shops and is a shopping destination preserved with graceful turn-of-the-century architecture, and old-fashioned personal service where you can eat, drink, shop and pamper yourself all day! Visit our 15 unique boutique shops, pamper yourself at our  salon & spa and full service travel agency and dine for lunch or dinner in a 1927 vintage Illinois Central Railroad car or a skylit atrium overlooking the shops at our full service restaurant. Look What's In Store for You at the Ice House Mall & Village Shops. For more information call 847-381-6661.

 Bowman Dairy

Bowman Dairy Milk Crate

              Bowman Dairy Milk Can