SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (ABC4 News) – Craig Wirth takes a trip down icy lanes as he goes back to take a look at Utah’s giant ice plant, where hundreds of kids spent their time skating and hanging out.
Sugarhouse is where much of the town got its ice. The Hugeia ice wagons would go up and down the streets and the iceman would fill up your icebox.
As late as the 1950s, a 500-pound block of ice cost $2.50, and lasted weeks.
Thy Hygeia Iceland became the place you just had to go. They put in a warming hut, with a fireplace. And they had lots of popcorn.
Outdoor Skating was big, all across the nation. Baby boomers had many of their first booms on ice. It was the perfect place and parents would just come and drop off their kids.
It eventually became a race against warm weather. Once the ice melted in the summer it became Hygeia Swimland.
Later they enclosed it and hockey became standard fare. But today… it is still a parking lot on 1200 block of 21st South.
