American History Tellers The Ice King | Slippery Business | 3
Dec 24, 2025
In 1816, Frederic Tudor faced near ruin in the ice trade until a bold idea led him to South Carolina. After being denied a monopoly, he adapted by marketing ice to everyday consumers with clever strategies. As sales soared in Charleston, he expanded but soon contended with crises like a mild winter that brought a devastating ice drought. Tudor resorted to dangerous iceberg harvesting and navigated family debts, managing to thrive through risky partnerships and ambitious expansion plans that reshaped his destiny.
AI Snips
Chapters
Transcript
Episode notes
Monopoly Demand Sparks Outrage
- Frederick Tudor stormed out of a South Carolina trade committee meeting after they refused to grant him an exclusive monopoly for importing ice.
- His blunt demand for a state-licensed monopoly revealed his prior reliance on exclusivity to protect risky new markets.
Price Low To Build Mass Demand
- Tudor deliberately set prices extremely low in Charleston to deter competitors and drive volume sales.
- He marketed ice to everyone with recipes, delivery, and insulating blankets to convert a luxury into mass demand.
Storage Limits Constrain Growth
- High volume sales exposed a supply constraint in Tudor's business: insufficient Boston storage capacity.
- Expanding ice houses near Boston Harbor let him hold reserves and redirect supply between markets.