New Bedford Guide Your Guide to New Bedford and South Coast, MA
Milkman, Iceman, and others
The Milkman was also a popular figure. Many were actually the dairy farmer himself, delivering his cow’s product. The iceman helped prolong the spoilage of his product which allowed him to stay away from the farm for longer periods. Ice also allowed him to cart more. Besides his regular route and customers, the milkman would simply alert the community as he traveled the roads and streets. You could bring your chosen container to him and he would fill it for a small fee. Eventually, the milkman that many of us “old-timer” recall, left the milk jars at your doorstep and when you woke up you had fresh milk or cheese. Unfortunately, some people saw this as “free” milk and eventually this contributed – along with convenience stores on every corner and refrigeration – to the disappearance of the milkman. Well, he still survives in insults and jokes about fatherhood.
Other occupations that have died out and/or been replaced or because there’s an app for that:
- Typesetter – This person assembled the sorts into readable sentences for print like newspapers.
- Town Crier– The Town Crier was the original Facebook or Google News alert. Particularly helpful for the illiterate.
- Cobbler – The Cobbler repaired shoes for a cheap price. Today, just buy yourself another $350 pair.
- Cartwright – The Cartwright would repair wheels, the axles or other parts of one’s cart. The first mechanic.
- Cooper – The Cooper made barrels, casks, buckets and the ilk. Many also helped package product and load vessels.
- Glassblower -The Glassblower took molten glass and made drinking vessels, window panes, and more.
- Coal merchant – These men, like the ice and milk men sold and delivered coal to keep houses warm.
- Pinsetters– These lucky guys got the exciting job of resetting bowling pins after they were knocked down.
- Switchboard Operator – Before cell phones, phones were connected physically by wire. You also talked to real live people. I know, crazy.
Photo Guide
#01: Andreoly Ice House 1920. Spinner Publications.
#02: Lamplighter racing the evening sunset.
#03: 1927 Noqachoke Pond, Reed Road, North Dartmouth. Spinner Publications.
#04: Charles Canell Pond Ice House. Spinner Publications.
#05: Cobbler hard at work!
#06: Two young Coopers hard at work on New Bedford waterfront. N.B. Whaling Museum.
#07: Cooper’s workshop, unidentified location New Bedford. N.B. Whaling Museum.
#08: Two veteran coopers earning a day’s pay. N.B. Whaling Museum.
#09: Another cooper’s workshop. N.B. Whaling Museum.
#10: Glassblower Gilly Gulbransen at Gunderson Glass. N.B. Whaling Museum.
#11: Glassblower Anders Thoen at Gunderson Glass. N.B. Whaling Museum.
#12: Hathaway Road Lynchs Ice House. N.B. Whaling Museum.
#13: Kids hoping to get some ice shavings on a hot summer day!
#14: Iceman delivering ice to the Waterfront. Spinner Publications.
#15: Philadelphia Reading Coal Pier on New Bedford Waterfront. N.B. Whaling Museum.
#16: Telephone Worker Donat Cormier. Spinner Publications.
#17: Coachman on the Corner of Union & Front Streets. N.B. Whaling Museum.
I remember the typesetters using Linotype machines at the Standard-Times when I worked there in the 1970’s. It was still on Pleasant Street then. I also set pins at the Boy’s Club. They had four lanes in the basement next to the woodworking shop. You had to set pins before you could bowl. Setting was easy. Dodging the pins as they flew up was not… I can add one more, coal man. My grandparents used to have coal delivered down the chute for the stoves. They used the stoves to heat the house and cook at their place, 44 Reynolds Street.
Great stuff Len! Thanks for reading AND sharing!
one of My husband Jim Heys’ first jobs was a pinsetter at a small bowling alley on Rodney French Blvd in New Bedford
Was told when I was a baby was a man named al Deneault who would wash baby diapers and return them next day all over the city
My father was a pin setter as a boy. Another of his jobs was to blow out the gas lamps in the morning. He also worked at a livery stable, running the horses to make sure their wind was sound. As for me, I ran a switchboard one summer. It was an experience. One time I was trying to connect a call for a man who seemed to think all he needed to tell me was a person’s first name, and I’d miraculously know who he meant. He didn’t realize I could hear him when he told someone else I was stupid. Another time, I was the one who forgot that someone could hear me. I accidentally disconnected someone and swore. Fortunately the person of the line thought it was funny. Dealing with people can be, well, intersting.