Sabin History Series - Cold Storage

Georgia (Koch) Thomas remembers the cold storage lockers that were located on the SW corner of NE 10th and Beech: “In the 1940's and early 50's most of us didn't have freezers, so our moms rented space for our supply of meat and poultry. That was always a great place to go to on a hot summer day!”  

Mel Cook recalls helping to build that cold storage locker. “During one grade school summer vacation, I can recall stuffing shredded redwood bark into the open spaces in the newly constructed cold room walls. That was the preferred method of insulating at the time, many years before fiberglass insulation became popular.
The redwood bark had to be finely shredded prior to hand-stuffing into the open wall spaces. The mechanical shredding process that we used was very messy. I wore a handkerchief across my nose and mouth. The fine particles became imbedded in my hair and clothes. I itched for days!”

Mel continues: “I do not know how many years that cold storage food locker was open for business. With the advent of home freezers, it is likely they were forced to close sometime during the 1950s or 60s. Today, at that same 936 N.E. Beech Street address, you will find the New Freedom Assembly Church of God In Christ.”

A longer version of Mel's story is published on Steve Schreiber's volgagermans.net website.