Above and right, a crew works recently on demolishing the Harman Ice & Cold Storage Building on West Walnut Street. Below, a look at the building before the demolition work began. The demolition of the building is part of the West Walnut Street redevelopment plan. By removing the building, it will be possible to extend Cherokee Street to West State of Franklin Road and create a new access to the historic Tree Streets area of Johnson City.
Johnson City commissioners approved a resolution in 2021 establishing the fair market value of 724 W. Walnut St., which is currently occupied by Harman Ice and Cold Storage.
When the mass production of electric refrigerators ended the era of home delivered ice, R.E and Estel Harman began crushing and bagging their 300-pound blocks of ice, a new form of the ice business that grew exponentially over the decades.
Above and right, a crew works recently on demolishing the Harman Ice & Cold Storage Building on West Walnut Street. Below, a look at the building before the demolition work began. The demolition of the building is part of the West Walnut Street redevelopment plan. By removing the building, it will be possible to extend Cherokee Street to West State of Franklin Road and create a new access to the historic Tree Streets area of Johnson City.
A city map shows the Harman Ice and Cold Storage property at 724 W. Walnut St.
Contributed/Johnson City
Johnson City commissioners approved a resolution in 2021 establishing the fair market value of 724 W. Walnut St., which is currently occupied by Harman Ice and Cold Storage.
Johnson City Press
An early truck delivering "Harman’s Packaged Ice for your convenience.”
Contributed
When the mass production of electric refrigerators ended the era of home delivered ice, R.E and Estel Harman began crushing and bagging their 300-pound blocks of ice, a new form of the ice business that grew exponentially over the decades.
Demolition work to a longtime business on West Walnut Street is paving the way for a new access street to the historic Tree Streets from West State of Franklin Road.
Crews from Complete Demolition Services Inc. have been working to remove the remains of the Harman Ice & Cold Storage building at 724 W. Walnut St.
The Johnson City Commission bought the property for $2.5 million in June 2021 as part of the Walnut Street stormwater and redevelopment project.
The city plans to use a portion of the tract for stormwater retention and to build an extension to Cherokee Street between West Walnut and West State of Franklin Road.
Harman Ice is one of Johnson City’s oldest businesses, beginning in 1915 when C.E. Walker and his brother-in-law, R.E. Harman, partnered to found Walker Ice and Coal Co.
According to the company’s website, it began its operations by producing ice in 300-pound blocks that were delivered to homes by horse-drawn wagons for icebox refrigeration that predated today’s electric refrigerators. In winter the company also delivered coal that was burned for heat.
In 1935, Harman bought out Walker and the company became Harman Ice and Coal. R.E.’s son, Estel Harman, came on board and the family business continued to focus on home-delivered ice and coal through the end of World War II when the mass production of electric refrigerators ended the era of home-delivered ice.
R.E and Estel Harman began crushing and bagging their 300-pound blocks of ice that were sold at filling stations, grocery stores and movie theaters. It was a new form of the ice business that grew rapidly and evolved over the decades to automated ice makers capable of producing 40 tons of ice a day.
When Estel’s son, Harry, joined the company in 1967, Harman Ice became a three-generation family operation and by the early 2000s, Harry’s sons, Reese and Andy, ushered the family business into its fourth generation.
Harry E. Harman died on Dec. 31, 2022, at the age of 81.
The company operates ice plants in Johnson City and Knoxville and a distribution center in Kodak that together serve all of East Tennessee, Southwest Virginia, and Western North Carolina as well as wholesale customers, sports arenas and concert halls from Florida to Canada.
The company also provides cold storage warehouse space for national food distributors and, as an approved vendor for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, packaged ice to natural disaster areas.
Robert Houk has served as a journalist and photographer at the Press since 1987. He is a recipient of the Associated Press Managing Editors Malcom Law Award for investigative reporting.
