R. C. Baumgartner established the Glynn Ice Company in 1903. It was first located on Grant Street, then Newcastle. With an output of 75 tons per day, it was one of the most successful businesses in Brunswick. Baumgartner sold it to F. D. M. Strachan in 1912, and it was relocated here in 1920. Coal delivery was added to the business at that time. F. D. Aiken purchased the ice company in 1930 and changed the name to Glynn Ice & Coal Company. Modern appliances put an end to the day-to-day delivery of ice by the end of World War II, but bulk customers such as shrimpers and other fishermen kept the business afloat. The business closed permanently in 1982 and the building fell into ruin. It was scheduled for demolition by the city but in 2001, Keith Missildine, a Brunswick native with preservation experience, successfully petitioned the city to purchase and restore the property. One structure was saved and restored as a residence, and the remainder was stabilized, as seen today. I’m unsure what has come of plans to restore the building as office space, but at least it has survived with some of its original character intact.
Thanks to Kristen Knost for sharing her photographs and the location on the Vanishing Georgia Facebook group.
Brunswick Old Town Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
