When Lisa Rumble Miller messaged me this little snapshot of the original Ice Plant Restaurant that she and husband Curt once owned and managed, the yellow time stamp from the pre-digital camera days lets us know exactly when it was taken: “07/08/2011 16:33.” And the lit sign in the window lets you know the doors were open if you’re ready for a late lunch or early dinner. And yes, it was another fine summer day by the river.
This historic building had been sitting along the road to Greensboro since the late 19th century. The Gabler family was in the business of making ice, and this was a prime spot. The Monongahela River, just over the bank across the road, could be pumped into the Ice Plant basement to be frozen and sold. The family also made ice cream and bottled soda, and later a dance hall was added that served food.
When daughter Selma married Bob Mavin, the family business grew with the times, making ice in the winter and operating a custard stand on Route 88 for summertime cruisers. When the Mavins finally closed their doors in 1979, it seemed like the sad end to a wonderful era. But Jim and JoAnn Rumble, another family with deep roots in the community, bought the property in 1981, the year before Lisa graduated high school. They were eager to remodel and reopen the Ice Plant Restaurant and keep its memory alive.
“Mom and Dad renovated the whole building,” Lisa told me when I interviewed her at the new Ice Plant Restaurant that she and her extended family now own and operate. Her memories of what happened next are vivid. “The original door faced the river and they redid it to the side.” But there would be no opening day. When the Election Day Flood of 1985 struck, “There was no insurance. The water came up into the field and inside. I remember the water was so high the counter was shoved against the door. My dad threw up his hands and said ‘That’s it! I’m done!’
The Ice Plant would sit empty for years.
But sitting empty was not an option for someone who loves her hometown as much as Lisa does. Plus, the sturdy old tiled block building was still in surprisingly good shape. Determined to make things right, she and husband Curt bought the property from her parents in 1995, did more extensive renovation and the Ice Plant Restaurant in the snapshot was open for business the next year. It would build a reputation as a restaurant with a boat launch (installed in 2007) just across the road and serving great family food at reasonable prices.
When the first electrical fire happened on Good Friday in 2001, the cause would eventually be traced to a damaged electrical power transformer surge and “we were last on the line,” Lisa said. “We were lucky the firemen were having a Good Friday fish fry and they were all there to answer the call. The building was saved.”
But the second electrical fire was not so forgiving, nor was the weather. On January 5, 2014, the fire hydrants were frozen and there was too much ice on the road for the fire trucks to pump from the river. The old building was totally gutted and state fire marshals ordered it torn down. It would take the Rumble Miller family two years to start rebuilding again, first by enclosing the remaining pavilion, then adding extra rooms and additions to become the Ice Plant Restaurant of today.
What’s left of the historic Ice Plant is still there. A new pavilion has been built by the road, on the spot where it once stood. Lisa and I went outside to admire the wall that surrounds the pavilion. Under its roof is an outside bar where guests can sit during good weather. Topping the wall is tiled blocks salvaged from the old building’s exterior. “I thought about making a flower bed but this is better,” Lisa said with a grin. “People can still sit on, if not in, the old Ice Plant!”
