ICE BREAKER

Large ammonia compressors are used to cool the ice making plant.

Glennon Harter stood in one of the freezers were block and cubed ice are stored.

Ask Glennon Harter or his brother, Richard, what they do for a living and they say they make ice. But their ice making is a little different than filling a cube tray and sticking it in the freezer.

The brothers will have owned the Pure Ice Company Inc. in Cape Girardeau for 20 years next month and production this year will be about 1.5 million 10-pound bags of ice -- a much larger-scale operation than filing ice cube trays.

Pure Ice might have a 20-year history with the Harter brothers at the helm, but also this year, the company celebrates its 70th birthday in Cape Girardeau. The company has been at 314 S. Ellis since it was started by H.K. Dean in the building vacated in 1926 by the Riverside Lumber Co.

In 1964, Austin Harter, the father of Glennon and Richard Harter, purchased the company from Dean, the founder of the company. Harter already owned the Perryville Ice Co., and many people knew him as a former mayor in Perryville.

Austin Harter ran the business -- with the help of his sons -- until they took it over in May 1976.

Originally, the company made 300-pound blocks of ice because of the need to keep foods cold. But with the development of the refrigerator, the need for 300-pound blocks decreased but demand for crushed ice increased; so the plant converted its operation over time.

Besides the size of the product, not much has changed since the Harter brothers took ownership of the company.

"We just keep trying to produce a good product at a fair price," said Glennon Harter. "People can make ice at home, and we're competing with them."

Four large ice makers installed on the roof of the Pure Ice building produce the ice to be broken up and used to fill 10-pound bags.

Specialty ice products like a 300-pound or 10-pound blocks are produced in other areas of the company. The 300-pound blocks are purchased by people needing ice carvings, Glennon Harter said, but years ago they were purchased because that was the only way foods were kept refrigerated.

The ice is produced and stored by using compressed ammonia as a coolant, much the same way freon is used in cooling.

The Harter brothers wear many hats in the day-to-day operations of the company. They might be repairing the roof, fixing a leaky coolant pipe or driving a route.

"We do whatever needs to be done," Glennon Harter said. "I can't sit in the office and make any money."