Before there was modern refrigeration, the home deliveries of things such as milk and ice were true staples of daily life. These one widely common jobs, along with many others, slowly disappeared into irrelevancy as technology advanced, while consumer habits shifted. We’ll take a look at some of the best photos that we could find that capture the hard at work milkmen, ice delivery workers, and other jobs that ended up being lost in the 1900s.
1. Chimney sweeper back in 1860.
Honestly, an iconic aesthetic.
2. A chimney sweeper in Gothenburg, Sweden in the 1960s.
Those were long days of hard work as a chimney sweeper.
3. Switchboard operators, circa 1925.
That was a whole lot to keep track of.
4. Someone’s grandmother working as a switchboard operator back in the day.
She’s having more fun than the rest of us.
5. A switchboard operator at the “Telephone Exchange.”
She looks like she doesn’t mess around.
6. Elevator operator in Budapest, Hungary, 1893.
The mustache elevates this picture to a whole another level.
7. Greek-American kids delivering the Greek newspaper in NYC, circa 1900.
The people needed their newspapers.
8. Pin boys working at a bowling alley, 1910, Brooklyn, New York.
Seems like a fun enough gig.
9. Pin boys manually line up bowling pins before automatic pinsetters were invented in 1914.
Can’t have one pin out of place.
10. Someone’s dad when he used to do Schwan’s deliveries in 1994.
Dad looks like he’s having a great time.
11. Door to door salesman refuels his gas skates 1960’s.
Those skates would make the shifts more fun than is imaginable.
12. Door-to-door potato chip salesman.
That dog is trying to get a free bag.
13. Dedicated milkman right here.
That’s a lot of snow to power through.
14. Chimney sweep in the traditional black top hat skis to work in Saint Moritz, Switzerland, circa 1935.
Now this is the definition of an old school cool photo.
15. My grandad in England circa 1962 delivering milk.
He looks absolutely joyous.
16. Ice delivery in 1918.
That must’ve been tricky to navigate on the hot summer days.
17. Ice delivery out in Bronx, New York in 1949.
He’s looking just a bit fatigued from lugging all of that ice around.
18. A couple chimney sweepers getting the job done.
Could make for a great Halloween costume too.
19. Someone’s dad had a side gig as a chimney sweep in 1979.
Talk about an interesting side gig.
20. Chimney sweeps in Stockholm, Sweden in 1905.
Everyone looks so serious.
