Yellow Bank Flag Stop / Hendrickson's Ice Pond

Yellow Bank Flag Stop, also, Hendrickson's Ice Pond. . , Yellow Bank Flag Stop , Starting about 1867, the Whitewater Valley Railroad offered flag stop service here at Yellow Bank. Flag stops often consisted of little more than a small shelter to protect waiting passengers from the rain. Hailing a train at such stops might have required a wave to let the engineer know that you wanted to board. Successors of the Whitewater Valley Railroad included the Cincinnati, Cleveland, Chicago, and St. Louis Railway (Big 4), and finally, the New York Central Railroad.

The Whitewater Valley Railroad offered passenger train service and mixed train service. Riding a mixed train, with both passenger and freight cars, required considerable patience, as passengers were obliged to sit idle while the train crew serviced the various industries along the line. Fortunately for those living along the Whitewater Valley Railroad, the company offered at least one eastbound and one westbound passenger train daily. Due competition from automobiles and the newly completed US 52, the New York Central Railroad terminated all passenger service on the Whitewater Valley ine in 1933.

Hendrickson's Ice Pond , Prior to the advent of mechanical refrigeration, frozen ponds and rivers served as the only practical source for ice, Ice companies, such as the Cincinnati Ice and Coal Company, leased ponds in the countryside. During the winter months, teams of men descended upon the ponds to harvest the frozen water. The ice cutters used a variety of tools designed to cut and remove blocks of ice from the ponds. Workers then packed the blocks in sawdust for shipment to ice houses in nearby towns and cities, Deliverymen then transported the blocks of ice to homes and businesses throughout the community.

Hendrickson's ice pond, formerly located east of the parking area, produced ice for local ice companies from the mid- to late nineteenth century through the early twenticth century. The pond was little more than a wide spot in the former Whitewater Canal; which, after the end of navigation in the early 1860s, remained in use as a source of hydraulic power for industries in Metamora and Brookville. Ice from this pond likely found its way to customers in the Cincinnati area, By the 1920s, ice machines and electric refrigerators had largely eliminated the natural ice industry.