The storage and use of ice dates pretty far back.

In early civilizations, there wasn't much need for refrigeration because nutritional resources were normally consumed quickly. The earliest records we have of manufactured ice dates back to around 4,000 years ago in Assyria. We see a gradual shift towards individual ownership of ice by the 1500s, when the use of ice for cooling drinks was common around the Mediterranean.

It wasn't until the 1800s that ice as a commodity saw first light. Ice was first seen as a commodity in the United States, which slowly developed into an ice trade with the East Indies. Note that this was natural ice; ice was harvested around Boston and Maine and stored in ice houses until shipment. It was still only for the wealthy, though, for those who could afford their very own ice houses.

Ice for the common folk was partly brought about by the founder of the ice trade, Frederic Tudor, who was considered a fool by some. A humorous account I remember is that his first large shipments of ice melted because he hadn't realized there was no proper storage for the ice's destination.

Around 1825, 3,000 tons of ice were being shipped from Boston annually alone, of which 2/3s were from Tudor. That's when ice trade saw reduction in price, so much so, that ice trade encompassed a wider range of consumers.

It wasn't until the turn of the 20th century, however, that practically everyone had access to ice, by means of iceboxes.