Many years after they had left Galesburg for good, Carl Sandburg and Earnest Elmo Calkins happened to meet. They reminisced about their youthful experiences. Both had memories of the Glenwood Ice Company, a prominent business in the city during the 1890s.

Sandburg had worked for several weeks on an ice-cutting crew during a very cold January at Lake George (now Lake Rice). Ice was cut from the lake and floated to a storage building. The large blocks of ice were packed with layers of sawdust in the sheds for use during the warmer months.

Calkins was ten years older than Sandburg and had graduated from Knox College. He was interested in the printing business. He had measles as a child and lost his hearing. Because of that handicap, he did a lot of reading. One year, the month of May had been quite warm. Then a cold spell passed through Galesburg. Many people decided to wear their overcoats again.

The Glenwood Ice Company asked Calkins to prepare an advertisement to be placed in the local newspapers. The ad Calkins created asked why the cold weather was sweeping across the town. The clever answer was that someone at the Glenwood Ice Company had opened its door and let out the cold air.

Ira S. Callendar came to Galesburg and invested in an ice company in December 1884. The following year, the business was established with $100,000 capitalization and named the Glenwood Ice Company. John Robson, a native of England and a local farmer, who had invested in the company, was named president and Callendar became the secretary.

The first year the company sold 2500 tons of ice. By 1912, the company was selling 50,000 tons of ice. In the early days only two wagons were used to deliver ice in Galesburg and the surrounding communities. The Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad was a customer as well. The Glenwood company also developed ice harvesting facilities at New Boston and Moline. At the height of its operations, the company had forty wagons delivering ice.

With the advent of electric refrigeration, the use of ice cut from frozen bodies of water disappeared. By the 1920s the business of ice harvesting had ceased.

Earnest Calkins went to New York City to start his career in advertising. He knew from the beginning that the purpose of advertising was to encourage people to purchase goods. It was an insight which had not occurred to many businessmen. He was very successful in developing ways to accomplish that for a variety of businesses. He also believed artwork in advertisements helped to attracted the attention of shoppers. He set up a studio with graphic artists which added to the attractiveness of the advertisements.

Calkins also wrote a book about a city in Illinois entitled They Broke the Prairie. It is a unique description of a town founded by people of faith and how it grew. Carl Sandburg also wrote about his youth in the same city.