they call it an ice box because you kept ice in it. my mother had a card she put in the window, it had four sides with numbers on it - i don't remember the amounts but for instance it had 5 - 10, etc and which ever number was up told the ice man how much ice you wanted that day without him having to come inside. he carried the block of ice in ice tongs and put it in our ice box. you had a drain pan for when the ice melted that scooted underneath the box and you had to keep it emptied!!!