Ice Cream Business Makes Way For Oil Plant

Pittsburgh’s former Reinhold ice cream factory is officially closed for business.

Moving into the ice cream manufacturer’s North Side plant will be an oil and antifreeze business, says Stanley Lowe of the Manchester Citizens Corporation.

That’s not to say the company, now called LaSalle Pittsburgh, is leaving quietly. From 11:00 a.m. until 4:00 this afternoon, the remaining 9000-or-so gallons of ice cream are being given away to local residents.

If there is any ice cream left, another giveaway will take place tomorrow. But that seems unlikely, given that hundreds of people showed up, creating a traffic jam that mired much of the North Side.

After World War II, the plant started out as Harmony Dairy. The Reinhold name emerged in the early 1980s and was known for years to make whatever flavors of ice cream their customers chose. Reinhold Ice Cream Co. was sold to LaSalle Brands Corp. in 2007, which officially changed the name.