Before the invention of the refrigerator, there still was the need to preserve food.  One way to do this was by storing it in an icehouse. The congregation constructed this octagonal icehouse in the fall of 1888. In that time, winter ice was collected and stored in the belly of this building. The ice would stay frozen for months. Eventually, the icehouse was converted into a potato house in order to store root vegetables grown on the farm. Most touchingly, just inside the doors, there are prayers to St. Joseph and St. Therese, placed there by early sisters.