that the American Ice Company of Charles W. Morse planned to double the price of ice, from 30 to 60 cents per hundred pounds (from 66 cents to 1.32 dollars per 100 kilograms). In the era before refrigeration, this had potentially fatal effects, as the ice was the only preservative available to keep food, milk, and medicines fresh. The high price would have put ice beyond the reach of many of the city's poorTammany's main power base in the years of waves of immigration. American Ice was forced to reverse its decision due to the public outcry. Van Wyck's political rivals forced an investigation into the issue. It revealed that American Ice had secured an effective monopoly over the supply of its product to the cityit was the only company with rights to land ice at New York piersand would have dramatically increased its profits at the new price. In addition, Van Wyck, whose salary as mayor was only $15,000, owned and had apparently not paid for, $680,000 worth of American Ice stock. The Ice Trust Scandal destroyed Van Wyck's political career and was generally reckoned to have cost Tammany the elections of 1901, which was won by the Fusion reformist slate led by Seth Low. Two years later, the New York Times characterized the Van Wyck administration as one mired in "black ooze and slime". Governor Theodore Roosevelt initiated an investigation, which determined that Van Wyck had not been personally implicated in the Ice Trust Scandal. Later years Van Wyck and his wife enjoyed traveling. In 1906, they moved to Paris, France. He died there at the age of 69 on November 14, 1918. The funeral was held at American Holy Trinity Church. His body was returned to New York and he was buried at Woodlawn Cemetery in The Bronx, New York City. Legacy In 1898 the FDNY launched a fireboat named Robert Van Wyck. MS 217 in Queens is the Robert A. Van Wyck Middle School The Jamaica–Van Wyck station of the New York City Subway in Queens The Van Wyck Expressway runs in a north-south direction through Queens from John F. Kennedy International Airport in the south to the Whitestone Expressway in the north. References Further reading Anne Van Wyck, Descendants of Cornelius Barentse Van Wyck and Anna Polhemus, New York: Tobias A. Wright Printer and Publisher, 1912, pp. 207–208. Oliver Allen (1993). The Tiger: The Rise