Fred W. Wolf invented the first commercially viable electric refrigerator in the United States. Sold for the first time in 1913,
W.C. Durant, who was president of General Motors, eventually purchased the Guardian Refrigerator Company privately, and the business was renamed Frigidaire. Appliances were mass produced much like cars, and the first Frigidaire refrigerator was completed in September 1918 in Detroit.
Continued improvements in how the refrigerator was produced, along with organizational changes in the company resulted in a better product and a reduced price. Frigidaire eventually added ice cream cabinets to models in 1923, soda fountain equipment in 1924, and water and milk coolers in 1927. By 1929, 1 million refrigerators had been produced, a marked improvement from the early years.