History of the Evansville Chapter

American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air

Conditioning Engineers

(ASHRAE)

          In order to best understand the history of the Evansville Chapter of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), it is helpful to first review the history of the national society.  ASHRAE, as we know it today, was formed in 1959 by the merger of the American Society of Refrigerating Engineers (ASRE) and the American Society of Heating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHAE).

ASRE had been organized in 1904 by a group of members of The American Society of Mechanical Engineers who felt that their specialty merited an organization of its own.  The American Society of Heating and Ventilating Engineers (ASHVE) had been formed ten years earlier –1894- to serve the interests of the heating and ventilating industry.  With the growth of air conditioning in the early 1950’s, the two societies found themselves duplicating programs and competing for members among air conditioning engineers.  ASHVE changed its name to ASHAE in the hope of gaining an advantage in the competition.   Of course, the competition was made meaningless when the two societies merged.

              The Evansville Chapter has its roots entirely in ASRE.  Although there were individual members of ASHVE/ASHAE in the area, no local chapter existed.  ASRE had chartered the Evansville Section December 7,1947 with 148 charter members. When the merger occurred, it was just a matter of welcoming a few new members, changing the letterhead and business as before.  One noticeable difference was that where ASRE had “sections” lead by “chairmen”, ASHRAE had “chapters” led by “presidents”.

              Perhaps a look at the changes in membership from the charter date to the present (1989) would be of more interest than the mere recital of dates.  When the ASRE section was formed, Evansville had three domestic refrigerator manufacturers – Servel, Seeger, and International Harvester.  The original membership of the chapter was made up mainly of representatives of those three companies and their suppliers.  Evansville at that time claimed to be “The Refrigeration Center of the World” and the chapter letterhead carried a similar legend for a time.

              Eventually, Servel was broken up and its various business units were sold.  Seeger merged with Whirlpool, and International Harvester withdrew from the refrigeration industry.  Still, the domestic refrigeration members dominated the ASHRAE chapter until the late 1970’s when more heating and air-conditioning engineers were attracted to membership.  At the same time membership from the domestic industry declined.  The changes in balance of the membership is reflected in the programs; few subjects related solely to domestic refrigeration have appeared in recent years.

              In any event the Chapter appears to be healthy, strong, and facing the future with confidence.

            E. M. Marks, Historian

            11-4-1989

History of Chapter Officers

Original Charter and Members