Evansville, Refrigeration Capitol of the World

NARRATOR: This Indiana Bicentennial minute is made possible by the Indiana Historical Society and the law firm of Krieg DeVault.

PAULEY: For almost 90 years, Evansville was the coolest place in the world. The man cooling it off was James Howard Danity arriving in 1922 with his hermetically sealed rotary compressor, the heart of the modern refrigerator.

Technicolor refrigerator commercials from the 1960s are shown.

PAULEY: Soon Evansville was known as the refrigerator capital of the world. Danity worked for the Hercules corporation which became surveilled and was acquired by Whirlpool in the mid-1950s.

Technicolor videos show factory workers building refrigerators. An image shows a bird’s eye view of a refrigerator factory in Evansville.

PAULEY: International Harvester also built refrigerators for 10 years. By 1972, 10,000 people in Evansville were in the refrigerator business but in 2010 the last unit rolled off the assembly line and the industry moved to Mexico. I’m Jane Pauley with this Indiana Bicentennial Minute.

NARRATOR: Made possible by the Indiana Historical Society and the law firm of Krieg DeVault.