YESTERYEAR: Servel, Inc. by Pat Sides
When the Second World War ended, Servel’s swift conversion to peacetime production created unparalleled economic growth in Evansville. By 1947, the company’s payroll reached a record 7,500, and workers assembled appliances around the clock. In the following year, the three millionth refrigerator rolled off the production lines, sporting a separate new compartment that the company bragged would “hold almost a bushel of frozen foods.†In this photo from the late 1940s, a Servel worker demonstrates how the company’s new refrigerators were made. Within the next decade, however, the changing labor climate led Servel to sell its appliance division to Whirlpool, Inc.
When the Second World War ended, Servel’s swift conversion to peacetime production created unparalleled economic growth in Evansville. By 1947, the company’s payroll reached a record 7,500, and workers assembled appliances around the clock. In the following year, the three millionth refrigerator rolled off the production lines, sporting a separate new compartment that the company bragged would “hold almost a bushel of frozen foods.†In this photo from the late 1940s, a Servel worker demonstrates how the company’s new refrigerators were made. Within the next decade, however, the changing labor climate led Servel to sell its appliance division to Whirlpool, Inc.
