A Cool Measure of Millburn's History

As we limp from one paralyzing heat wave to the next paralyzing heat wave, many visitors to the historical society museum reflect on what it was like before we had air conditioners at home, work, or in our cars and trains.

It may surprise many Millburners to learn that as recently as the mid-1980s, summer commuters crammed into uncomfortably stuffy, hot Erie-Lackawanna trains that were not air conditioned and often had windows that would not open--and if they did open, they might suddenly slam down on you.

A very recent new/old donation to the collection of the Millburn-Short Hills Historical Society is the yardstick seen here, from Terlizzi Brothers, formerly at 519 Millburn Avenue--and 42A Main Street. The memento from that Millburn store led to online resources that noted that the Terlizzis were early local sellers of home air conditioners and other appliances. The Terlizzi brothers were Frank and his two-years-older brother Louis Terlizzi, both of whom lived in Bloomfield in 1930, at which time they had an electrical contracting business. The ad and directory entry here appeared in the 1960 business (and residences) directory online at the Millburn library website.

According to a Winter 1997 Newsweek article by Malcolm Jones Jr., titled "Air Conditioning," an American engineer named Willis Carrier first made an air conditioner unit in 1902. The National Academy of Engineering website's history of air conditioners and refrigeration indicated that: "In 1902 Willis Carrier had a sudden insight into a problem he had been puzzling over--the complex relationship between air temperature, humidity and dew point. He realized that air could be dried by saturating it with chilled water to induce condensation. After a number of experimental air conditioning installations, he patented Dew Point Control in 1907," and "In 1915 (Willis Carrier) and several partners formed the Carrier Engineering Corporation, which they dedicated to improving the technology of air conditioning."

Carrier's large and expensive units were first used commercially, most notably in movie theaters, when they debuted at the Rivoli on Broadway, in 1925. The National Academy of Engineering website added that: "Frigidaire marketed the first room cooler in 1929" and "The Packard Motor Car Company was the first automobile manufacturer to build air conditioners into its cars, beginning in 1939."

It was not until after World War II that sales of window air conditioners exploded, with sales of over one million units in 1953. Prior to the war, that cooling comfort was "limited to movie theaters and similar areas of public occupancy." (National Academy of Engineering). It was only a few years after that that we find the Terlizzi brothers selling those popular appliances to happy local residents. Sales must have been brisk, as the two brothers were able to simultaneously operate stores in Montclair and Bloomfield.

The Terlizzi Brothers store was not recorded in the society's 1952 directory and first appeared in the next book in the collection, the 1960 directory, but at 42A Main. It is not known when they were at 519 Millburn Avenue, now home to Chai Center Judaica. The last entry for Terlizzi Brothers was in the 1962 directory.