History of District Heating in the United States

| Chronological List of District Heating Systems in the United States |

District Heating in Red Oak, Iowa

Map of the Heating Circuit, Red Oak, Iowa

Quimby N. Evans and Juan A. Almirall were heavily involved in the installation of forced-circulation hot water systems for institutional customers, particularly schools.  In 1899 they installed a district heating system in Red Oak, Iowa and also installed systems in Watseka, Illinois; Janesville, Wisconsin; Albert Lea, Minnesota; Piqua, Ohio; Girard Estates, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

These systems employed a one-pipe heating network rather that the two pipes used by other systems.

References
1899 Engineering News 41:20:180 (May 18, 1899)
EVANS, ALMIRALL & CO., 44 Dey St, New York, have closed contract with the Red Oak Electric Light Co., of Red Oak, Ia., for a central beating plant, using the Evans system of exhaust hot water heating.

1900 "Watseka Hot Water Heating," White County Times, February 2, 1900, Page 1.

1900 "Utilization of Exhaust Steam for Heating," by H.J. Frith,  Municipal Engineering 19(1):35-41 (July 1900)
Superintendent Electric Light and Heating Company, Watseka, Ill.  Recommends single-pipe hot-water network.

1900 "Albert Lea Hot Water Heating Plant," Freeborn County Standard, October 17, 1900, Page 5.

1900 Test of Heating and Ventilating Plant Installed by Evans Almirall and Co. of New York City in Public School No. 22, by August Peter Sonnin Krebs and Arthur Samuel Blanchard, Thesis, Cornell University

1901 "Hot-Water Central Heating in Red Oak, Ia.," The Engineering Record, 43:307-308 (March 30, 1901)
Evans Almirall system

1901 "Heating Franchise," Centerville Daily Citizen, September 10, 1901, Page 2

1901 "Hot Water System," Centerville Daily Citizen October 10, 1901, Page 3

1901 "To Heat by Hot Water System," Marion Chronicle Tribune, November 4, 1901, Page 1.

1902 "Central Station Heating," by D. F. McGee, Red Oak, Ia., American Gas Light Journal 76:692-693 (May 12, 1902)
Red Oak, Iowa, Evans-Almirall hot water system, start October 1899

1903 "Central Station Heating," Engineering Review 13:20 (December 1903)

1905 "Notes on Central Station Heating," The Metal Worker, Plumber and Steam Fitter :57 (May 20, 1905)

1906 Evans-Almirall system of hot water heating : forced circulation, exhaust steam utilized : patented 1893 and 1897 : designers, engineers and contractors  

1907 "Central Heating System for Fifty-one Detached Buildings," The Heating and Ventilating Magazine 4(4):14-28 (April 1907)
Evans-Almirall hot water system at New York Juvenile Asylum, excellent diagrams.

1908 "The Schott System of Central Station Heating," by J. C. Hornung, Journal of the Association of Engineering Societies 41(2):33-42 (August, 1908)
Page 34:  About this time a one-pipe system of hot-water heating was brought out which was an enlargement of the systems commonly in use within the buildings; that is, a single pipe belt was run around a block and the various buildings were shunted off the belt similarly to the arc-lighting systems in common use to-day. This system requires that the pipe shall be of the same size throughout the belt, and the number of heat units which can be supplied is determined by the allowable drop in temperature between supply and return ends of belt; as in arc lighting when one belt is loaded an additional belt may be run from the powerhouse.

1909 "Hot Water System Changed to Steam," Centerville Daily Citizen, June 14, 1909, Page 1

1914 The Heating and Ventilating Magazine 11(8):63 (August 1914)
Deaths. Quimby N. Evans, senior partner of the firm of Evans, Almirall & Company, engineers and contractors for heating, ventilating and power plants, died suddenly July 6. Mr. Evans was one of the pioneers in the heating business in this country, having been in partnership with Frederick Tudor of Boston, under the firm name of F. Tudor & Co., in the '70s. In 1880 he formed a partnership as The Q. N. Evans Co., doing business in Boston and New York. In 1892, Mr. Almirall became associated with him and, a couple of years later, the present co-partnership of Evans, Almiral & Co. was formed. During the past two years Mr. Evans had not been actively engaged in the business, having felt that he could leave it in younger hands. His death was quite unexpected. The business of Evans, Almirall & Co., it is announced, will continue as in the past.

1912 The Journal of Plumbing, Heating, Air Conditioning Contractors 52:102 (July 15, 1912)
The Janesville Electric Company, of Janesvile, Wis., has decided to discontinue its central heating service and is now dismantling the system.

1917 In the Matter of the Petition of the Central Illinois Utilities Company Relative to Heating Service at Watseka. November 19, 1917.

1921 "Forced Hot-Water Circulation Heating System, Girard Estate, Philadelphia," Journal of the American Society of Heating and Ventilating Engineers 27(2):107-118 (March 1921)

1921 "The Heating System for the Girard Estate, Philadelphia," The Heating and Ventilating Magazine 18:43 (June 1921)
Evans-Almirall system supplies 481 houses, stores and apartments on the Girard Estate

1924 In the Matter of the Petition of the Public Service Company of Northern Illinois Relative to Authority to Discontinue the Rendering of Heating Service in the City of Waukegan, Illinois. March 26, 1924.

1955 Juan Antonio Almirall (25 Nov 1870 - 26 Oct 1955) grave

1959 "Indiana and Michigan To Close Half Century Old Steam Plant," Marion Chronicle Tribune, May 26, 1959, Page 5. | Part 2 |

1962 "Bid Adieu to Last of Old City Steam Heat System," Centerville Daily Citizen, July 20, 1962, Page 1

2009 A History of Centerville, Iowa, by Willis M. Heusinkveld
Pages 64-67:  Electric and Gas Service in Centerville
[This book shows the downside of relying on secondary sources.]

© 2025 Morris A. Pierce