The 1950s-60s

In 1954, Henry Broan asked his son Jack – then a sophomore at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill. – to visit the convention of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) in Chicago to learn everything he could about range hood competitors. Broan-NuTone has been exhibiting at IBS ever since . . . more than 50 years.

In July 1956, Broan outgrew its Water Street facility in downtown Milwaukee and moved its headquarters to Hartford, Wis., about 40 miles north of Milwaukee, and into a brand new 20,000-square-foot modern facility.

Broan was one of the five ventilating companies in the country that founded the Home Ventilating Institute (HVI) in the 1950s. The companies had been frustrated at the inability to compare models and ratings because of the lack of a good testing and certification program, so they formed HVI. The testing and certification procedures instituted by this group became the foundation of proper residential ventilation in the U.S.

In 1956, Henry Broan died of a sudden heart attack at the age of 56 shortly after the company had moved into its new corporate facilities in Hartford, Wis. His wife, Edna, became president and held that position until 1967, one of only a handful of women to head a U.S. manufacturing company at that time.

In 1956, Broan sales reached $1 million for the first time and the company had 49 employees.

To meet the demand for ductless ventilation, in 1958 Broan developed a converter that processed odors and smoke through a charcoal filter. It could be attached to existing range hoods or used when ducted hoods cost more than the buyer wanted to pay. This converter, together with Broan’s group of range hoods, heaters, fans and lights combined with systematic advertising and promotion programs, put Broan on the map.

In 1967, Jack Broan was named president and remained in that position until 1978.