ORANGE — Frances Ann Robinson was born on October 17, 1841 in Pennsylvania. She married Henry Jacob Lutcher on January 23, 1858. With their two daughters, Miriam Melissa and Carrie Luna, they moved to Orange Texas in 1878. Frances Ann Robinson Lutcher would become the lady that ensured that Orange would always have a unique place in history.



She became a philanthropic lady. She and her husband acquired great wealth through the Lutcher and Moore Lumber Company. Sometime in the years after her arrival in Orange she developed the idea of building a church. The church would be a great edifice to glorify God and also serve as a memorial to the Lutcher family.



She was a member of the Presbyterian Church. The first Presbyterian church in Orange had been established in 1878 when nine members of the church petitioned the Presbytery of Eastern Texas for permission to gather as a congregation and build a meeting place. The first building was a white frame building on the corner of Market and Polk Streets.

The church had grown and needed to expand and Lutcher began to plan the new church.



Lutcher and her two daughters had gone to the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair and purchased three stained glass windows. One window depicts a man sitting in a chair holding a Bible. Michael the Militant appears on the left and the angel Gabriel is on the right. In effect the church would be planned around these three windows.



More stained glass was purchased at the Columbian Exposition in 1896.



The overall design of the church would be classic Greek Revival architecture. The church would feature a 36 foot diameter opalescent glass dome, the only transparent dome in the nation.



The pink granite would be quarried and dressed in Llano, Texas, and the white, living, marble would be imported from Italy.



The stained glass, the opalescent glass dome and the imported marble would be enough to construct a magnificent church, but Lutcher had learned of a new invention.



In 1902, one year after he graduated from Cornell University, a young engineer named Willis Haviland Carrier had invented an “Apparatus for Treating Air”. A printer in a printing plant in Brooklyn, New York was having problems with the heat and humidity causing the paper to slightly shift. This would throw off the printing process and cause misalignment of colors in color ink printing.



Carrier, a new employee of Buffalo Forge Company, earning $10 per week had solved the problem. He developed a way to control humidity while lowering temperature in a stable manner. The patent for his process was awarded in 1906.



In 1906 another engineer, Stuart H. Cramer developed a system for controlling air in textile plants with a device that added water vapor to the air. Cramer called his process “air conditioning.” Carrier adopted the term for his system as well.



Carrier was such an advanced engineer that his calculations, Rational Psychrometric Formulae, developed in 1911 are still in use by the air conditioning industry today.



When Lutcher learned of the new air conditioning system, she contacted the Buffalo Forge Company and ordered a system for the new church.



The design of the church incorporated air conditioning. The windows were not constructed to be opened.



Construction on the church began in 1908. Orange was a small town with limited utilities. The town would not be able to produce enough electricity to power the new church with its air conditioning system. At the rear of the church a two story power plant would be built to house the coal fired steam generator for electric power and the large air conditioning unit.

The early air conditioning systems were reciprocal, using pistons to force the air through the cooling coils and into the duct system in the church. They were also large and dangerous, using ammonia as a coolant. It was necessary to hire a Carrier engineer to live in Orange for the single purpose of operating the power plant and air conditioner.



The power plant and the church would be connected with large underground copper piping to serve as the ducts for the cool air and a set of underground conduits for electric service to the church.



The ducts came into the basement and then into the floor of the downstairs fellowship hall and into the walls to the ceiling of the sanctuary. The original duct system in the church is still in service.



The church would become the first air conditioned public building west of the Mississippi River when it was dedicated in 1912. It was one of only two or three air conditioned churches in the nation.



In 1914 the Buffalo Forge Company changed its focus and moved exclusively into construction. Carrier left and formed his own company, the Carrier Engineering Corporation, in 1915.

In 1921 Carrier developed a “centrifugal chiller” that was more efficient and smaller than the piston driven systems. Dilene, dichloroethylene, a safer coolant fluid had been developed, making for a safer system. It was no longer to use the dangerous ammonia. In 1928 Freon was produced, making air conditioning even safer and more efficient.



There was an upgrade to the church’s system in 1928. A centrifugal system and new coolant was installed. There was another upgrade to the system in 1944.



The glass dome was covered with copper in the 1940s, possibly having something to do with the World War II. In the 1950s there were some leaks in the dome and the windows. The leaks were repaired and a new copper dome was installed.The original intent was to keep the copper polished. However the bright dome caused a reflection and glare that caused airplane pilots to have problems, so the copper was allowed to gain a green patina.



Over the years the dome has been the climbing goal of some of the more adventurous Orange youth. The view from the top is said to be outstanding.



Lutcher’s memorial church stands in the city like a cathedral.



It is truly a treasure. So much that she chose was so advanced that there has been little need for replacement. There has only been the need for maintenance, or occasional repair.



She even gave an endowment for the upkeep of the church. Since her original endowment family members have added additional funds.



There is a staff of docents at the church and tours may be arranged by calling the church office: 409-883-2097