Allan C. Soderberg papers

Allen Cadwallader Soderberg came from Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania to study at Purdue. As a student at Purdue, Soderberg was a member of the Green Potters Board, the governing body of the freshman class, lived in Phi Kappa Tau, was a member of the Scriveners, and a member of the American Institute for Chemical Engineers (AIChE). He received a bachelor’s degree in science in 1951 and a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering in 1956. He worked for Arthur G. McKee and Company in Chicago, Illinois from 1975 to 1978. During those three years, Soderberg flew to Warsaw, Poland to do research on building an antibiotics plant and then to design it. This was during the Cold War and, according to his wife, each time he arrived in Warsaw his passport was taken and given back to him upon departure. He was later asked by Arthur G. McKee and Company to do similar research and design in Russia but Soderberg declined their offer.

The Davy McKee Corp., a multinational engineering corporation was started in Cleveland, Ohio on November 1, 1905, when metallurgical engineer Arthur G. McKee set up an iron and steel consulting firm. In 1906 he formed a partnership with 2 other engineers. They incorporated in 1915 as Arthur G. McKee and Company. McKee served as president until 1946. The company offered complete engineering and construction services for iron and steel projects. McKee increased its operations significantly in 1926 when it merged with the Oklahoma-based Widdell Engineering Co., an oil-refinery engineering firm. In 1941 the company played an important role in the design and construction of World War II defense plants. In the 1950s and 1960s, McKee set up subsidiaries in Canada, Australia, Europe, and South America. But McKee's greatest growth came in the 1970s.. Arthur G. McKee and Company merged with the Davy Corp. of London, England, in Nov. 1978 and in June 1979 became the Davy McKee Corp., a subsidiary of the U.S. holding company Davy, Inc.