The Upper Midwest Regional Association of the Refrigeration Service Engineer's Society had its beginning in Fargo, North Dakota in 1953.
Prior to this time, the officers of some of the RSES Chapters in the area felt that it would be to their advantage to form an association and work together, the objective being, to obtain better programs for their respective chapter meetings.
The first formal organizational meeting was held in the Gardner Hotel, Fargo, North Dakota on June 13th and 14th, 1953. This meeting was hosted by the Red River Chapter and the Red River Chapter Auxiliary. At this meeting, a constitution was adopted and officers elected. A Charter was then presented to the association from the International Refrigeration Service Engineers Society by the late H.T. McDermott, then International Secretary of the Refrigeration Service Engineers Society. The participating chapter in the newly formed association were: Red River - Fargo-Moorhead, Souris - Minot, Winnipeg - Winnipeg, Manitoba, Head of the Lakes - Duluth, and the Twin Cities chapter - Minneapolis - St. Paul.
During the fall and winter months of 1953 - 54, the educational committee arranged all the educational programs for the monthly chapter meetings of the previously mentioned participating chapters. The plan was as follows: The speaker would speak at the meeting of the Twin Cities Chapter on Monday evening. Tuesday, he would drive to Duluth and speak that evening at the meeting of the Head of the Lakes Chapter. Wednesday, he would drive to Winnipeg and again repeat his program that evening for the members of the Winnipeg Chapter. On Thursday, the speaker drove to Minot, North Dakota for a meeting with the Souris Chapter and the next day, Friday, he drove to Fargo-Moorhead for a meeting that evening with the Red River Chapter.
After driving about 1,200 miles in all kinds of winter weather and putting on their program five times in one week, we found that the speakers that had made this tour were very reluctant to accept out invitations to come back at a later date and give us another program. Needless to say, the idea of furnishing speakers for the monthly chapter meetings was soon abandoned and in lieu of that, the association decided to have just one good educational Conference each year. To date, the Association has held 48 such conferences since the inception of the regional association.
As the years passed, more of the RSES chapter in our area joined the UMRA. At present all chapters in Region 11 and Region 16 are members of the UMRA-RSES.
UMRA-RSES EDUCATIONAL CONFERENCES 1953 - 2009
| Number | City & State | Hotel | Dates |
| 1 | Fargo, ND | Gardner | June 13 - 14, 1953 |
| 2 | Minneapolis, MN | Municipal Auditorium & Radisson Hotel | Nov. 18 - 21, 1954 This conference was held with the ARI show |
| 3 | Winnipeg, Manitoba | Marlborough | Oct. 21 - 22, 1955 |
| 4 | Duluth, MN | Hotel Duluth | April 26 - 27, 1957 |
| 5 | Minneapolis, MN | Francis Drake | April 1958 |
| 6 | Winnipeg, Manitoba | Marlborough | March 20 - 21, 1959 with RSES Canada |
| 7 | Aberdeen, SD | Alonzo Ward | Feb 19 - 21, 1960 |
| 8 | Fargo, ND | Gardner | April 14 - 16, 1961 |
| 9 | Minneapolis, MN | Dunwoody Institute | April 6 - 8, 1962 |
| 10 | Minot, ND | Clarence Parker | April 5 - 7, 1963 |
| 11 | Minneapolis, MN | Leamington | April 3 - 5, 1964 |
| 12 | Winnipeg, Manitoba | Fort Gary | March 19 - 20, 1965 |
| 13 | Aberdeen, SD | Alonzo Ward | March 25 - 26, 1966 |
| 14 | Regina, Saskatchewan | Hotel Saskatchewan | March 3 - 4, 1967 |
| 15 | Minneapolis, MN | Holiday Inn Central | March 29 - 30, 1968 |
| 16 | Moorhead, MN | F-M Hotel | March 21 - 22, 1969 |
| 17 | Minot, ND | Clarence Parker | April 3 - 4, 1970 |
| 18 | Rapid City, SD | Alex Johnson | April 16 - 17, 1971 |
| 19 | Winnipeg, Manitoba | Winnipeg Inn | April 7 - 8, 1972 |
| 20 | Rochester, MN | Holiday Inn Downtown | April 6 - 7, 1973 |
| Minneapolis, MN | Radisson South | Sept. 25 - 28, 1974 with 37th International Convention | |
| 21 | Moorhead, MN | Ramada Inn | April 4 - 5, 1975 |
| 22 | Minneapolis, MN | Sheraton Inn Northwest | March 26 - 27, 1976 |
| 23 | Fargo, ND | Holiday Inn | March 3 - 4, 1978 |
| 24 | Rochester, MN | Holiday Inn | April 19 - 21, 1979 |
| 25 | Omaha, NE | Omaha Hilton | Feb. 28 - March 1, 1980 |
| 26 | Rapid City, SD | Alex Johnson | April 2 - 4, 1981 |
| 27 | Duluth, MN | Normandy Inn | April 22 - 24, 1982 |
| 28 | Minot, ND | Ramada Inn | March 24 - 26, 1983 |
| 29 | Winnipeg, Manitoba | Holiday Inn | April 11 - 14, 1984 with RSES Canada |
| 30 | Minneapolis, MN | Normandy Inn | April 18 - 20, 1985 |
| 31 | Fargo, ND | Doublewood Inn | April 3 - 5, 1986 |
| 32 | Sioux Falls, SD | Ramada Inn | March 19 - 21, 1987 |
| 33 | Bismarck, ND | Kirkwood Motor Inn | April 7 - 9, 1988 |
| 34 | Minot, ND | March 16 - 18, 1989 | |
| 35 | Kearney, NE | April 19 - 21, 1990 | |
| 36 | Winnipeg, MB | April 5 - 6, 1991 | |
| 37 | Duluth, MN | April 24 - 25, 1992 | |
| 38 | Minneapolis, MN | April 16 - 17, 1993 | |
| 39 | Sioux Falls, SD | March 18 - 19, 1994 | |
| 40 | Bismarck, ND | March 30 - April 1, 1995 | |
| 41 | Kearney, NE | April 25 - 27, 1996 | |
| 42 | Fargo, ND | Ramada | March 13 - 15, 1997 |
| 43 | Minot, ND | March 25 - 28, 1998 | |
| 44 | Minneapolis, MN | April 8 - 10, 1999 | |
| 45 | Rapid City, SD | March 30 - April 1, 2000 | |
| 46 | Norfolk, NE | April 6 - 7, 2001 | |
| 47 | Winnipeg, Manitoba | Delta Winnipeg | April 16 - 20, 2002 with RSES Canada |
| 48 | Omaha, NE | Courtyard by Marriott | April 23 - 26, 2003 |
| 49 | Fargo, ND | Ramada Plaza Suites | April 16 - 17, 2004 |
| 50 | Minot, ND | International Inn | April 8 - 9, 2005 |
| 51 | Bloomington, MN | Minneapolis Airport Marriott | March 31 - April 1 |
| 52 | Bismarck, ND | Kelly Inn | March 22 - 24 |
| 53 | Rapid City, SD | Ramkota Hotel | March 27 - 29 |
| 54 | Winnipeg, Manitoba | Club Regent Casino Hotel | February 19 - 21 |
| 55 | Omaha, NE | Comfort Inn & Suites | March 25 - 28 with Midwest Regional Association |
| 56 | Kansas City, MO | Comfort Inn & Suites | March 25 - 26 with Midwest Regional Association |
| 57 | Fargo, ND | Hotel Double Wood | March 1 - 3 |
OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT AWARD RECIPIENTS
| W. H. (Bill) Hanson, CM | 1970 |
| Tom Summerville, CM | 1981 |
| Edward Grieman, CM | 1982 |
| Irv Moeller, CMS | 1983 |
| Don Anderson, CM | 1988 |
| Evan Killian, CM | 1989 |
| Roy Fullerton, CM | 1990 |
| Wendell Johnson, CMS | 1991 |
| Alex Monteith, CM | 1992 |
| Bruce Kamperschroer, CM | 1993 |
| Rodney Johnson, CM | 1994 |
| Ed Stockert, CMS | 1995 |
| Ivan Maas, CM | 1996 |
| John Husso, CM | 1997 |
| Ronald C. Poling | 1998 |
| Randy Branstad, CM | 1999 |
| Woody Seemann, CMS | 2000 |
| Kevin Johnsen | 2001 |
| Gary MacKenzie, CM | 2002 |
| Gary Nysveen, CM | 2003 |
| Chris Daly, CM | 2004 |
| D. Brian Baker, CMS | 2005 |
| Jim Senst, CM | 2006 |
| Mark Walenz, CM | 2008 |
| George Kuroski, CMS | 2009 |