R.I.P. Detroit's Big Stove

Long before Detroit became the Motor City, it was bustling factory town. As early as 1880, the city was recognized as the center of US stove production. We had ascended to that prominence relatively quickly, given that James and Jeremiah Dwyer had started the city's first stove factory only 20 years earlier at the foot of Mt. Elliott. Early stoves manufactured in Detroit could burn wood, coal, or coke, but the industry evolved to accommodate natural gas once supply systems were put in place in major cities.

Even in the late 19th Century, manufacturers recognized the value of publicity. That's why the Michigan Stove Company decided to display a truly giant stove at the 1893 World Columbian Exposition in Chicago. That world's fair was intended to welcome the world to the Windy City while commemorating the 400th anniversary of Columbus' discovery of the New World.

An unknown sculptor (possibly either John Tabaczuk or Joachim Jungwirth) constructed a stove 25 feet tall, 30 feet long, and 20 feet wide. Its weight was estimated at about 15 tons. Unlike real stoves, it was mainly built of wood (white pine, redwood, basswood, and possibly some spruce). But the exterior was carved and painted to resemble the company's popular Garland nickel trimmed cast iron model.

To further enhance the giant stove's prominence at the Chicago fair, it was placed on a 20 foot high platform and surrounded by various state-of-the-art stoves that might interest consumers.

After the fair closed, the Stove was dismantled, shipped back to Detroit, and re-erected in front of the Michigan Stove Company factory on East Jefferson.

Detroit's stove industry was still booming. Five firms dominated Detroit stove production:

• The Art Stove Company
• The Detroit Stove Works
• The Detroit Vapor Stove Company
  
• The Michigan Stove Company
• The Penninsular Stove Company
• The Art Stove Company

By 1922, these companies and their competitors in Detroit employed thousands of workers to build over 400,000 units and sell them for over $10 million.

In 1927, the Stove was moved further down East Jefferson to a position near the Belle Isle Bridge.

In 1955, the Michigan Stove Company's successor, the Welbilt Company, went out of business. The Stove was leased to the Schafer Bakery Company and used as an icon for a different industry. And when Schafer was no longer interested in it, the Stove was given to the City of Detroit in 1965 and moved to the Michigan State Fairground at Woodward and Eight Mile Road.

Having been exposed to the elements for virtually all of its existence, the Stove was showing its age. So it was once again dismantled and its parts were stored at the Fort Wayne Historic Museum.

Detroiters remembered it, though, and wanted it back. The City's History Department was able to recruit corporations, trade unions, and individuals to restore the damaged parts. And the Stove was once again re-erected at the Fairgrounds in time for the opening of the 150th Michigan State Fair in 1998. (Meecheegander notes with pride that Michigan was the first state to host a State Fair.)

The Stove remained there for another 23 years, even after the state's dismal economy forced the cancellation of the State Fair after the 2009 event.

On August 13 2011, Meecheegander was riding up Woodward with friends after they'd spent the day exploring some of Detroit's historical landmarks. As they passed the Fairgrounds, he saw the Stove through the trees and remarked on it. It turned out his friends had never known the significance of the Giant Stove even though they must have seen it when they took their kids (who are now grown) to the State Fair.

And they never will see it. During a thunderstorm that hit shortly after we got to their home just off Woodward and 11 Mile Road, lightning struck the Stove. By the time anyone noticed that the structure was on fire, the Detroit Fire Department declared the Stove to be a lost cause.