Michigan Stove Company

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Michigan Stove Company
PredecessorDetroit Stove Works
Founded1871 in Detroit, MI. USŃ
FounderJeremiah Dwyer
James Dwyer
Defunct1957
SuccessorGarland Commercial Industries
Headquarters
Detroit, Michigan
United States
Area served
Worldwide
ProductsCooking stoves, ranges, heaters
Number of employees
1000-2000
(2,200 in 1907)

Michigan Stove Company was a leading manufacturer of stoves started by Jeremiah Dwyer and his brother in the mid-1800s. They have a background in the foundry business. The Detroit, Michigan company they founded was eventually incorporated as the Detroit Stove Works, a joint-stock company. With a new set of investors, Dwyer restructured this enterprise in 1871 and renamed it the Michigan Stove Company. Under the 'Garland' brand, the company produced a diverse lineup: cooking stoves, heaters, and furnaces. It pioneered cutting-edge technology for foundry applications. The company was considered one of the world's largest producers of stoves and ranges, offering an extensive line of 700 different styles and sizes. The company maintained a presence in major U.S. metropolitan areas and established international distribution channels.

Contents

History

The Michigan Stove Company's origins date back to the pre-Civil War era. At this time, American domestic life centered entirely around the open hearth, which provided both essential heat and the means for all cooking. The old custom proved costly, ineffective, and fire hazardous. The 1830s saw the rise of new steel innovations, significantly boosting efficiency in household items like stoves and heaters. Detroit's wealthy and elite took advantage of the upgraded items that were made in New York state between 1840 and 1860. The new products were transported by way of the Erie Canal and the Great Lakes shipping routes and arrived in Detroit. [1] The creator of the Michigan Stove Company was Jeremiah Dwyer. He gained extensive experience in Albany, New York. There he apprenticed to the stove manufacturing business and worked in the stove trade for several years. In 1861, he and his younger brother James bought out a failing Detroit reaper manufacturer that was trying to make stoves. The venture brought in Thomas W. Misner as a new partner and their new undertaking became J. Dwyer & Company in 1861. [2] Given the large market demand for cooking and heating stoves, the Dwyer brothers' proficiency in stove manufacturing quickly led to their success. They were first in the midwestern United States to combine modern engineering with foundry work to produce stoves. [3] [4] [5]

Detroit Stove Works Detroit Stove Co 1910.jpg
Detroit Stove Works

J. Dwyer & Company sold their first stoves directly to local residents by personal solicitation. [3] In 1863, Misner sold his portion of the partnership venture to William H. Tefft and Merrill I. Mills and they became new financial partners in the stove venture. The name was changed then in 1864 to Detroit Stove Works when J. Dwyer & Company became a stock company. [3] The founders of this company were Jeremiah Dwyer, James Dwyer, Merrill I. Mills, Edwin S. Barbour, and William H. Tefft. [3] Jeremiah Dwyer acquired pig iron and other needed metal materials from Charles Ducharme, a wealthy Detroit businessman. Ultimately he became an additional investor in Detroit Stove Works. The company produced a variety of cooking and heating stoves which it sold under their "Jewel" brand. [6] The Detroit Stove Works at its peak employed a thousand employees. [3]

Michigan Stove workers in 1872 Workers 1872 MI Stove Co.jpg
Michigan Stove workers in 1872

Driven by an intense work ethic, Jeremiah Dwyer developed the Detroit Stove Works enterprise from its humble beginnings, necessitating an expansion of its facilities. He was an industrialist who oversaw the growth of the company from a small foundry into a major operation, later expanding the facilities to a new location on East Jefferson Avenue in Detroit. [7] Because of his exposure to the foundry's polluted air, he contracted a pulmonary disease. Dwyer was forced to step away from the foundry business temporarily in 1869 so sold his ownership in the company to his brother and Edwin S Barbour to go live in the southern United States to improve his health. After his sabbatical of rest, he returned to Detroit and re-entered the foundry business. In 1871 he started a new firm with investors making it Michigan Stove Company. [3] [8] [9] The principal partners of the Michigan Stove Company were Jeremiah Dwyer, Charles DuCharme, Francis Palms, Richard Long Sr., Merrill I. Mills, and George Harrison Barbour. DuCharme was appointed president, Dwyer took on the role of vice president and general manager, Mills became its treasurer, and Barbour was its secretary. [7]

1876 exhibit Michigan Stove Co.'s exhibit.png
1876 exhibit

Michigan Stove Company launched its manufacturing operations on September 12, 1872, producing stoves, heaters, and furnaces. The company presented their latest models at the 1876 Centennial World's Fair in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They initially produced the 'Argand' stove and were required to pay a royalty to Perry & Company of Albany, New York, for the rights to make their style and brand. The Dwyer company later created its own style of stove, which they named 'Garland' to echo the sound of 'Argand' to attract customers acquainted with that brand. That eventually led to the concept of trademark popularization because the Garland stove brand became synonymous with high-end and ornate stoves in the late 1800s. [10] An expression like "the Garland will take care of itself" was common to use, meaning the heater in the parlor room didn't need much attention as it was already filled with wood to burn. [11]

Michigan Stove Company in Detroit showing Garland stove factory, 1891 Michigan Stove Company.png
Michigan Stove Company in Detroit showing Garland stove factory, 1891

The Michigan Stove Company experienced a devastating fire on January 8, 1907. The fire started in the evening and completely destroyed the manufacturing plant in a matter of hours. The fire caused $500,000 in damage, leaving $100,000 uninsured after the $400,000 insurance payout. The closure then of the factory resulted in the unemployment of 2,200 workers. The night watchman first noticed the fire at the coal-hopper in the engine room. The flames aggressively engulfed the building's core. Despite the fire department's arrival within fifteen minutes of being notified, the blaze was already out of control when firefighters began hosing down the building. The oversized replica stove on display outside the factory was crushed and damaged when one of the plant's six-story walls collapsed onto it as a result of fire-related destruction to the factory walls. The factory's inventory of twenty thousand stoves was destroyed. Thousands of Detroit residents gathered to watch the fire and police had to be deployed to manage the crowd. [12]

Michigan Stove Co on Jefferson Ave 'Largest Makers of Stoves and Ranges' Mich Stove Co.jpg
Michigan Stove Co on Jefferson Ave
'Largest Makers of Stoves and Ranges'

Detroit became the world's leading manufacturer of stoves by 1900. [13] Before becoming the Motor City, Detroit earned the nickname "Stove Capital of World" due to its dominance in stove manufacturing, with the Dwyer brothers' companies being central to this industry. Three of the four major stove companies were founded by brothers Jeremiah Dwyer and James Dwyer. [4] There was a two-story wooden replica of the Garland kitchen stove, known as the World's Largest Stove, constructed just for Chicago World's Fair of 1893 and it increased the brand's popularity over time. [14] [15] [16] Jeremiah Dwyer become president of Michigan Stove Company in the fall of 1907. [3] The company was the largest of Detroit's six stove manufacturers at the time. [17] The company's annual production of stoves, ranges, and furnaces reached over 150,000 by 1922. [3] All the operations of the factory took up 16 acres. It maintained a workforce exceeding one thousand people and achieved an annual production value of roughly $3.5 million. [3] Dwyer was instrumental in preventing numerous labor disputes for the company during his presidential tenure. He would personally mediate disputes between parties either in his private office or at their work place. [18] Most problems were settled amicably and they became a union shop. [19] [20]

The Michigan Stove Company, located on Detroit's Jefferson Avenue, built a product line of over 700 styles of cooking and heating stoves, which were all sold under the 'Garland' name. [21] The company had an annual advertising budget in the $65,000 to $100,000 range. [22] They were considered the world's largest manufacturer of stoves and ranges. [23] [24] They produced an aluminum-steel alloy by adding aluminum to iron to improve properties like strength and corrosion resistance. [25] [26] William J. Keep, a metallurgist hired to develop steels for the company, [2] [27] became the first metallurgical engineer ever associated with a foundry in Michigan. [18] [28] The manufacturing facility consistently employed roughly 1,500 workers, enabling the yearly production of between 60,000 and 70,000 stoves and heaters. [29] [30] The manufacturing operations occupied 360,000 square feet (33,000 m2) of space. [7] [20] The factory initially sold its products only in Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana, but expanded to sell nationwide within twenty years. [28]

Art Garland heater Art Garland heater.jpg
Art Garland heater

Michigan Stove Company merged with and absorbed Art Stove Works in 1923. [31] It then merged with Detroit Stove Works in 1925 to form the Detroit-Michigan Stove Company, which later acquired A-B Stoves of Battle Creek, Michigan, in 1945. [32] The company began producing automobile parts and reported a nearly 10% profit on $21 million in sales in 1948. [32] Sales halved a year later, after which profits began a steady annual decline. [32] The Detroit-Michigan Stove Company failed in 1955, prompting Welbilt Corporation to purchase the Garland brand. The company's plant ceased operations in 1957. [33] Garland Commercial Industries began operations in 1973 as the new plant was built in Freeland, Pennsylvania, then. [34] The Garland brand now equips restaurants and hotels with a full line of commercial cooking equipment, including ranges, grills, fryers, and ovens. [35]

The Michigan Stove Company established its presence in the Midwest and East Coast through branch offices in Chicago, New York City, and Buffalo, New York. [25] It had sales executives and distribution offices in Honolulu, London, Paris, Berlin, Constantinople, Manila, and the Philippine Islands. [4] [30] The company published a product catalog; the typical edition measured 10 inches by 12 inches and had about 200 pages. The catalog was housed in a striking, heavy-duty imitation gold leather binding, featuring a bold black and red design. The title page showcased the company's accolades and featured reproductions of the company's awarded medals. The catalog contained architectural renderings of the Detroit manufacturing facility and the regional headquarters in Chicago. [36] Accompanying the catalogue was a pamphlet of about 24 pages, known as price attachment. It gave the prices, weights, dimensions, and styles of the items in the main catalog. [37]

References

  1. ↑ Buffalo Morning Express, p. 8.
  2. 1 2 Catlin 1928, p. 254.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Burton 1922, p. 546.
  4. 1 2 3 Loomis 2015, p. 9.
  5. ↑ Encyclopedia of Detroit 2025, p. 1.
  6. ↑ Loomis 2016, p. 99.
  7. 1 2 3 Dwyer 1920, p. 163.
  8. ↑ Taylor 1909, p. 417.
  9. ↑ Encyclopedia of Detroit 100 2020, p. 1.
  10. ↑ Cramer 1907, p. 622.
  11. ↑ The Metal Worker 1899, p. 40.
  12. ↑ Detroit Free Press 1907, p. 1.
  13. ↑ Detroit Historical Museum & 2025, p. 1.
  14. ↑ Austin 2025, p. 1.
  15. ↑ World Record Academy 2022, p. 1.
  16. ↑ Sheaff 2025, p. 1.
  17. ↑ Detroit Free Press 2009, p. 27.
  18. 1 2 Carter 1920, p. 12.
  19. ↑ Feurer 2017, p. 99.
  20. 1 2 Derby 1894, p. 300.
  21. ↑ Omaha Daily Bee 1887, p. 12.
  22. ↑ Holman 1909, p. 8.
  23. ↑ Poremba 1998, p. 69.
  24. ↑ Chicago Tribune 1905, p. 9.
  25. 1 2 Mitchell 1891, p. 43.
  26. ↑ The Daily Times 1905, p. 12.
  27. ↑ Packard 1890, p. 161.
  28. 1 2 Burton 1922, p. 549.
  29. ↑ Michell 1891, p. 43.
  30. 1 2 Taylor 1909, p. 418.
  31. ↑ Detroit Free Press 1928, p. 10.
  32. 1 2 3 Jerlecki 2012, p. 63.
  33. ↑ Woodford 2017, p. 299.
  34. ↑ Standard-Speaker 1994, p. 33.
  35. ↑ Garland Group 2025, p. 1.
  36. ↑ The Metal Worker 1904, p. 55.
  37. ↑ The Metal Worker 1904, p. 62.

Sources

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