Don't Forget the Stove City

Detroit had been considered a center of industry long before Charles Brady King built and drove the city’s first car in 1896.  One of our previous claims to fame was as a stove manufacturing capital.  The “Big Three” of those days consisted of the Michigan Stove Company, the Detroit Stove Works, and the Peninsular Stove Company, but they were by no means alone.  The Michigan Stove Company, through their Garland Stove, has had perhaps the most lasting impact on Detroit.  Detroit’s famous giant stove, which until the unfortunate fire earlier this year, stood as a landmark at various spots around the city, was a Garland, and was the Michigan Stove Company’s contribution to Chicago’s 1893 World's Columbian Exposition.  Not only was the company proud of this line, but as this postcard demonstrates, it was rather protective of it as well.  The “reflector top” was a feature which would gather the light inside the stove and reflect it outward through a mica window to illuminate the room.  On this card, presumably mailed by the company, they threaten legal action against not only stove manufacturers who infringe on this feature, but also vendors carrying such stoves.  These were no idle threats as these circuit court and appellate court records against Fuller-Warren show, however neither judge seemed very impressed by the claims of the Michigan Stove Company.