The Michigan Stove / The Michigan Stove and the State Fair

At the close of the nineteenth century Detroit was “The Stove Capital of the World.” As the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago approached, the Michigan Stove Company, founded by Jeremiah Dwyer in 1872, decided to build a “Mammoth Garland” stove for its exhibit in the Manufacturers and Liberal Arts Building. Michigan Stove vice president George H. Barbour, who also served on the fair’s national board, sponsored the project. Designed by William J. Keep, the wooden structure weighed fifteen tons and measured 25 feet high, 30 feet long, and 20 feet wide. A colossal exhibit, it stood on a platform with real stoves beneath. After the exposition, the stove was reassembled beside the Michigan Stove factory at Adair and East Jefferson in Detroit. The Michigan Stove and the State Fair The Michigan Stove Company and the Detroit Stove Works merged to become the Detroit-Michigan Stove Company in 1926 and in 1927 moved Detroit’s giant stove to 6900 East Jefferson Avenue, just west of the Belle Isle Bridge. There it stood until 1965, when it made its first appearance on the Michigan State Fairgrounds. The decaying stove was dismantled and placed in storage in 1974. In 1998 Michigan State Fair management rallied corporations, labor unions, and individuals to put this unique Detroit landmark back together. The carefully restored symbol of nineteenth-century Detroit industry was unveiled on the eve of the grand opening of the 150th Michigan State Fair, August 24, 1998.