REMEMBERING THAT WOOD AND COAL BURNING KITCHEN STOVE

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Ours was a "Wincroft," but much the same as the "Baron" in the engraving above. You have piled on the years if you remember this beast with cast iron legs and body. Our Wincroft didn't always burn coal as it was built to do. During the Glover years of poverty, we had the dead wood from Kuser Farm to substitute for our normal ton of chestnut coal from Henry Liedtka. To those of my visitors who are not familiar with that old relic, you will notice that there are circular lines on the top of the stove. They were lifted off with a special tool and the coal or wood was dropped into the furnace. I remember lifting one of the lids, putting a fork on a piece of bread and toasting it over the fire. Our mothers and grandmothers had to be very ingenious to learn how much time to leave that turkey or bread, or other oven-baked meals in that oven on the lower right. There were not electronic timers back then. What is not shown in the engraving is the galvanized chimney pipe which was fitted on the back of the stove and vented into the house's chimney. Right up to the 1940's I remember coming home from school on a cold winter day, sit at the kitchen table and smell the delightful aroma of a pot of Mom Glover's home made chicken soup.

Ralph Lucarella said...

Hi Tom: I'm one senior who remembers the coal stove and furnace era. It was a lot of work to get up early to remove the ashes from the furnace. The kitchen stove and the grate on the living room floor was about all we had to heat the house. My dad made good use of the stove, he'd grill a steak over the coal fire much like we do today on our outdoor grills. A very large portion of the cellar was used to store the coal. There was no way of getting heat on the 2nd floor without space heaters. This is another example of today's seniors calling our generation the greatest cause they've seen the big difference in the life styles of today. Regards, Ralph

Tuesday, September 08, 2009

Ralph Lucarella said...

Hi again Tom: I might add that the wealthy people had hot water heat with radiators in every room. My ambition years ago was to own a house with hot water heat. that was accomplished when we bought a house on Marshall ave. in Mercerville in 1959. We not only had radiators but the furnace was an oil burner. Congradulations with the response from the seniors on your Times article.

Tuesday, September 08, 2009

JoeB said...

Ralph: No heat on the second floor? We were fornuate, my grandfather was a baker and he would bring home oven bricks which we warmed in the oven of the coal stove to take to bed at night to keep our feet warm.

Wednesday, September 09, 2009

Tom Glover said...

Yeah guys. But what about us poor country folks who didn't have any heat other than the old coal furnace down in the basement. My brothers were growing up during the depression and had to sleep in the attic. They said ice would form in their water glasses on cold winter nights. There was no insulation on the roof and walls of our thrid floor attic, only rafters. Brrrr! Tom Glover