DETROIT – Do you remember the giant stove that used to sit near the State Fairgrounds entrance in Detroit?
Heck, do you remember the fairgrounds?
Recommended Videos
Detroit is known for cars, but long before the Motor City earned its nickname, it had another identity: the Stove Capital of the World. In the late 1800s, Detroit produced more than 10% of the world’s stoves, fueled by Great Lakes shipping routes and Michigan iron ore.
To show off that dominance, the Michigan Stove Company built something unforgettable.
The Giant Stove
In 1893, the company constructed a giant wooden Garland stove as a marketing stunt for the Chicago World’s Fair -- the same event that introduced the world to alternating current and the Ferris wheel.
The stove stood 25 feet tall, stretched 30 feet long and 20 feet wide, and weighed 15 tons.
You could fit a lot of frozen pizzas in that bad boy.
From marketing stunt to Detroit landmark
After the fair, the giant stove became a beloved Detroit roadside landmark for decades, moving around the city several times before being saved from demolition and relocated to the State Fairgrounds in 1965.
Wear and weather eventually took their toll, and the stove was disassembled and stored at Fort Wayne in the 1970s.
It wasn’t gone for good, though. The stove was restored and returned to display at the fairgrounds in 1998.
The fire
On Aug. 13, 2011, a severe storm brought lightning that struck the wooden structure -- and the giant stove burned completely.
It was a total loss.
The remains sat largely undisturbed for nearly a decade, only discovered when crews began work on a transit center at the site.
The Detroit Historical Society now owns some remnants, but it cannot be restored from the damage 15 years ago.