Returning home from our New Year’s Day adventure in a big box store, Tom and I continued to reminisce about the big, white stoves that took up so much space in the small, suburban kitchens of our childhoods. Both Tom’s parents and my multi-generation family eventually hauled these large ovens to other houses; Tom’s to a newer, bigger home, mine to a suburban house, then, after another move, to the basement of my Aunt Christina’s house; the stove’s final resting place.
As we chattered away, I recalled an old black and white photo of Aunt Christina and my grandmother, Yia Yia, posing in front of the stove in the kitchen of the family home on Congress Street in Chicago. It was in this house, the first floor of a two flat, that the picture was taken in. There, we all lived together; a multi-generational mix of aunts and uncles, cousins and grandmother, until I was four and one half years old.
It set me to wondering about the story of the stove, a Tappan, and a bit of a rummage-around for the photo. I found it, and I knew who to call for its story; my cousin Mary Jane.
After saying hello and a bit of catching up, I asked Mary Jane if she remembered the stove and when it was brought to the family house on Congress Street. Mary Jane is the oldest of the cousins, with fourteen or so years between her and I. She spent a good part of her childhood in my grandmother’s house, the only child living among several sets of aunts and uncles and other relatives who at different times found shelter in Yia Yia’s house.
Mary Jane said that she did, indeed, remember the stove. Our Uncle John bought it for the family when he secured a good job after returning from serving in World War II. He sent money home to Chicago for a new stove and a new furnace.
I can only imagine the joy and relief of my uncle returning safely from war, as well as the appreciation when the stove and the furnace arrived. The story warmed my heart as much as the stove must have warmed their meals and the furnace the entire building. In our family, as in many of yours, the kitchen and its stove represent the heart of family. I knew the stove from our suburban house Maywood, though, and needed to learn a bit of its history.
My cousin surmised that my mother, her Aunt Violet, took the picture. I supposed she took two or three, with one to mail to Uncle John.
I asked Mary Jane what kind of stove the new Tappan Gas Range replaced. Ah, a little chuckle preceded what I heard as I memory of her own. She said the old stove was a coal stove. When she started high school, she was the first one up in the morning. Her job was to start the stove. Oh, it was cold in the morning when she entered the kitchen. she vividly recalled. She would get the stove warming with coal from a nearby bucket, then dress for school. By the time she was dressed and ready, so was the stove, upon which she then made a cup of Hershey’s Cocoa, which she had with a slice of bread and butter.
While the old coal stove stayed evenly warm for a long time, the new gas range must have been a remarkable improvement for the women in my family, and for my cousin’s early morning routine. I was glad I called my cousin and appreciative that she took time talking with me, recalling those memories and family history.
We said our good-byes, then I found a cozy spot and looked anew the picture – and I thought about the first time I made cocoa on that same Tappan range.
Great family photo! Just as I sent the email to you with my photo of the teacup, this post was waiting in my inbox! How nice that that very stove gave you an excuse to touch base with your older cousin! I’ll bet she enjoyed reminiscing as much as you did! Thanks for another great story about your family and for putting me in the mood for a cup of hot cocoa, which I will make right now, for Eoin and myself!
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Hey, Janet. I was just editing this (I realized I didn’t have a title) and here you are. We must be on the same wavelength. I’ll check out your email asap.
I think she did enjoy it. It was a reminder to me to keep asking questions while we are all still around and able to answer. It’s a good day for hot cocoa, which I’m sure you and Eoin will enjoy. Off I go to check on that teacup you send me.
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I love the story, the memories, and the photo of the old stove. I remember those. The oven part was really not very big, but there was room for storage. I clicked on it to check, and, yes, I believe there is one of those big shiny hot pads there between the burners. Almost everyone I knew had one. I love the glass fronted cabinets and the Coke bottles sitting on the counter. It almost looks like it is a set up museum scene to show us the way life was “way back when”. Look at those hair do’s. Love it.
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Isn’t that hot pad emblematic of the era? I had forgotten about them until I looked at the picture, with a magnifying glass, from which I also looked into the glass cabinet and noticed the plate leaning just behind Aunt Christina’s head, which only increased the decibels of my glee. That dinner set is long, long gone, BUT, I have the one Christmas platter that came with it, which I use every year, and say that “this was part of my Yia Yia’s set of dishes she used for company”. It has all that gold swirled trim and a decorated tree in the center. Aren’t those Coke bottles fun to see? The cabinets, by the time the picture was taken, were painted white. I don’t know why painted all that wonderful wood back then.
My aunt’s box bangs! They were always referred to as box bangs. I’m so glad my mom took this picture – and saved it. Thanks, Janet.
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This may be my favorite remembrance of yours. Your Yia Yia and Aunt Christina look so proud and happy as they demonstrate the new oven. Your uncle was quite the man to give this to the family and you must write more about him.
The best thing about these ovens, aside from the fact that they NEVER wore out, was that storage drawer and how food would stay warm on the surface. The downside was they were not self-cleaning. I am sure we would be astounded to know how many meals were cooked and re-heated in that oven. Just think of all the birthday cakes, holiday dinners, cakes and loaves of bread it produced!
Our new digital (argh) GE oven light burned out in 8 months. I am a Luddite and prefer many things that are not of this century.
Happy cooking!
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I’m so pleased to have you say so, Marilyn. Thank you, and yes, my uncle was very generous in supporting the family, especially his mother. After those long, rationed war years and the Great Depression, that stove was quite a gift.
You’re right; they never wore out. This stove would probably still work now. Those drawers were wonderful, and I remember them holding pots and pans and dishes on top of the stove warming if someone was late to dinner. This oven was a workhorse in our family. It would have been in the house on Congress for about 10 years, then, out to the ‘burbs where it held court in a small, but always occupied, kitchen, and cooked everything from the Easter lamb to, yes, our birthday cakes (made by my mother with Swans Down cake flour). Good memories. I’m a Luddite too! You would not be surprised to know that I still use my mom’s waffle iron, which has to be 70 years old.
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I’m so glad you found out the back story, Penny. It’s so weird that my Mamaw had a coal stove, too, and a white gas stove/oven combo. I’m sure it was the era, but still. She lived in Eastern KY, a far cry from Chicago. I love the picture, too. I’m glad I’ll be able to picture Yia Yia when you write about her now.
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I’m glad I was, too, Andra. I think those coal stoves were the mainstay for a lot of folks around the country at the time. My cousin said that they heated up very well and kept the warmth for a long time because coal burns slowly.I can’t imagine baking a cake in one (but, you know, given the chance I would try). Whether in Eastern KY or from Chicago, these were women whose work never ended from sunup to sundown, and their stoves were their daily companions.
Thank you.
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Dear Penny, oh, I’ve missed your musings in the past month I’ve spent away from blogging. I celebrated Advent and Christmas, baked cookies and quick bread and yeast bread, cooked delicious soups and entrees from new recipes, visited, read several books, and seldom came to the computer, but it’s such a joy today to come back here to this desk and this chair and this iMac and find such a lovely story of your childhood and that of your cousin.
I grew up–after the age of six–in a home out in the country. We had a stove that used propane gas and I remember it so well. It was big! I remember equally well the pumping of water for drinking and cooking and bathing. We surely are made up of a plethora of memories, many baptized in joy, others in sorrow but all that have come, in time, to be treasured and cherished.
Penny, I missed over a month’s worth of your postings. If there are any you’d especially like me to read, please do let me know. Thank you. Peace.
PS: Are you the blogger who recommended Gail Godwin’s book “Evenings at Five”? I read it over this hiatus and found it so lyrical and so filled with the arc of grieving.
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Happy New Year, Dee. It’s a pleasure to see you again after your blogging sabbatical. It sounds like your time was well and enjoyably spent, with the spirit of the season, not to mention the tastes.
Thank you. It was fun writing this, and a good conversation to have with my cousin.
All those stoves of that era were so big, weren’t they, and a great deal of hard work just to drink water,cook, and bath.
It is so sweet of you to ask, Dee. You might want to read the entry before this one as they are connected and it will give you an idea of what kind of box I’m talking about. Please, don’t feel you need to comment, however, as the next post will also be part of this thread on stoves.
Yes. I am the one who wrote about “Evenings at Five”, and you describe it so very well, for, it is certainly “filled with the arc of grieving”. Thank you.
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Dear Penny, per your suggestion, I read the “big box” posting before this one and saw the photo of the “retro.” As I remember the large stove in our home when I was growing up, it was sort of a tan or sand color. I don’t remember if it had a clock but I do remember when I cooked on it and almost burnt down the kitchen! Peace.
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I enjoyed this family history post, Penny, and your old photo. I LOVE those black and white snapshots of our early lives.
However, I’m as much in love with your cocoa cup as with that stove!! I spent a bit of time searching the internet last evening and again this afternoon, trying to locate that pattern, and think I’ve succeeded. I believe it’s “Brown-eyed Susan” from Vernon Kilns, and hope you can confirm it. Do you have an entire set? It’s lovely and also reminds me of my younger years.
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There is something so endearing about these photos of our early lives,isn’t there Karen? I’m glad you enjoyed this. As I mentioned to Janet (Country Mouse) above, when I looked closer at the old photo, I found my grandmother’s dishes in the cabinet, of which I have one plate, the Christmas platter, and I use it every Christmas.
You are quite the investigative reporter, Karen. The pattern is definitely Brown-Eyed Susan from Vernon Kilns. You really did your homework finding this out.
The set belonged to my mother-in-law. When she passed away, about 20 years ago, my father-in-law gave them to me. It is from the 1940’s and was a gift from her parents. There was a service for six. In her later years, Carolyn didn’t use them as often as we grew in number to more than six. Over the years, I have found many more pieces at antique stores and second hand shops, once finding a complete service for four with plates, cups, saucers, and bowls, while walking out of store, for a steal! I was so excited when I stumbled upon them that I shouted for joy. I think my friend, Sharon, who often comments here, was with me that day. I use them, especially for larger dinner crowds. They are such a sweet pattern and I find I use them more often in late summer when the daisies and brown-eyed Susans are in bloom, as they set such a happy table.
Hope I didn’t bore you, Karen. Almost wrote an entire blog with that response. Thank you for asking. Penny
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Playing catch up with my reading…. Thanks for taking the time to tell me more about your dishes, Penny. I am an antiques/collectibles buff, and I enjoy researching those things that catch my eye. Once upon a time, I’d dreamed of having a little shop filled with these kinds of “treasures,” but sometimes life’s twists and turns dictate different paths. However, a sister and brother-in-law ARE actively involved in that pursuit, so I get frequent opportunities to go sleuthing/shopping with them, and help with occasional research on their behalf.
You are right that they set a “happy table.” Daisys and their cousins always make me smile!
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We share a passion for antiques, Karen. How fun it must be to go “sleuthing” with your sister and brother-in-law. I am fortunate to have a nice group of friends and we will still go out on an adventure once a year or so to see what we can find. We’ve had some fun adventures. The “hunt” used to be a bit more fun, before the internet, although technology certainly makes for easier research.
Cold here, again, and snowy. Hope you are warm and safe.
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What a wonderful photo of your aunt and your Yia Yia looking so proud of the spanking new gas range. With so many people to cook for I’m guessing that it worked very hard for many years. I love your glimpses of family history. 🙂
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It was very much the work horse, Perpetua. Yia Yia was a wonderful cook, and prepared so many wonderful meals and sweets and yes, bread, in that oven. My mom did, as well, especially our birthday cakes. I’m so happy to know that you enjoy these glimpses, Perpetua – and I can’t tell you how much I appreciate all the time you took to read the past posts and comment on them today. I’ll simply say thank you and hope that you know how much I mean it.
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Oh my goodness no wonder your cousin remembers that stove so well! What a way to start your morning. A beautiful stove and beautiful story and somehow, even though it’s hot here I am so hungry for the comfort of a cup of cocoa. (Not gonna’ happen…not one of my pantry staples here. as you can imagine.
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Can you imagine today’s high school student doing that each morning? She had such a nice response to my questioning, which I appreciated. A cup of cocoa is just that, isn’t it Sallie? a cup of comfort. I still keep the Hershey’s around, but, just for baking. Don’t tell anyone, but, I did stop at a coffee shop over the weekend and had a nice cup of chocolate.
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[…] « Out of the Box […]
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What a thrill for you to get the story. You are reminding me of one of my own, when my father brought home an ‘Esse stove’, a coal/coke burner to sit in the living room and keep us all warm through the winter months. Those new, gleaming objects have such a presence, don’t they, and if only they could talk, they would tell many a tail.
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The joy of the moment of coming upon the stove with the analog clock has been fueled with all the memories it has brought about from each of you, Juliet Your memory of the “Esse stove” is certainly one such memory. Amazing it would be if these “gleaming objects” could, indeed, talk, with the stories of those gathered about them.
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I meant ‘tale’ of course.
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