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History of Garland Stoves

Garland stoves were designed and manufactured in the late 1800s through 1955 by the Michigan Stove Company and became famous because of the 15-ton wooden replica stove built for the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. The Mammoth Garland Stove exhibit has moved around through the years and found its most recent home at the Michigan State Fairgrounds. Like the mammoth stove, Garland, the company, has gone through various moves from Michigan Stove Company to Welbilt Corporation to Berisford to Manitowoc Food Service. Through mergers and acquisitions, office and factory moves, the Garland brand of stoves has remained a premier brand in the stove and food service industries.

Garland Stove Time Line
- 1872 Jeremiah Dwyer founds the Michigan Stove Company
  1892 Mammoth Garland Stove exhibit is built for the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition with 15 tons of hand-carved oak, 25 feet high, 30 feet long and 20 feet wide
  1907 Michigan Stove Company is reincorporated as Detroit Stove Company
  1923 Detroit Stove Company is acquired the Art Stove Company
  1925 Michigan Stove Company merges with the Detroit Stove Works and they become the Detroit-Michigan Stove Company
  1927 Detroit-Michigan Stove Company places the Mammoth Garland Stove on the roof of its Detroit factory
  1945 Detroit-Michigan Stove Company acquires A-B Stoves
  1955 Welbilt Stove Company acquires the Detroit-Michigan Stove Company and becomes Welbilt Corporation
  1965 Mammoth Garland Stove exhibit is moved to Michigan State Fairgrounds
  1974 Mammoth Garland Stove exhibit is dismantled for storage
  1995 Welbilt Corporation is acquired by Berisford, PLC
  1998 Michigan State Fair Management restores the Mammoth Garland Stove exhibit
  2000 Berisford changes its name to Enodis
  2002 Julia Child's vintage Garland range is displayed at the Smithsonian
  2008 Manitowoc Food Service acquires Enodis, PLC
Company Evolution
- Before Detroit was a large part of the auto industry, it was a major force in the stove industry, and a center of stove manufacturing and competition. Over the course of the past 125 years or so, the evolution of Garland stoves, created by the Michigan Stove Company in the late 1800s, has developed from decorative cast-iron parlor heating stove to kitchen cooking stove to stainless steel commercial range and stove. The company started as a privately owned factory opened by Jeremiah Dwyer in 1872 in Michigan, grew through acquisitions and fame from the Mammoth Garland replica stove and the endorsement of Julia Child, and emerged into a global force in the food service industry.
Garland Then and Now
- The earliest Garland stoves created in the late 1800s and early 1900s by the Michigan Stove Company were wood- and coal-burning stoves examples of which are difficult to find today. Antique stove dealers and restorers have few if any Garland stoves from that period. Many of these antique stoves are ornate models made of cast iron and were potbellied and parlor stoves made for heating homes and businesses rather than ovens and stoves for cooking. Today, Garland USA and Garland Canada, part of Garland Group, are divisions of Manitowoc Food Service. The Garland line of restaurant grills and ranges is a premier brand in the food service industry.
Collecting Garland Stoves and Memorabilia
- Julia Child, the late famous chef, author and TV personality, used a vintage Garland stove in her kitchen in her cooking shows. It is now in the Smithsonian Institute. Antique wood-burning models are valued between $1,500 to $3,000 and are hard to find. A few models may be found at antique-cast-iron-stoves.com/parlor_heaters.html. The gas and electric stoves and ranges from the 1950s and later are more available and more easily found than earlier wood- and coal-burning models, and have a wider range in value, price and availability. Garland stove advertisements, catalogs, postcards and other memorabilia, including stove medallions, are just as collectible as the stoves themselves, and are easy to find on eBay and on the Internet.
Why Choose Garland?
- Garland stoves have a long history and have evolved from cast-iron behemoths into a wide range of sleek stainless steel commercial ranges, grills, stoves and ovens in today's global industry. They are part of the large commercial food service industry as well as the antique and vintage stove collectibles industry. Old or new, the Garland name carries a prestige that has spanned more than 100 years.

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