By By JOHN EBY / Dowagiac Daily News
Philo D. Beckwith ran an assembly line as early as the 1880s to turn out Round Oak stoves.
Take that, Henry Ford!
No wonder Round Oak had more than 300 turn-of-the-century imitators, including an identical "Burr Oak" in Bill Krohne's collection.
Krohne and Steve Arseneau, director of the Museum at Southwestern Michigan College, Wednesday night led off SMC's fall lecture series by tracing the evolution of the products which put "Doe-Wah-Jack" on the national map.
"For the better part of 75 years, Round Oak was an innovative company, changing stoves to meet the styles of the day. Stoves went from basic heaters to ornate parlor stoves, then back to the basics a little bit as styles changed," Arseneau explained.
Arseneau announced that the Nov. 1 program will be by Michael Nassaney, the Western Michigan University anthropology professor who led the dig that located Fort St. Joseph in Niles.
Arseneau quipped that "intelligent design" by an "intelligent creator," Beckwith, caused the evolutionary process, which led from the simple stove Beckwith turned out in his own foundry to ornate models which flourished in the Victorian era and then a streamlined period before the company that once employed 1,200 people shut in 1947, its name sold to Peerless Furnace of Indianapolis.
Beckwith, the only man to serve as both village president and city mayor, came to town in 1854 and cast almost anything in his foundry, with roller grain drills in the 1860s preceding stoves.
In 1867, with the post-Civil War economy still sluggish and money tight, Beckwith cast a stove to heat his shop.
The following year a Michigan Central Railroad representative saw the stove, ordered one for the depot in Niles and soon they were scattered in train stations from Chicago to Detroit.
By 1871, with business booming, Round Oak Stove Co. formed.
It grew by the 1880s into the largest U.S. stove company.
Beckwith died in January 1889, with his daughter, Katherine, and her husband, Fred Lee, assuming control of his "estate."
Beckwith Theatre would be erected as a memorial to the driving force of early Dowagiac. It opened in January 1893 on what is now the site of Beckwith Park.
Round Oak continued to grow at a dizzying space through the 1890s until 1914, erecting an unimaginable number of buildings along Spaulding Street, judging from a huge photo that is part of a new permanent exhibit at SMC created in conjunction with Dowagiac for the second time hosting the national collectors convention.
Round Oak peaked about 1914 due to the deaths of Ormal G. Beach, the first salesman, and Arthur Beckwith, P.D.'s adopted son and an innovator in nickel plating for ornate stoves.
Passed over for the presidency, Arthur Rudolphi left and founded his own Rudy Furnace Co.
"Questionable management moves began a downward trend in the 1920s, and then in the Great Depression profits really started to shrink," Arseneau related. "The company made it through World War II through defense contracts, for which it moved to magnesium castings. It had difficulty converting back to profitable civilian production and ceased manufacturing" in 1947.
The first Beckwith stove circa 1869 didn't say Round Oak on it, although oak leaf clusters already appear on the top ring.
"The fire pot is not cemented or bolted to the ash pit," Krohne said. "The way it just sits, you can tell Beckwith was concerned about expansion and contraction. The little handle was an early damper that slowed the draft down. It was his second patent, but it's the only stove he used that on."
A subsequent collar slide used into the 1940s allowed air to go into the stovepipe.
"Your chimney is always pulling air," Krohne explained. "By doing that, it relieved pressure on other stove joints. "Not only would it help move air through the chimney faster, so you didn't have chimney fires, the oxygen helped combustion be completed in the stove pipe."
Door design changed and the Round Oak name appeared for the first time in 1873. Foot rails debuted.
"They made some pretty revolutionary changes in the 1880s for burning coal," Arseneau said. "We have the belly plate added" with either mica windows or a "matchstrike" spot.
"In 1899, about the time Beckwith died, they came up with this cast-iron top ring, which really balanced out the stove and made it nicer-looking," Krohne said. "They just kept getting more nickel on them and making them bigger over time. They shined more all the time."
"They got more decorative as people got fancier houses," Arseneau added.
Round Oak also had to respond to competitors, "who were really coming up with some pretty stuff. They may not have been as efficient as these," Krohne said, "but they were sure pretty."
Another feature of the 1880s was the Round Oak name appearing on stove legs.
"No major stylistic changes in the 1890s," Arseneau said, except stove doors began bearing dates.
Krohne collects finials, the trophy-like figures with brass and copper and nickel plating that topped stoves. The 1893 model was known as the "World's Fair" which took place that year. The "maiden model" pictured a woman on three sides. From 1895 to 1897, when letters began designating model years and tin tops appeared, the company used a "plain Jane ornament." Models in the early 1900s featured Chief Doe-Wah-Jack.
Krohne said if a finial broke, catalogs listed replacements for $1.50.
"A friend of mine makes them. He gets about $350 to $400."
Stoves themselves cost about $18 – a week's wages.
"In my opinion, the (1898) Model B was the most ornate standard stove model in the company's history," Arseneau said. "It was part of that Victorian move toward decoration. If you go around to Dowagiac to these old houses with 'gingerbread' and turrets all over the place, stoves reflected that. You don't want to put in some plain Jane stove in your parlor."
Wider leg covers only lasted a year because they hindered access to ash pans.
Krohne noted 1898 was the only departure from the slide to a swivel.
They showed a picture of the tall "can-and-a-half" stove with an extra section similar to one in the winery downtown.
The Edward Jones office has an Air Tight, which Arseneau characterized as "shorter, cute little guys that are easier to move."
"As the teens moved on and American society moved away from Victorian styles, Round Oak modified its stoves to fit with the times," Arseneau said. "You had less intricate designs and cleaner lines, a pretty sleek look" by 1917.
The Duplex, introduced around 1925, is believed to refer to its capability to burn either wood or coal. Touted as an all-around heating stove, it would be made until the company closed.
"With that smoke curtain, they said you could take the door off and use it like a fireplace," Krohne said.
Base burners used coal and were manufactured from 1908-17. "Reflectors bounced the light from this stove all over your room. It's absolutely gorgeous if you've ever seen one lit up," Krohne related. "They were expensive, the Cadillac. If your basic stove was $18, this was probably $55 or $60. Other companies had been doing base burners since the turn of the century. They were kind of late getting into the business."
Round Oak also made square-based double-burners for six years.