McClary Stove

Date1922

DimensionsOverall: 93 × 63.5 × 54.5 cm

Credit LineGift of Leila G. Pepper, Windsor, Ontario, in memory of her parents George M. Duck and Gwendoline Duck, 2005

Object number2005.004.001

Label TextThe McClary Manufacturing Company made this electric stove. In 1852, John McClary (1829-1921) and his older brother Oliver (ca. 1818-1902) opened J. & O. McClary, a tinsmith shop in London. Over the years, the McClary Manufacturing Company produced a vast array of high-quality items, including cast iron stoves, copper kettles, and decorative enamelware. In the 1920s, the McClary Manufacturing Company produced stoves that used different sources of power. Some were wood burners, others oil-fueled, and still others electric. While London households had access to the hydroelectric grid from 1910, many rural households were unconnected. They continued to use wood or oil, fuel they could source locally, and which could be transported by rail. In 1927, the McClary Manufacturing Company merged with four others to become General Steel Wares. Its London plant closed in the mid-1970s.

NameStove