The great wonder of cook stoves arrives in Chariton

Kitchens of the 1880s in Chariton may not have had granite counter tops, but this doesn't mean that cooks of the day weren't interested in innovation --- including the Excelsior stove company's Charter Oak model with wire gauze oven door, patented and introduced about 1887.

Heretofore, the goal had been a tightly sealed oven --- to conserve heat. The new door was designed to draw fresh air into the oven at the bottom and expel it at the top --- advertised as a wonder-working circulatory innovation.

I couldn't find a Consumer Reports evaluation of the new stove, but did discover the other day that it was introduced to Chariton during late March of 1889 by George W. Larmer at his hardware store, located in the most northerly storefront of the Union Block on the northwest corner of the square.

The following invitation was published in The Chariton Herald on Feb. 21, 1889.

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Revolution in cooking. A public Exhibition of the Charter Oak Cook Stove with wire gauze oven doors. Will broil steak in three minutes. Will bake biscuits in six to eight minutes. Bread will keep forever and not mold. Saves all shrinkage or loss in cooking meat and saves labor. No basting required.

Free lunch served at G.W. Larimer's store on Monday and Tuesday, March 25 and 26. The ladies are especially invited. And from 2 p.m. until 5 o'clock the exhibition will be exclusively for the ladies, that all of them may come. It will prove interesting to them, we are sure, and we will appreciate their presence. Tables will be spread and edibles cooked on the stove in the presence of visitors and free to all. The exhibition will be given by A.K. Fassett. This gentleman took the first premium at the Dallas Fair for the Charter Oak Stove with Gauze Wire Oven door, after an actual working test. 

Parties needing stoves will gain information that will assist them in their selection, and parties having Charter Oak stoves will see how the addition of the Gauze Wire Oven Door will economize labor and time. Gauze Wire Doors can be obtained for all Charter Oak Stoves made since 1880. This gentleman is making a tour of Iowa at an enormous expense, exhibiting this great wonder of cook stoves. You  should not fail to come.