Inventing the U.S. Stove Industry, c.1815–1875: Making and Selling the First Universal Consumer Durable

Howell J. Harris

Business History Review, 2008, vol. 82, issue 4, 701-733

Abstract: This article examines the emergence of the American stove industry, detailing the complex interactions among changes in the product, the organization of production, and the methods of selling cast-iron heating and cooking equipment to consumers nationwide, particularly in the antebellum years. This highly competitive industry, composed of hundreds of proprietary firms, became a site of considerable innovation in marketing. Manufacturers integrated forward, controlling the sale and distribution of their goods through networks of small retailers nationwide. The article explains how and why.

Date: 2008
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