Kitchen - House of the Future

This room features a number of technologies that were cutting edge in 1882. These included:

This 1882 wood burning stove, made by the Round Oak Company. The stove offered a number of dampers and flues plus varying burner sizes to regulate heat.

An ice box and ice delivery. Prior to mechanical refrigeration, an ice box was high tech, replacing the root celler in the basement as the principal means of keeping food fresh. Ice would be delivered by the ice man who would bring in the large blocks with tongs from his wagon (a sign in the window indicated how much ice was wanted). The ice was harvested from the river in the winter (and so could not be used in drinks). It was stored in warehouses covered in sawdust to keep it from melting the rest of the year.

Hot and cold running water before there was city water. Potable water came from a pump just outside this kitchen door. It was pumped up into cisterns in the attic where gravity permitted it to flow back down when the taps were opened.

Water for cleaning and laundry was captured off the roof and stored in a large cistern in the basement. This cistern is so large that it is where our A-D-A bathroom is today. In the basement, which was another servant’s space accessed by the basement servants stairs, we have examples of the items like baskets, a washing machine, and irons that used this water supply.

And finally, the "Annunciator." Most of us are familiar with the use of bells or bell cords to call servants. The Annunciator was the high tech, electric alternative. It was battery operated using wet cells. Buttons (located here for demonstration purposes) would be scattered throughout the house. When a button was pressed, a bell would ring and an indicator would turn over in the kitchen. Local papers ran ads that encouraged readers to “Get an Annunciator just like Henry Rogers."

Although the servants worked long and hard hours at Hearthstone, they also benefited from the high tech nature of the home.

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