The Potbelly Stove

The potbelly stove had a long reign of heating American homes and buildings. It reached its height of popularity in the 1800's, but stoves had been in use much earlier. The Franklin stove, invented by Benjamin Franklin in 1742, was also popular. 

The cast iron potbelly, named because it was thought to resemble a fat man's middle, was used well into the 1900's. In fact, when I started school at Roaring River Elementary in Wilkes County, North Carolina, my first classrooms all had a potbelly stove in the center of them. It was only when I went to the fifth grade that the building had radiators. Even they got hot enough to burn at times, however.

In the first grade, I came inside from recess on a cold winter day and gathered around the stove with classmates to warm my hands. I accidentally touched the top of my right hand to the potbelly, and it seared a strip of skin off. For years, I used that to tell my right from my left, and I still bear a faint scar to this day.

It's amazing that the one stove managed to keep the large classroom warm, but it did. I don't ever remember being cold in one. I do remember how red the bottom of the stove would get at times, however, when it was really hot with glowing coals. It was the teacher's job to keep the fire going. My, how times have changed!

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