CAT Kalamazoo Catalog c. 1907

Text and illustrations taken directly from the September 1907
Kalamazoo "Direct To You" Catalog. Enjoy this fascinating artifact.

All Graphics Taken From Within Original Kalamazoo Catalog Click Image to Enlarge

The Kalamazoo Quality

We have the facilities, we have the "know-how", and we have the determination to make a line of stoves and ranges unexcelled by any in the world. We are doing it.

In the first place, our materials are right. We use only high grade Alabama, Ohio, Lake Superior and Tennessee pig iron. Not an ounce of scrap iron enters into our stoves and ranges.

No stove manufacturer in the world has had a wider experience in manufacturing stoves and ranges than we have; no stove manufacturer uses better materials than we do; none of them employs better workmen or exercises greater care in construction or gives closer attention to the thousand and one little details that go to make a first-class, high grade stove or range; and no manufacturer in the world is building a better stove than the "Kalamazoo".

This is our guarantee, and we want you to order a "Kalamazoo" direct to you with the understanding that it must compare favorably with any other stove or range you ever saw or heard of.

We can not make a stronger guarantee than that. Accompanying each illustration in this book, we give a detailed description of its construction. Note the style and design; you will find no obsolete out-of-date patterns. Note the solid substantial construction. Note the provisions for utilizing the fullest extent every pound of fuel used. Note the many conveniences found only in the "Kalamazoo" and we are sure that you will be convinced of the superior merits of our line.But better than our description and better than the enthusiastic endorsements of thousands of satisfied customers, are the stoves and ranges themselves. They tell their story better than we can.

Let us send you one of our 360 days approval test, that you may judge for yourself.

OUR FACILITIES

There are three things that are necessary to produce a high grade stove or range. If any one of the three is missing, the quality suffers. The first is experience. And it is of mighty importance, because the best factory in the world wont enable a man to make a good stove, unless he knows how to go about it. The second is equipment. The manufacturer must have a well equipped factory, modern and up to date. The third is the desire and determination to build the best stoves and ranges that it is possible to produce. Some men know how but haven't the equipment. Some men have the experience and the equipment, but their desire to build a cheep stove overshadows their desire to make a good one.

But in the Kalamazoo Stove Company these three requisits are happily combined.

This company was organized for the one expressed purpose of building a line of stoves and ranges that are second to none in the world. The factory was built and equipped with this end in view.

And then this magnificent equipment was put in charge and under the management of a manufacturer of ripe experience, who has spent more than 34 years nursing an ambition to make every stove or range he turned out to be as perfect as human skill can produce. That's the foundation of our equipment.

Below is a picture of the factory as is. If you are ever in the vicinity of Kalamazoo, come and see it. It is one of the model stove plants of the United States. The main building is 764x120 feet; it includes the foundry, 436 x 120 feet; and the factory proper; 328x120 feet, two stories in height.

The warehouse 215x300 feet, with 20 foot ceiling, gives a storage capacity for 40,000 stoves. The office building is two stories 140x40 feet; the cleaning rooms, pattern shops, galvanizing plant, etc., bring our total floor space to over 5 acres.

Think of that! More than five acres of factory floor, all devoted to Kalamzoo stoves and ranges. The entire plant is heated by the latest in hot air systems, and is lighted and operated by electricity, generated in our own power house; each department has individual electric motors which obviates unnecessary shafting in the factory.

Every railway in our factory has switches to our yards and warehouses, giving us prompt service in delivery of materials to us and in shipping of our product. It's a factory well worth a visit, and our friends and customers, are always welcome.Come and see us.

A message from Kalamazoo
regarding the competition
in the stove market...

Originality That Counts For Something

There are two classes of people in the world: People who originate, and People who copy.

The originators do things,

The copiers "do" people.

The originators invent, design, create,

The copiers trail along behind with something which "claim" is "just as good."

The Success of the Kalamazoo Stove Company is due to the fact that our Mr William Thompson, Vice President and general manager is admittedly, one of the most original and progressive stove men in the united states. Consequently every Kalamazoo Stove and Range has about it and embodied in it, an ORIGINALITY and INDIVIDUALITY not often found in a stove or range.

His more than 30 years of experience in every department of the stove business, enables him first, to know and appreciate what is needed to make a good stove or range, and second, to know how to meet that need. Consequently it has never been necessary for him to get together a lot of stoves of "other makes", and copy one part from this and one from that- making a "composite" stove that has no originality of design or purpose.

He has never had to "steal the other fellows thunder" either in designing and making a stove or range, or in designing an economical selling plan. His originality, backed by his varied experience, has made him a specialist - a stove expert who does not have to depend apon other mens knowledge. We do not claim that we have "cornered" all the intelligence and experience of the stove industry. Mr Thompson is not the only reliable and responsible stove man in the country. But other reputable manufacturers are not trying to trade on the kalamazoo's reputation. They are not trying to imitate our selling plan. They do not attempt to offer you the same opportunities of saving money by buying direct from the factory that we offer you.

Since the Kalamazoo Stove Company inaugurated its "A KALAMAZOO DIRECT TO YOU" selling plan, numerous imitators have sprung up. The most of them are simply mail order dealers who buy their stoves and ranges in job lots, always placing their orders wherever they can buy the cheapest - from one foundry this year and from another foundry the next year. But they attempt to deceive you by pretending to be actual manufacturers. Even if some of these new concerns do manufacture a few stoves or ranges, what do they make? Simply a cheep copy of some other line, with only enough change to keep the inexperienced from recognizing it. They have neither originality, experience, or reputation.

You may possibly be solicited to buy from these inexperienced companies and pretend manufacturers. It is to your advantage to know of whom you are buying - to know that you are getting a stove or range built on original, scientific lines - a stove or range that is designed and built by an experienced stove expert and not purchased in job lots - a stove or range with a man of experience, reputation, and expert skill behind it - a stove or range that is not excelled by any in the world, and still is sold to you at a reasonable price - much below what you should have to pay a local dealer.

That is exactly what you get when you buy "A KALAMAZOO DIRECT TO YOU". One of the best at the lowest possible price.

Respectfully yours,
Kalamazoo Stove Company - Kalamazoo, Michigan

A Family Business & Blog Selling the World's Finest Restored Antique Heating Stoves and Kitchen Ranges Since 1973