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POTBELLY FOUNDERS INFORMATION
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Richard Warren Sears was the founder of the Sears Roebuck Company and served as president from 1886 to 1908.
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Born in Stewartville, Minnesota in 1863, Richard Warren Sears' first job was as a station agent for the railroad in North Redwood, Minnesota.
His station agent's office was kept cozy and warm on bitter cold Minnesota days by a potbelly stove.
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Vintage potbelly stove in Richard W. Sears' railroad office
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At the tender age of 26, in the late 1800's, Richard Sears became the president of the Sears Roebuck company, a company that he nurtured into the most popular and enduring mail order catalog company in the history of the country.
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As president, Sears made it his mission to provide the American public with just about every product they could possibly need or want.
He turned his focus on stoves, knowing full well, that every home and every business in the growing nation needed a stove to keep warm and cook food.
He created catalogs dedicated to selling heating stoves and kitchen ranges, astutely purchased his own stove manufacturing foundry and proudly marketed his stoves...
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including the beloved potbelly stove which had once kept him warm during the blustery Minnesota winters when he was a station agent.
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