Prominently displayed in the original adobe kitchen at the Sikes Historic Farmstead is the Smith & Anthony Company Hub Grand oven. Smith & Anthony Company of Boston, Massachusetts, was a very high-end manufacturer of stoves, ovens, furnace ranges, boilers, steel doors and a variety of heating equipment from its inception in 1879 until it went out of business in 1917.

Among the qualities of the Smith & Anthony equipment were the designs of Elihu Vedder (1836-1923), which combined Yankee utility and ingenuity with the distinctive style of the Decorative Arts period. These ovens were sold primarily to cooking schools, restaurants, hotels, and commercial establishments, as well as wealthy homeowners.

The Hub Grand was one of several Hub models available. Other models included the Royal, Grand, Queen, Prize, Gem, and the Regal. Each model featured the innovative and novel Wire Gauze oven door for which Smith & Anthony was famous. Per their literature the Wire Gauze oven door allowed fresh air to enter the oven without cooling the temperature inside. This fresh air would allow meats to cook in their own juices, making the meat tender and healthful while preventing shrinkage.

Bread baked in a Hub would be light and porous and 25% larger. And the Wire Gauze decreased fuel usage by 25%. Smith & Anthony claimed, “The total savings on meat, bread, and fuel is sufficient to pay for the range after 6 months, while its benefitable effects on the health of the family cannot be computed in dollars and cents.” It was a miraculous and revolutionary improvement in cooking, or so said Smith & Anthony.

The standard Smith & Anthony Company Hub Grand oven came with only the bottom cabinet base. Attachments could be ordered including a high shelf, high closet, low shelf, low closet, water boiler, wood fixtures and extension fire box. Smith & Anthony advertising bragged that a fully kitted out Hub Grand oven could hold up to 8 pie pans at once. The Smith & Anthony Company Hub Grand oven displayed at Sikes includes the optional high shelf.

Based on interpretation of the documentation uncovered to date, we have no concrete information regarding what type of oven Eliza Sikes had in her home. While it is doubtful her oven would have been a Smith & Anthony Hub Grand, it is a sure bet that she had a very well used oven in her home. And she probably would have envied anyone with a Smith & Anthony Company Hub Grand oven.

Be sure to have your knowledgeable and friendly docent point out the Hub Grand on your next visit to the historic Sikes Farmstead.

Written by: Anita Hissem, Friends of Sikes Adobe Member