Re: Coal plants
Posted by:
Jeff_Weiner
()
Date: November 20, 2013 12:58AM
davey7 Wrote:
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> nordsider Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> >
> > And a question: Were the first household
> kitchen
> > gas stoves, in Chicago, in use by the 1920s?
>
>
> I think the first readily commercially available
> gas ranges were for sale in the 20's. The building
> I grew up in was built in 1906 and there were
> flues for the ranges. The building I live in now,
> but in the mid/late 20's, had a vent for the gas
> ranges (ovens primarily) to get rid of the heat
> (which also had the benefit of ventilating the
> kitchens, keeping them cooler, refreshing air in
> the rest of the unit and keeping cooking odors at
> bay.
>
> Gas heat, however, didn't become common until the
> 60's. My current building was originally oil and
> converted to gas sometime in the 60's I think (we
> still use the original boiler, it's going strong),
> while my old building switched from coal to gas in
> the mid-60's and reading the minutes of the
> building, boy did they think it was great to have
> automatic heat with no stoking first thing in the
> morning to get heat.
My grandparents' old apartment, located on the SW corner of Halsted and Roscoe, had a gas-fired heating stove in the dining room, and a gas-fired water heater in the kitchen. The kitchen also had a dual-fuel range, with gas on one side, and stove oil on the other. All three appliances had flue connections. The apartment also had many old gas jets for lighting, which I suspect were still connected, but rendered unusable by layers of paint.
The building is still there, but they moved out in the early 70's, so I have no idea if all those "features", including the gas meter in the bathroom, are still there.